nbumbarger / openaq-fetch

A tool to collect data for OpenAQ platform.

OpenAQ Data Ingest Pipeline

Overview

This is the main data ingest pipeline for the OpenAQ project.

Starting with index.js, there is an ingest mechanism to gather global air quality measurements from a variety of sources. This is currently run every 10 minutes and saves all unique measurements to a database.

openaq-api powers the API and more information on the data format can be found in openaq-data-format.

Installing & Running

To run the API locally, you will need both Node.js and PostgreSQL installed.

Install necessary Node.js packages by running

npm install

Make sure you have a PostgreSQL database available (with PostGIS extension) and have the DB settings in knexfile.js.

Now you can get started with:

node index.js --help

For production deployment, you will need to have certain environment variables set as in the table below

Name	Description	Default
SENDGRID_PASSWORD	Email service password	not set
SENDGRID_USERNAME	Email service username	not set
API_URL	URL of openaq-api	http://localhost:3004/v1/webhooks
WEBHOOK_KEY	Secret key to interact with openaq-api	'123'
AIRNOW_FTP_USER	User for AirNow FTP	not set
AIRNOW_FTP_PASSWORD	Password for AirNow FTP	not set

Tests

To confirm that everything is working as expected, you can run the tests with

npm test

Deployment

Deployment is handled automatically via Travis on the master branch and is deployed to Amazon's ECS.

Data Source Criteria

This section lists the key criteria for air quality data aggregated onto the platform. A full explanation can be accessed here. OpenAQ is an ever-evolving process that is shaped by its community: your feedback and questions are actively invited on the criteria listed in this section.

(1) Data must be of one of these pollutant types: PM10, PM2.5, sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), and black carbon (BC).

(2) Data must be from an official-level outdoor air quality source, as defined as data produced by a government entity or international organization. We do not, at this stage, include data from low-cost, temporary, and/or indoor sensors. 

(3) Data must be ‘raw’ and reported in physical concentrations on their originating site. Data cannot be shared in an 'Air Quality Index' or equivalent (e.g. AQI, PSI, API) format.

(4) Data must be at the ‘station-level,’ associable with geographic coordinates, not aggregated into a higher (e.g. city) level.

(5) Data must be from measurements averaged between 10 minutes and 24 hours.

Contributing

There are a lot of ways to contribute to this project, more details can be found in the contributing guide.