This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A breath of fresh air does wonders for the body and mind. In some areas, however, the air may not be as clean as it seems.
This may be due to pollution or natural hazards such as wildfires and dust storms. If you're worried about air quality in your local area, there's no shortage of apps and websites promising to help. But which should you choose?
And can you trust the information they offer? In Australia, the most reliable place to start is your state or territory Environmental Protection Authority website. These sites publish air quality information in many formats, from technical data and color-coded advisory maps to emergency incident updates.
The data comes from government monitoring networks, which operate under the Australian National Environment Protection (Ambient Air Quality) Measure. This framework sets assessment standards to ensure air quality data is collected and interpreted in a consistent, accurate and transparent way. At first glance, this data may look intimidating.
The simplest way to interpret it is to check the air quality category for your location. These categories are color-coded based on a traffic light system, with green indicating "good" air quality and dark red identifying areas with "extremely poor" air quality. To determine these categories, the government collects data on the pollutant concentration in an area, which is the amount of a harmful substance found in a volume of air.
This data is quality-checked and published as hourly updates. Mobile phone apps provide air quality information on the go. These apps often repurpose data from government websites, sometimes in combination with low-cost monitoring networks like IQAir and PurpleAir.
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