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def get_current_data_bounding_box(api_key=None,
read_in_key_from_path=True,
parameter='pm25',
western_bound=-124.205070,
eastern_bound=-75.337882,
southern_bound=28.716781,
northern_bound=45.419415,
proxies=None,
to_csv=False,
path=f"Air Now Observations/{now.strftime('%Y_%m_%d')}_{now_hour}"):
This function retrieves air-quality observations from the airnow API.
Required Arguments: None
Optional Arguments:
1) api_key (String) - Default=None.
The user needs to either pass in an API Key or a path to a .txt file where the API Key is stored.
It is strongly recommended to not put the API Key itself in your code. It is recommended to store the key
in a file and read that key into the code.
The easiest way is to create a text (.txt) file with a single element inside of it that is your API Key for Air Now.
If the user wishes to follow this method - set `read_in_key_from_path=True` which is the default setting.
The user will then set `api_key={path to api key text file}`
If the user wishes to use their own methods of ingesting the API Key, then set `api_key=your_api_key_variable`.
To get an API Key create a free account at: https://docs.airnowapi.org/
2) read_in_key_from_path (Boolean) - Default=True. When set to True, the API Key is read in from a text file (.txt) at
the path specified in api_key. Set read_in_key_from_path=False if the user wishes to use their own method for
ingesting their Air Now API Key.
3) parameter (String) - Default=’pm25’.
***Parameters***
'pm25' - PM 2.5
'pm10' - PM 10
'ozone' - Ozone (O3)
'no2' - Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)
'co' - Carbon Monoxide (CO)
'so2' - Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)
4) western_bound (Float or Integer) - Default=-124.205070.
5) eastern_bound (Float or Integer) - Default=-75.337882.
6) southern_bound (Float or Integer) - Default=28.716781.
7) northern_bound (Float or Integer) - Default=45.419415.
8) proxies (dict or None) - Default=None. If the user is using a proxy server, the user must change the following:
python
proxies=None ---> proxies={
'http':'http://your-proxy-address:port',
'https':'http://your-proxy-address:port'
}
10) to_csv (Boolean) - Default=False. When set to True the data will be saved as a CSV file to {path} with {filename}
11) path (String) - The path where the CSV file is saved to.
Returns
A Pandas.DataFrame of all the current air quality observations within the bounding box.