If you don't already have one, get an API key for AirNow.
- Request a free AirNow API key
- Log in to the AirNow API website.
Visit any of the Web Services documentation pages (e.g. Forecast by Zip Code) and look for Your API Key: in the top right of the page.
It should be a string of hexadecimal characters in the format XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX. If you see your API key simply listed as GUEST, that's not it. (The main AirNow Web Services index page currently has a bug that shows this as the key even when logged in. Try one of the subpages.)
Save your key somewhere - you will need it in the Driver.
Install this Driver and create a New Virtual Device.
- Give your virtual Device a name, AirNow AQI perhaps.
- From the Type dropdown, scroll to the end and pick "Air Quality from AirNow"
- Click Save and your new device is ready to configure.
- Copy / Paste your AirNow API Key and choose a Poll interval and which AQI reading you would like.
Each of the six AQI categories has been assigned a Color and Health rating and that is displayed too.
The Standard AQ Attribute is airQualityIndex. Additional Attributes supported by this driver are: O3, PM2.5 and PM10 as well as the AQ category as a color (airQualityColor).