opensensemap.boxes.search
Search OpenSenseMap crowdsourced environmental sensor stations by location, name, group tag, exposure type, or measured phenomenon. Returns up to 100 stations with their sensors and latest measurement values. OpenSenseMap hosts 15,000+ community-operated senseBox stations worldwide measuring PM2....
This record as markdown: /tools/io-github-whiteknightonhorse-apibase/opensensemap.boxes.search.md
What opensensemap.boxes.search does on Apibase
AI agents call opensensemap.boxes.search to retrieve information from Apibase without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
name | string | — | Filter stations by name substring (case-insensitive). Example: "berlin" returns all stations with "berlin" in their name. |
limit | integer | — | Maximum number of stations to return (1–100, default 20). |
exposure | string | — | Filter stations by sensor placement: "outdoor" for weather/air-quality monitors, "indoor" for home environment sensors, "mobile" for moving sensors. |
grouptag | string | — | Filter stations by group tag. Tags are set by station owners to identify communities or projects (e.g. "luftdaten", "sensebox", "airrohr"). |
latitude | number | — | Latitude of the search center point (WGS84, e.g. 52.52 for Berlin). Required when longitude is provided. |
longitude | number | — | Longitude of the search center point (WGS84, e.g. 13.40 for Berlin). Required when latitude is provided. |
phenomenon | string | — | Filter stations that measure a specific phenomenon by sensor title (e.g. "Temperatur", "PM2.5", "rel. Luftfeuchte", "Luftdruck", "UV"). Case-insensitive. |
max_distance | integer | — | Maximum search radius in meters when using lat/lng search (default 5000, i.e. 5 km). |
Parameters from the server's own tool schema.
Why opensensemap.boxes.search is rated Low
Tool retrieves publicly available environmental sensor data without modification or side effects.
From the tool's definition Search crowdsourced environmental sensor stations by location, name, group tag, exposure type, or measured phenomenon. Returns up to 100 stations.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
The rule that runs opensensemap.boxes.search safely
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and Apibase, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For opensensemap.boxes.search, this is the rule to start with:
opensensemap.boxes.search is read-only, so it stays allowed. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
The button opens the PolicyLayer dashboard: create your workspace, connect Apibase, apply this rule, and every opensensemap.boxes.search call is checked against it from then on.
Questions about opensensemap.boxes.search
Search OpenSenseMap crowdsourced environmental sensor stations by location, name, group tag, exposure type, or measured phenomenon. Returns up to 100 stations with their sensors and latest measurement values. OpenSenseMap hosts 15,000+ community-operated senseBox stations worldwide measuring PM2.5, temperature, humidity, UV, pressure, CO₂, and more. Location search: provide latitude+longitude to find stations within max_distance meters (default 5 km). Name search: pass name to filter by station name substring (e.g. "berlin", "school"). Phenomenon filter: use "Temperatur", "PM2.5", "rel. Luftfeuchte", "Luftdruck", or "UV-Intensität" to find stations measuring a specific sensor type. Exposure filter: "outdoor" for weather/air-quality monitors, "indoor" for home sensors. Each result includes station ID (use with box_detail or sensors_latest), coordinates, sensor list, and last measurement values. Data is PDDL 1.0 public domain, no attribution required. Source: https://opensensemap.org. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Apibase MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
opensensemap.boxes.search accepts 8 parameters: name, limit, exposure, grouptag, latitude, longitude, phenomenon, max_distance. The full parameter table on this page comes from the server's own tool schema.
Register the Apibase MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for opensensemap.boxes.search: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Apibase. Nothing to install.
opensensemap.boxes.search is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the opensensemap.boxes.search rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for opensensemap.boxes.search. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.
opensensemap.boxes.search is provided by the Apibase MCP server (apibase-mcp-client). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
More on Apibase, and thousands of servers like it.
This server
Across the catalogue