Week long graphs?

Data
1

The short graphs which are showing on my indoor sensor are perfect for what I want - if they could cover 7 days. Is it possible to do that?

I have a problem with pollution from a neighbouring business which shows up very prominently (ie when they are open and busy PM2.5 is high).

I will be away from home for 5 weeks and would like to be able to present the data from that period as weekly graphs, one graph for each week. That would indicate that we have no input to the high readings.

Thanks,

Philip

2

No answer? Surely if the page can download a few days worth of info, it can be extended to a few more?

I would think this would make the information much more useful to the non expert user (e.g. me).

3

Hello and apologies for just seeing this. I’ve detailed graph range limitations below. These are based on the Averaging period you choose on the map.

Averaging period Graph range
Real-time 2 days
10-minute 3 days
30-minute 7 days
1-hour 14 days
6-hour 90 days
1-day 1 year
1-week 5 years
1-month 20 years
1-year 100 years

If you’re not sure how to change the Averaging period, you can refer to this article: PurpleAir Map Guide. Hope that helps!

4

I’ve read through a few links and can see that I need to download data with the API (not for Linux?). I have a few questions:

  1. Do I pay for this before the period I want to download (5 weeks at 10 minute intervals) or do I pay afterwords?

  2. What does the API give me? Just the raw data which I have to analyse myself? Or has it tools to display the data in a graphical manner (ie a weekly graph showing when the restaurant is blasting PM2.5 into my flat)?

  3. If no graphical tools come with the API, where can I get them?

I may not have understood - but the explanations are not really brought together in a clear and concise manner for those with little experience of data analysis like me and I am sure there must be many out there who would use these sensors if they knew how to present the data.

5

The Data Download Tool is currently only available for Mac and Windows. However, the API can be accessed directly via any OS, provided your comfortable with a little bit of coding. There’s a full guide on the API and an article that gives examples of how to make API requests in a couple of different programming languages. I’ll link both below:

1. Do I pay for this before the period I want to download (5 weeks at 10 minute intervals) or do I pay afterwords?
You automatically receive 1 million free API points by creating an account. You can also receive additional points if you’ve purchased a sensor. You may wish to check how far those points will take you first. You’ll also want to make sure those points have been moved from your Organization to your Project. See more here: New API Dashboard

2. What does the API give me? Just the raw data which I have to analyse myself? Or has it tools to display the data in a graphical manner (ie a weekly graph showing when the restaurant is blasting PM2.5 into my flat)?
The API will return raw PurpleAir data. If you’d like to view it on a graph, I recommend using the map and changing your Average to 30-minute, which will give you 7 days of data on the graph (or 1-hour, which will give you 14 days). This is an example showing the “average” option with a public sensor in California:

1-hour Average
1-hour Average773×686 208 KB

3. If no graphical tools come with the API, where can I get them?
To create graphs, you could use Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. If you’re comfortable programming, MatPlotLib is a great and simple choice for visualizations in Python.