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3. Spatial Disaggregation and Geographic Filtering

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Coordinate approximation now has its own page: 4. Location Approximation.

3.1 Selecting Monitors by Geographic Area​

AirQo provides three methods for spatial data selection:

  • Method 1 – AirQo Nexus (Bulk Export): Select specific cities or regions, choose individual monitoring sites, define custom date ranges, and export in CSV format.
  • Method 2 – Grid API: Query data by geographic coordinates or administrative boundaries (districts, divisions, parishes). See the AirQo API documentation.
  • Method 3 – Manual Monitor Selection: Use the AirQo Nexus interactive map to identify and select individual monitors within your study region.

3.2 Geographic Coverage​

Visit our network coverage page for monitor locations, or contact support@airqo.net for specific coverage in your study area.

3.3 Finding the Nearest Monitor to a Specific Location​

Not every neighbourhood, village, or landmark has a monitor named after it — AirQo Nexus lists monitoring sites, not every administrative area. If the specific place you're interested in doesn't appear in the site list, the fastest way to find a usable proxy site is by proximity rather than by name:

  • AirQo Mobile App — "Near You": Install the AirQo Mobile App, enable location access, and open the Near You tab on the Dashboard (also available as a "Nearby" filter on the Map tab). It uses your phone's GPS to list the closest active monitoring sites within 10 km, nearest first. This is the quickest way for anyone — researchers included — to identify a proxy site for a location that isn't directly listed.
  • Programmatically via the API: Call the Find the nearest sites to a coordinate endpoint with a latitude/longitude/radius to get back the nearest sites sorted by distance — useful for scripting a batch of locations rather than looking them up one at a time in the app.
  • Manually via the Nexus map: On the AirQo Nexus interactive map, zoom in on your area of interest and visually identify the closest available site(s), keeping in mind the ~0.5 km coordinate approximation applied to all displayed locations.
  • Ask AirQo support: If you'd like AirQo to confirm the most appropriate proxy site for a specific location (e.g. for a paper or report), contact support@airqo.net with the location name or coordinates.