Breathe

Mission Statement

Information about the air people breathe every day should be accurate, immediate, and verifiable.

BreatheOSS was built in response to a clear gap between reported air quality and lived reality. In a region where people depend heavily on official AQI data, that data must reflect actual exposure, including short-term spikes and inconsistencies. We aim to provide ground-level, real-time measurements that remain transparent at every stage, ensuring that what is shown corresponds to what people are truly breathing.

The Problem

Publicly available AQI data for Jammu and Kashmir is, at best, unreliable. The region has very few government-operated reference stations. Other platforms fill the gap with satellite estimates or interpolated models, but without ground-level validation, those numbers are difficult to trust. None of this data is open, and very little of it is explained.

"Only 3 government ground sensors in the entire state of J&K"

"The JKPCB publishes air quality data for their air quality stations, but only as monthly averages, and with no transparency into how those averages are derived. A single reading taken at the end of the month would produce the same number as thirty daily measurements."

Our Approach

We believe in ground truth. Our network uses a hybrid approach: official AirGradient kits which are safe, verifiable and accurate while maintaining rigorous, open standards. Where we lack ground coverage, satellite modeling (CAMS) fills in the gaps for regional trends.

Philosophy

Open source is not just a licensing decision for us. The code is open so anyone can audit what we claim. The methodology is documented so anyone can challenge it. The data is free so anyone can use it. We think that is how it should be, and believe that should never be changed. Open-source is fundamentally about dismantling artificial boundaries and democratizing access to truth. In a country as vast and structurally complex as India, decentralized and transparent systems are the most logical counter to infrastructural opacity. This project grounds its philosophy in the same critical observation that defined much of Pink Floyd's work: a rejection of isolation and a demand to examine the systems built around us.