Webinar: AIR Now and Air Quality System (AQS)

Webinar: AIR Now

and

Air Quality System (AQS)



July 13, 2011


Agenda

•
Introductions

–
Sarah Swenson, EPA (facilitator)

–
John E. White, EPA (presenter)

•
Format

–
EPA speaker (15 minutes)
–

overview of Air datasets

–
Lines are muted
-

submit questions as the speakers talk

–
Questions and Answers (15 minutes)

•
See the website:
epa.gov/appsfortheenvironment

1

Background about the Challenge

•
Apps must use EPA data and address one of EPA
Administrator Lisa Jackson’s Seven Priorities

•
Judged based on usefulness, innovativeness, and
usability

•
Submissions are due by September 16

•
Winners and runners up for Best Overall App and Best
Student App, plus People’s Choice

•
Recognition from EPA in Washington, D.C. in
November

•
Get more details at
epa.gov/appsfortheenvironment

2

AIRNow Web Services

Overview of Available Data

Prepared by

Steven A.
Ludewig
, Timothy S. Dye

Sonoma Technology, Inc.

Petaluma, CA


John E. White

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Research Triangle Park,
NC

3800

AIRNow Program Overview

AIRNow is the National system for acquiring and
distributing air quality observations and forecasts to the
public


•
Voluntary participation

•
130
federal, state, local, and tribal air
quality agencies)

•
Standardized
Air Quality Index (AQI)

•
Partnerships with national media

•
Air quality education and outreach

•
Emergency response (e.g., wildfires)

•
Exceptional Event
tools

•
EnviroFlash


The Air Quality Index

7

AIRNow Web Services:

Why Are They Needed?

•
Web Services provide a way to retrieve data and
information ‘on demand’ from the AIRNow system.

–
Forecasts

–
Action days

–
Observed data

–
Multiple format options including maps

–
Agency, reporting area, and monitoring site information

•
Uses

–
Agency websites, web developer access

–
Local news organizations

–
Other agencies

–
Schools and researchers

–
Spreadsheets and other applications

–
The public

8



A few potential uses

AIRNow Web Services

9

AIRNow Web Services

•
Where we’ve been

–
Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP): not
as simple or clean as it sounds

•
Progress in 2009

–
A RESTful approach

•
The future
–

an AIRNow Application
Programming Interface (API)

–
Additional services, data sets, and formats
useful for building applications

–
An easier to use, well
-
documented interface

10

AIRNow Web Services:

A
RESTful

Approach

•
Example question: “What is the current air
quality forecast for my home town ZIP Code?”

–
URL:

http://ws.airnowgateway.org/GatewayWebService
REST/Gateway.svc/
forecastbyzipcode?key
=43321E
-
F56Q
-
B612
-
68FBN&zipcode=95401&format=
csv

•
Looks complicated, but let’s break it down

–
ForecastByZIPCode

= the name of this request*

–
Key = unique user key

–
ZIPCode

= ZIP Code of interest

–
Format = payload options (CSV, JSON, KML, XML, etc.)

–
Optional: Date = any date of interest (defaults to the
current date)

*a companion service exists for observed data:
ObservedByZIPCode

11

AIRNow Web
Services (example)

Use of
ForecastByZIPCode

and
ObservedByZIPCode

services by the EPA
MyEnvironment

website:
www.epa.gov/
myenvironment

and other state web sites

12

AIRNow Web Services

Use of a geospatial Web Coverage Service (WCS) by
Shasta County, CA:
http://www.co.shasta.ca.us/html/ResMgmt/AQ/aq_map.aspx

KML file

13

AIRNow Web Services

•
ForecastByZIPCode

•
ObservedByZIPCode

•
ForecastsByIssueDate

•
ActionDaysByDate

•
Ozone24HourAQI

•
PM25Mid24HrAQI

•
ReportingAreaMax
-
AverageAQI


•
SiteMaxAverageAQI


•
SiteInfoByAQSCode

•
AgencyGetSites

•
GetReportingAreas


Geospatial:

•
WCS
–

point

•
WCS
–

time series

Coming Soon:

•
WCS
–

grid

•
WMS
–

mapping service

Demonstration Tool

14

AIRNow Web Services
–

The Future

•
AIRNow API

–
Expanded library of services

–
Additional geospatial services

–
More payload options

–
Improved standardization

–
Extensive documentation

–
Online query generator tools


15

AIRNow Web Services

Thank You!


Contact:


Steven A. Ludewig

John E. White


(707) 665
-
9900

(919) 541
-
2306


steve@sonomatech.com

white.johne@epa.gov


Questions and Answers

Potential topics:

•
Questions about accessing or using AIR Now or AQS
data

•
How to submit ideas for apps

•
Ideas for future webinars
–

what datasets do you
want to learn about?

3

Next Steps

•
Check out our new webinar site to catch up on any you’ve missed!

•
Weekly webinars for the next 6 weeks
–

Wednesdays @ 2 PM EST

–
The next webinar is on Wednesday, July 20 at 2 PM eastern

–
Topic: EPA’s Water data! Check the website for registration info

•
Submit your apps by September 16

•
Check the website for the latest news and sign up for the listserv
(EPA App Developer Community)

•
Follow us on Twitter: #greenapps

•
Email us at
greenapps@epa.gov

4

Additional Resources

•
Apps for the Environment:
epa.gov/
appsfortheenvironment

•
AIR Now

–
http://airnowgateway.org/

–
http://www.airnow.gov/

–
Email your questions to
white.johne@epa.gov

•
Air Quality System

–
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/airs/aqsdatamart

–
Email your questions to
mangus.nick@epa.gov

•
Other Air Data

–
http://www.epa.gov/air/airpolldata.html


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