[Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=270Ep6meQow)

The Air Quality API lets you request air quality data for a specific location,
including over 70 air quality indexes (AQIs), pollutants, and health
recommendations. It covers over 100 countries with a resolution of 500 x 500
meters.

## Why use the Air Quality API

The API provides endpoints that let you query:

- **Current Conditions:** Real-time hourly air quality information.
- **Hourly History:** Air quality history for a specific location, for a given time range, up to a maximum of 30 days.
- **Heatmaps:** Color coded tiles of various indexes and pollutants.
- **Hourly Forecast:** Future air quality conditions for a specific location, up to 96 hours (4 days).

### Features of the Air Quality API

- **Real-time air quality indexes and categories:** The Air Quality API continuously calculates the value of various air quality indexes with 500 x 500 meters resolution.
- **Health recommendations:** Hundreds of research-backed health recommendations for the general public and sensitivity groups including: children, elderly, pregnant women, athletes and those with asthma or heart conditions.
- **Pollutant details:** In-depth information about different pollutants, highlighting the dominant pollutant, concentrations, sources and effects.
- **Hourly history:** Air quality history for a specific location for a given time range. Each response potentially includes hourly air quality indexes, pollutant data, and health recommendations for a maximum of 720 hours (30 days).
- **Heatmaps:** Heatmaps are a collection of AQ indexes and pollutants image tiles that can be displayed on top of a Google Map. If your billing address is in the European Economic Area (EEA), you may display heatmaps on top of any map. [Learn more](https://developers.google.com/maps/comms/eea/faq.md.txt#tos-updates).
- **Hourly forecast:** Future air quality conditions for a specific location, and for a given time range or for a particular hour in the future, up to 96 hours (4 days). Each response potentially includes hourly air quality forecast indexes, pollutant data and actionable recommendations.

## How the Air Quality API works

The Air Quality API has the following methods:

- **currentConditions** : The
  [`currentConditions`](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/air-quality/reference/rest/v1/currentConditions/lookup.md.txt) endpoint
  provides current hourly air quality information.

- **history** : The
  [`history`](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/air-quality/reference/rest/v1/history/lookup.md.txt) endpoint provides
  historical hourly air quality information for a specific location, for a
  given time range, up to a maximum of 30 days.

- **heatmapTiles** : The [`heatmapTiles`](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/air-quality/reference/rest/v1/mapTypes.heatmapTiles/lookupHeatmapTile.md.txt)
  endpoint provides air quality related heatmaps through a tile overlay.

- **forecast** : The [`forecast`](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/air-quality/reference/rest/v1/forecast/lookup.md.txt)
  endpoint provides hourly future air quality information for a specific
  location, for a given time range, up to a maximum of 96 hours (4 days).

### Air Quality API country and region coverage

See [Air Quality API supported countries and available AQIs](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/air-quality/coverage.md.txt) for the
latest coverage details, on a country-by-country basis, for which air quality
information (AQI) and local air quality information (LAQI) is available.

## How to use the Air Quality API

|---|---|---|
| 1 | **Get set up** | Start with [Set up your Google Cloud project](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/air-quality/cloud-setup) and complete the instructions that follow. |
| 2 | **Get current hourly air quality information** | See [Current conditions](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/air-quality/current-conditions.md.txt). |
| 3 | **Get hourly air-quality history** | See [History](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/air-quality/history.md.txt). |
| 4 | **Get air quality related heatmaps through a tile overlay** | See [Heatmaps](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/air-quality/heatmaps.md.txt). |
| 5 | **Get hourly air quality forecast information** | See [Forecast](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/air-quality/forecast.md.txt). |

## What's next

- [Set up your Google Cloud project](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/air-quality/cloud-setup)
- [Get current conditions](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/air-quality/current-conditions.md.txt)
- [Get hourly history](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/air-quality/history.md.txt)
- [Get heatmaps](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/air-quality/heatmaps.md.txt)
- [Get hourly forecast](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/air-quality/forecast.md.txt)