Introduction

  • 3 minutes

Air pollution can cause serious harm to human and animal health. The causes of Air pollution are various factors that might occur naturally or result from specific human activities. Factory output, burning some types of fuel, and wildfires all contribute to a rise in air pollution. This pollution is airborne, and the pollution doesn't remain in the area where it was produced. The wind can carry Air pollution many kilometers and across the globe. For example, in late 2019, smoke from wildfires in Australia reached New Zealand, more than 2,000 kilometers away.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) measures air pollution. The index reflects a scale that ranges from 0 to 500. The higher the AQI value, the greater the health risk. An AQI value that's lower than 50 indicates little to no risk, but a value that's 300 or higher means that the air is hazardous to everyone.

The AQI takes into account the presence of several pollutants:

  • Ground-level ozone
  • Particulates
  • Carbon monoxide
  • Sulphur dioxide
  • Nitrogen dioxide

Tip

You can read more about the AQI at AirNow AQI Basics.

In this module, you get air pollution data by using a free API, and then use Azure Maps to plot the data on an interactive map.

Azure Maps is a collection of geospatial services that use fresh mapping data to provide geographic context in web and mobile applications. The services include APIs for maps, vehicle routing, weather, and geofencing. Azure Maps also has a web SDK that you can use to display a map on a webpage.

The app that you create will look like this example:

Image of a map of the world that shows pollution data as colored circles.

Learning objectives

In this module, you'll:

  • Learn about Azure Maps and the Maps web SDK
  • Create an Azure Maps account
  • Use the Azure Maps web SDK on a webpage
  • Learn about GeoJSON, the data format of spatial data
  • Load air quality data from an API and show it on a map

Prerequisites

  • Ability to use Python at a beginner level
  • Experience using Visual Studio Code at a beginner level
  • Python 3.6 or later installed and available in your path
  • Visual Studio Code installed
  • Python extension for Visual Studio Code installed

Tip

If you want to learn how to set up and configure Visual Studio Code for Python development, complete Set up your Python beginner development environment with Visual Studio Code.