I was just visiting El Paso. At one point, the air quality index was off the charts (above 500, the max value). At that point, it was considered hazardous to health for anybody. It felt strange, but all we could really do was stay indoors and wait out the dust storms.

A few years ago there were wildfires near SF. As a result of SF-based software engineers experiencing truly anwful air quality for probably their first time, Apple and Google’s maps app UIs both got AQI (air quality index) readings.

Glad it’s a thing now! No doubt will come in handy for El Paso residents.

But makes you wonder what else the big companies’ apps would have, if their creators lived in more diverse places.