BloomTracker - DWD Pollen API Client

A Python client for the DWD (Deutscher Wetterdienst) pollen forecast API, providing current and future pollen load information across Germany. This package offers both synchronous and asynchronous interfaces, data caching, CLI tools, and visualization capabilities.

The DWD publishes this data as a JSON endpoint and documents it in this German PDF.

Features

• Synchronous & Asynchronous APIs: Choose between traditional blocking calls or async operations
• Data Caching: Reduce API calls with local caching
• Command-Line Interface: Easy access to pollen data from your terminal
• Data Visualization: Generate charts and visualizations of pollen forecasts
• Comprehensive Region Coverage: All German regions supported by the DWD API
• Rich Data Formatting: Human-readable descriptions and numerical values
• Error Handling: Robust retry mechanisms and error reporting

Installation

pip install bloomtracker

Requires Python 3.12 or higher.

Command-Line Usage

After installation, you can use the bloomtracker command to get pollen data:

# Get pollen data for Berlin/Brandenburg
bloomtracker -r 50 -p -1

# List all available regions
bloomtracker --list

# Export data as JSON
bloomtracker -r 50 -p -1 --format json

# Save to file
bloomtracker -r 50 -p -1 --format json -o pollen_data.json

# Force update (bypass cache)
bloomtracker -r 50 -p -1 --no-cache

API Usage

Basic Usage

from bloomtracker import DwdPollenApi

# Initialize the API client
api = DwdPollenApi()

# Get data for Berlin/Brandenburg (region_id=50, partregion_id=-1)
data = api.get_pollen(50, -1)

# Display region name
print(f"Region: {data['region_name']}")

# Access specific allergen data
birke_data = data['pollen'].get('Birke', {})
for date, info in birke_data.items():
    print(f"Date: {date}, Load: {info['human']} ({info['value']})")

Asynchronous Usage

import asyncio
from bloomtracker import AsyncDwdPollenApi

async def get_pollen_data():
    # Initialize the async API client
    api = AsyncDwdPollenApi()
    
    # Update data from the API
    await api.update()
    
    # Get data for Berlin/Brandenburg
    data = await api.get_pollen(50, -1)
    print(f"Region: {data['region_name']}")
    
    # Get available allergens
    allergens = await api.get_allergen_names()
    print(f"Available allergens: {allergens}")

# Run the async function
asyncio.run(get_pollen_data())

Data Visualization

from bloomtracker import DwdPollenApi
from bloomtracker.visualization import generate_chart

# Initialize the API
api = DwdPollenApi()
data = api.get_pollen(50, -1)

# Generate a heatmap of all allergens and dates
generate_chart(data, output_path="pollen_heatmap.png")

# Show forecast for a specific allergen
generate_chart(data, allergen_name="Birke", output_path="birke_forecast.png")

# Show all allergens for a specific date
today = datetime.datetime.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d')
generate_chart(data, date_str=today, output_path="today_allergens.png")

Region IDs and Partregion IDs

The API uses the region_id and partregion_id to identify the different regions in Germany. The following regions are available:

Usage

The API will return the data on a best effort basis.

import bloomtracker
api = bloomtracker.DwdPollenApi()
api.get_pollen(50, -1)

{'region_id': 50,
 'region_name': 'Brandenburg und Berlin ',
 'partregion_id': -1,
 'partregion_name': '',
 'last_update': datetime.datetime(2019, 4, 18, 11, 0),
 'next_update': datetime.datetime(2019, 4, 19, 11, 0),
 'pollen': {'Graeser': {'2019-04-19': {'value': 0.0,
    'raw': '0',
    'human': 'keine Belastung'},
   '2019-04-20': {'value': 0.0, 'raw': '0', 'human': 'keine Belastung'}},
  'Roggen': {'2019-04-19': {'value': 0.0,
    'raw': '0',
    'human': 'keine Belastung'},
   '2019-04-20': {'value': 0.0, 'raw': '0', 'human': 'keine Belastung'}},
  'Hasel': {'2019-04-19': {'value': 0.0,
    'raw': '0',
    'human': 'keine Belastung'},
   '2019-04-20': {'value': 0.0, 'raw': '0', 'human': 'keine Belastung'}},
  'Beifuss': {'2019-04-19': {'value': 0.0,
    'raw': '0',
    'human': 'keine Belastung'},
   '2019-04-20': {'value': 0.0, 'raw': '0', 'human': 'keine Belastung'}},
  'Esche': {'2019-04-19': {'value': 2.0,
    'raw': '2',
    'human': 'mittlere Belastung'},
   '2019-04-20': {'value': 2.0, 'raw': '2', 'human': 'mittlere Belastung'}},
  'Birke': {'2019-04-19': {'value': 3.0,
    'raw': '3',
    'human': 'hohe Belastung'},
   '2019-04-20': {'value': 3.0, 'raw': '3', 'human': 'hohe Belastung'}},
  'Erle': {'2019-04-19': {'value': 0.0,
    'raw': '0',
    'human': 'keine Belastung'},
   '2019-04-20': {'value': 0.0, 'raw': '0', 'human': 'keine Belastung'}},
  'Ambrosia': {'2019-04-19': {'value': 0.0,
    'raw': '0',
    'human': 'keine Belastung'},
   '2019-04-20': {'value': 0.0, 'raw': '0', 'human': 'keine Belastung'}}}}

Development

Development Workflow

This project includes comprehensive development tooling for code quality and dependency management.

Prerequisites

1. Install the package in development mode:

   pip install -e .
   

2. Install development dependencies:

   pip install pylint licensecheck pytest pytest-asyncio
   

3. Or use the included virtual environment setup:

   python -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
   pip install -e .
   pip install pylint licensecheck pytest pytest-asyncio
   

Development Scripts

Use the development script for common tasks:

# Lint the code with pylint
./scripts/dev.sh lint

# Check license compatibility 
./scripts/dev.sh license-check

# Run tests
./scripts/dev.sh test

# Run all checks (lint + license + tests)
./scripts/dev.sh check-all

Code Quality

• Pylint Score: All individual files achieve 10.00/10
• Package Score: 9.84/10 (only duplicate code warnings between sync/async clients)
• License Compatibility: All 29 dependencies are GPL-3.0+ compatible

Pre-commit Hooks

The project includes pre-commit hooks for automatic license checking:

# Install pre-commit (if not already installed)
pip install pre-commit

# Install the hooks
pre-commit install

# Run manually
pre-commit run --all-files

License Management

All dependencies are checked for GPL-3.0+ compatibility using licensecheck. The configuration is in .licensecheck.ini and integrated into the CI/CD pipeline.

License

bloomtracker - API client for the "Deutscher Wetterdienst" to get the current pollen load in Germany Copyright (C) 2025 Sascha Triller

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.