Forecast

  • The Google Maps Platform Pollen API provides daily pollen forecasts for up to 5 days, customizable by location, language, and level of detail.

  • Pollen data includes type, index (UPI), health recommendations, and detailed plant information (if requested).

  • Responses are in JSON format and can be paginated using nextPageToken for larger datasets.

  • The Universal Pollen Index (UPI) with a scale of 0-5 and color codes indicates pollen levels and potential impact.

  • Plant descriptions offer insights into seasonality, appearance, and potential cross-reactions with other allergens.

The forecast endpoint provides up to 5 days of daily pollen information. You can control the following information that is shown to users:

  • Number of forecast days
  • Language code for translated fields
  • Response page size
  • Detailed information about a given area's plants and their allergenic potential

The APIs Explorer lets you make live requests so that you can get familiar with the API and the API options:

About forecast requests

To request daily pollen information using the forecast endpoint, send an HTTP GET request to:

https://pollen.googleapis.com/v1/forecast:lookup?key=YOUR_API_KEY

Include your parameters in the URL. The request contains the location for which you would like to get the pollen forecast, the number of forecast days, and pollen information to include in the response.

About forecast responses

The response body provides the region code of the requested coordinates and daily forecast information for each day requested. If you request information for more than one day, the response body also includes a token to retrieve the next page if the information does not fit within the requested page size.

The response body also includes three objects:

  • DayInfo provides the date of the represented forecast, along with PollenTypeInfo and PlantInfo.

  • PollenTypeInfo provides the seasonality of available pollen types (GRASS, TREE, and WEED), pollen index, and associated health recommendations at the requested coordinates.

  • PlantInfo provides plant names and descriptions — including seasonality, appearance, and cross-reactions — at the requested coordinates.

Basic parameters

Example request

The following code shows how to construct a basic request for a forecast:lookup request. In this example, you set the location and number of days of pollen information.

curl -X GET "https://pollen.googleapis.com/v1/forecast:lookup?key=YOUR_API_KEY&location.longitude=35.32&location.latitude=32.32&days=1"

Example response

The call above generates the following JSON response.

{
  "regionCode": "IL",
  "dailyInfo": [
    {
      "date": {
        "year": 2023,
        "month": 7,
        "day": 11
      },
      "pollenTypeInfo": [
        {
          "code": "GRASS",
          "displayName": "Grass",
          "inSeason": true,
          "indexInfo": {
            "code": "UPI",
            "displayName": "Universal Pollen Index",
            "value": 1,
            "category": "Very Low",
            "indexDescription": "People with very high allergy to pollen are likely to experience symptoms",
            "color": {
              "green": 0.61960787,
              "blue": 0.22745098
            }
          },
          "healthRecommendations": [
            "Pollen levels are very low right now. It's a great day to enjoy the outdoors!"
          ]
        },
        {
          "code": "TREE",
          "displayName": "Tree",
          "inSeason": false,
          "indexInfo": {
            "code": "UPI",
            "displayName": "Universal Pollen Index",
            "value": 1,
            "category": "Very Low",
            "indexDescription": "People with very high allergy to pollen are likely to experience symptoms",
            "color": {
              "green": 0.61960787,
              "blue": 0.22745098
            }
          },
          "healthRecommendations": [
            "Pollen levels are very low right now. It's a great day to enjoy the outdoors!"
          ]
        },
        {
          "code": "WEED",
          "displayName": "Weed",
          "inSeason": true,
          "indexInfo": {
            "code": "UPI",
            "displayName": "Universal Pollen Index",
            "value": 1,
            "category": "Very Low",
            "indexDescription": "People with very high allergy to pollen are likely to experience symptoms",
            "color": {
              "green": 0.61960787,
              "blue": 0.22745098
            }
          },
          "healthRecommendations": [
            "Pollen levels are very low right now. It's a great day to enjoy the outdoors!"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "plantInfo": [
        {
          "code": "BIRCH",
          "displayName": "Birch",
          "inSeason": false,
          "indexInfo": {
            "code": "UPI",
            "displayName": "Universal Pollen Index",
            "value": 1,
            "category": "Very Low",
            "indexDescription": "People with very high allergy to pollen are likely to experience symptoms",
            "color": {
              "green": 0.61960787,
              "blue": 0.22745098
            }
          },
          "plantDescription": {
            "type": "TREE",
            "family": "Betulaceae (the Birch family)",
            "season": "Late winter, spring",
            "specialColors": "The bark is usually whitish-gray, silver, or sometimes red.",
            "specialShapes": "Birch leaves are often triangular with jagged edges. The bark on most birch trees has horizontal dark streaks that look like scoring. Birch tree bark is also well-known for its paper-like texture and peeling nature.",
            "crossReaction": "Alder, Hazel, Hornbeam, Beech, Willow, and Oak pollen. In addition, there may be a higher risk for food allergies like hazelnuts, almonds, peanuts, pears, apples, cherries and carrots.",
            "picture": "https://storage.googleapis.com/pollen-pictures/birch_full.jpg",
            "pictureCloseup": "https://storage.googleapis.com/pollen-pictures/birch_closeup.jpg"
          }
        },
        {
          "code": "OLIVE",
          "displayName": "Olive"
        },
        {
          "code": "GRAMINALES",
          "displayName": "Grasses",
          "inSeason": true,
          "indexInfo": {
            "code": "UPI",
            "displayName": "Universal Pollen Index",
            "value": 1,
            "category": "Very Low",
            "indexDescription": "People with very high allergy to pollen are likely to experience symptoms",
            "color": {
              "green": 0.61960787,
              "blue": 0.22745098
            }
          },
          "plantDescription": {
            "type": "GRASS",
            "family": "Poaceae",
            "season": "Late spring, summer",
            "specialColors": "None",
            "specialShapes": "The leaves are alternate, long and narrow and the leaf margin is smooth.",
            "crossReaction": "Plantain (Plantago) pollen. In addition, there may be a higher risk for food allergies like melons, oranges, tomatoes, peanuts, soy, potato, and other legumes.",
            "picture": "https://storage.googleapis.com/pollen-pictures/graminales_full.jpg",
            "pictureCloseup": "https://storage.googleapis.com/pollen-pictures/graminales_closeup.jpg"
          }
        },
        {
          "code": "RAGWEED",
          "displayName": "Ragweed",
          "inSeason": true,
          "indexInfo": {
            "code": "UPI",
            "displayName": "Universal Pollen Index",
            "value": 0,
            "category": "None",
            "indexDescription": "Pollen levels are very low and are not likely to trigger allergic reactions",
            "color": {}
          },
          "plantDescription": {
            "type": "WEED",
            "family": "Asteraceae (the daisy family)",
            "season": "Late summer, fall",
            "specialColors": "None",
            "specialShapes": "The leaves are alternate or opposite, divided and lobed. The leaf margin is smooth or serrated.",