Last updated: July 2026
Arounded is a free, transparent map of what's around the places you care about — the built environment and the natural one — and how it changes over time. We use public data, name every source, and would rather say "unknown" than guess.
For anything urgent — health, evacuation, an emergency — follow your official alerts first. Arounded is for context and patterns, not split-second calls.
Arounded helps you understand what's happening around a location — and what's been happening over time. Instead of only showing "right now," it's built to surface patterns like smoke days over the last month or repeated AQI spikes.
We pull from public sources and present the results on a map. In a few places, we compute simple derived signals (like "smoke day") to make history consistent and easier to interpret.
Smoke plume data comes from NOAA's daily satellite analysis. It's published as GeoJSON polygons and commonly includes density categories (Light, Medium, Heavy), when available in the source dataset. Arounded refreshes it daily and displays it as an overlay on the map.
What "smoke day" means
A day when a NOAA smoke plume polygon overlapped a saved location at least once. We calculate this with geometry-based detection (point-in-polygon), then log it daily for saved places.
It's a consistent signal for pattern tracking — it does not measure indoor exposure or duration.
Notes: satellite interpretation can miss low-level smoke or fast-changing events. Conditions can change quickly within a day.
Arounded shows PM2.5 and US AQI values for a location. PM2.5 refers to fine particulate matter. US AQI is a standardized scale that converts pollutant levels into a single number that's easier to interpret (higher = worse air quality).
For saved places, we log daily values once per day so you can see history and trends over the last 90 days — smoke-day counts, and average and peak AQI.
Notes: air-quality values can be based on a mix of station observations and models. Local micro-conditions may differ from the nearest estimate.
Weather includes temperature and daily highs/lows (and may include wind/humidity depending on the view). These values help explain context around air quality and smoke conditions.
Notes: forecasts are model-based and can vary by elevation, proximity to water, and urban heat effects.
Regulated and monitored facilities are queried on demand from the EPA FRS radial search API around the area you're viewing, rather than mirrored — the national registry is far too large to store. We show locations and basic attributes from the source data.
Notes: EPA records can lag real-world openings/closures and may be incomplete in some areas.
Data centers come from FracTracker Alliance's open tracker, which documents proposed, approved/under-construction, expanding, and operating sites. Points are color-coded by status, and where available we show the operator, power demand (MW), cooling, size, and whether community opposition has been reported. Refreshed weekly.
Notes: the tracker is a documentation effort, so some fields are incomplete and locations may be approximate for early-stage projects. For planning or advocacy, verify a specific site through local permitting, zoning, or operator documentation. FracTracker data is used here under its non-commercial terms with attribution.
Power generation facilities are queried on demand from OpenStreetMap for the area you're viewing, including fuel type and capacity where contributors have tagged them.
Notes: OpenStreetMap is crowd-sourced, so coverage and detail vary by region.
Physical air-quality monitoring stations are queried on demand from OpenAQ, which aggregates government and research monitors. This complements the modeled air-quality values shown in the conditions panel with the locations of real-world sensors.
As datasets refresh, Arounded records when facilities appear or disappear so you can see how an area is changing, not just its current state. Those events are summarized in plain language on the change log.
Arounded is at its best for context and patterns — not split-second decisions. If you're deciding whether to evacuate, whether it's safe to be outside during an emergency, or managing serious symptoms, lean on official alerts and medical guidance first.
For everyday life, the history view earns its keep: smoke days over the last month, repeated AQI spikes, or how heat and air quality shift with the seasons.
Environmental conditions can change quickly. Any map-based view is an approximation of a complex world. Arounded prioritizes consistency and transparency over "perfect precision."
Smoke data is based on satellite interpretation and reflects where plumes were identified. "Smoke day" means plume overlap — it does not measure exposure duration, indoor air quality, or personal health impact.
Air-quality estimates may differ from on-the-ground measurements, especially at very local scales. Facilities and infrastructure layers can contain omissions or out-of-date records depending on the source.
If something looks wrong, treat it as a signal to verify — not a final answer.
Arounded provides environmental information for educational purposes. It is not medical advice.
If you have health concerns related to smoke or air quality, follow guidance from a healthcare professional and official public health agencies.
Arounded is built on public and openly-licensed data. We credit each source and respect its license.