Initialize the Python Environment
- Ensure that you have Python installed on your system. You can verify this by running
python --version in your terminal. You should see a Python version number as a response.
- Use pip to install necessary packages. For interacting with the AirVisual API, we'll use the popular HTTP client library: requests. You can install it by executing
pip install requests in your terminal.
pip install requests
Import Necessary Libraries
- Once the environment is set up, import the required libraries in your Python script:
import requests
import json
Set Up API Key and Base URL
- You'll need to have your AirVisual API key available. It's crucial for authentication when making requests to the API. Define this key in your script:
- Additionally, specify the base URL for the AirVisual API. This URL will be used for constructing the endpoint URLs you interact with:
api_key = 'YOUR_AIRVISUAL_API_KEY'
base_url = 'http://api.airvisual.com/v2'
Fetch Air Quality Data for a Specific City
- To obtain air quality data for a given city, create a function that will retrieve this information from the AirVisual API. You need to specify the city, state, and country as query parameters:
def get_air_quality(city, state, country):
endpoint = f"{base_url}/city"
params = {
'city': city,
'state': state,
'country': country,
'key': api_key
}
response = requests.get(endpoint, params=params)
if response.status_code == 200:
data = response.json()
return data
else:
return None
Handle the Retrieved Data
- Once the data is fetched, you'll typically want to extract specific information such as the Air Quality Index (AQI) and main pollutants. Parse the JSON response to access these details:
def parse_air_quality_data(data):
if data:
city = data['data']['city']
state = data['data']['state']
country = data['data']['country']
aqi = data['data']['current']['pollution']['aqius']
main_pollutant = data['data']['current']['pollution']['mainus']
print(f"City: {city}, State: {state}, Country: {country}")
print(f"Air Quality Index: {aqi}")
print(f"Main Pollutant: {main_pollutant}")
else:
print("No data available. Check if the city/state/country names are correct.")
Execute and Verify
- Finally, call the functions you defined to pull air quality data for a specific city and print the results. Pass the desired city name, state, and country as arguments:
city = "Los Angeles"
state = "California"
country = "USA"
data = get_air_quality(city, state, country)
parse_air_quality_data(data)
Additional Considerations
- Ensure you handle exceptions or errors like network issues or invalid API key responses using try-except blocks to maintain robust script execution.
- If making frequent API requests, respect AirVisual's rate limits to avoid your requests being blocked. Consider implementing caching strategies when needed.
