Plenty of sites will hand you an air quality number. MiseGauge gathers everything you need to answer the actual question — is it all right to go out right now?
MiseGauge covers South Korea. It reads from the national network of 673 air quality monitoring stations, so it works anywhere in the country — but not yet outside it.
A single band like "Moderate" covers a lot of ground. Moderate that is almost Good and Moderate that is almost Unhealthy feel nothing alike. That is why MiseGauge uses a needle gauge with fine gradations, like a car dashboard. Beyond the number and the label, the needle's position alone tells you whether you are at the start of that band or the very end of it.
MiseGauge shows the ten nearest stations out of 673 nationwide, in order of distance. Stations regularly go quiet for maintenance or network faults; when that happens you swipe across and see the next closest one instead. A site that shows only the single nearest station leaves you with nothing on those days.
Weather is the other thing people check constantly. MiseGauge works out whether rain is coming in the next several hours and when it starts, then just tells you: "No umbrella needed" or "Rain possible around 23:00." No comparing rows of precipitation percentages yourself.
A UV number on its own does not mean much either. So it becomes advice about sunscreen instead — from "a quick dab will do" up to "pile it on" — telling you how much you actually need today.
Today's temperature alone does not tell you whether to dress more warmly than you did yesterday. MiseGauge compares against the same hour a day earlier and says it plainly: "3° warmer than yesterday."
The four-day short-range forecast and the seven-day medium-range forecast are joined into eleven days you can read in one go. Air quality, today's weather, this week, next week — all on one page, without hopping between apps.
Stations go quiet for maintenance or network faults. Quietly filling the gap with a neighbouring station's number, or leaving the previous hour's value in place, makes the screen look complete. It is also untrue — and you would be deciding whether to go out based on something that is not true.
So MiseGauge shows it for what it is: "No reading came through." Swipe to the next station and you can usually find a substitute. That is part of why all 673 stations are laid out by distance in the first place.
Open the address in a browser and it works. No app to install, no account to create. If you check it often, add it to your home screen and it opens full-screen like an app — on iOS Safari, Share → "Add to Home Screen"; on Android Chrome, the menu → "Add to Home screen".
It follows your device's dark mode automatically, and the moon button in the top right switches it by hand.
The details are in the privacy policy.
Air quality comes from AirKorea (Korea Environment Corporation) and its 673 stations nationwide; weather comes from the Korea Meteorological Administration. Both arrive through Korea's public data portal open API (KOGL Type 1·3). MiseGauge only makes that data easier to read, so its accuracy and timing follow the source.
Stations belong to different networks depending on what they were built to watch, and two stations in the same neighbourhood can read differently because of it. That is why every card names its network.
| Network | Stations |
|---|---|
| Urban air | 532 |
| Roadside air | 68 |
| Port | 35 |
| Suburban air | 27 |
| National background (islands) | 11 |
How to read the numbers, and what to do at each level, is set out on the air quality grades page.
Yes. It is funded by advertising. There are no paid features and nothing to buy.
It is web only. Add it to your home screen and it opens full-screen like an app, with nothing to install or update — and the same address works identically on iPhone, Android and desktop.
Not yet. Air quality comes from AirKorea and weather from the Korea Meteorological Administration, both Korean agencies, so there is nothing to show for coordinates abroad.
Because a roadside station, a residential one and one near an industrial estate really do measure different air. It is not a fault — it is the character of that spot. The grades page explains it in more detail.
That is maintenance, calibration or a network fault. Rather than invent a figure we mark it unavailable, so swipe across to the next station.
Nearest stations in order, a gauge fine enough to read properly, plus rain, UV, the change from yesterday and eleven days ahead. Have a look at your own neighbourhood.
If something is wrong or you have a suggestion, do get in touch: [email protected]