For too long, indoor air quality (IAQ) data has lived in silos. Building managers and residents often find themselves staring at a dashboard of disparate numbers PM_2.5 levels in μg/m³ and CO₂ in ppm, without a clear understanding of how these factors interact to affect human health and cognitive performance. 

The Global Open Indoor Air Quality Score (GO IAQS) was designed to solve this by creating a “common language” for the air we breathe. Today, we are thrilled to showcase how AirGradient has taken this methodology from a conceptual vision to a powerful, tangible reality for the global community.

The GO IAQS Score: A Cohesive Metric

AirGradient has successfully integrated the GO IAQS methodology into their ecosystem through the development of dynamic air quality widgets. These widgets do more than just display data; they synthesize PM_2.5 and CO₂ measurements from AirGradient’s instruments into a single, intuitive GO IAQS Score. AirGradient has been looking for a suitable metric for years to combine the two important metrics of CO2 and PM.

• PM_2.5 Integration: Capturing the impact of fine particulate matter on respiratory and cardiovascular health.
• CO₂ Integration: Serving as a proxy for ventilation and its immediate effects on concentration, drowsiness, and viral transmission risk.

AirGradient implemented the GO IAQS methodology in two ways, (1) by providing a GO IAQS Score simulator and (2) by providing a GO IAQS Score widget.

GO IAQS Score Simulator

Understanding a new metric requires experimentation. To empower the community and democratize IAQ knowledge, AirGradient has launched the GO IAQS Score Simulator.

This interactive tool allows users to:

• Toggle variables: Slide PM_2.5 and CO₂ levels up and down to see how they influence the final score in real-time.
• Understand Weighting: Visualize how the methodology balances chronic health risks against acute environmental factors.
• Educate Stakeholders: Use a visual sandbox to demonstrate to building owners or school boards why maintaining specific thresholds matters.

AirGradient GO IAQS Score Widgets

In a major step toward standardization, AirGradient has announced that all of its monitors will support the GO IAQS Score widgets. Whether you are using the AirGradient ONE (Open Air) for professional building management or a DIY kit for home research, the ability to speak this common IAQ language is now built into the hardware’s DNA. In progress is the implementation of the GO IAQS score directly on the monitoring hardware (i.e. that the LED bar of the AirGradient ONE correspond to the GO IAQS score.

GO IAQS Starter Score Technical Implementation Paper

AirGradient has released the GO IAQS Starter Score Technical Implementation Paper, a comprehensive guide. By providing a production-ready reference implementation of the GO IAQS algorithm, AirGradient enables software teams to integrate standardized scoring for PM2.5 and CO2 across diverse platforms, including web, mobile, and embedded systems. The paper outlines a deterministic, piecewise linear scoring model that ensures identical sensor inputs yield the same grades, color codes, and health advice regardless of the device used. Through this open-source initiative, which includes a canonical TypeScript library and HTML widgets, AirGradient is helping the industry move toward an auditable and unified framework that makes air quality data more accessible and actionable for the public.

“We are deeply grateful to the AirGradient team for investing their time and technical resources into materializing our vision. Their commitment to transparency and open data has been instrumental in making the GO IAQS methodology accessible to everyone.”

A Shared Future for IAQ

This collaboration marks a shift away from confusing, proprietary scales toward a unified standard that prioritizes human well-being. By turning complex environmental science into actionable scores, AirGradient is helping ensure that “good air” is no longer a matter of interpretation, but a measurable certainty.