Serving NEXRAD imagery with Open-Source GIS

Daryl Herzmann

Dr Raymond Arritt

Iowa Environmental Mesonet

Department of Agronomy

Iowa State University

Iowa Environmental Mesonet

We collect, analyze, display, disseminate, and archive environmental data.

Archive holds over 350 million obs.

Each day we process ~200,000 obs.

Build partnerships between private, public, and academic sectors.

Open Source / Open GIS

Inter-operable

Non-proprietary

Cross-platform

Community Energy

Global collaboration

Penny Marshall discussing e-business

strategy with Linux.

“It is all about timing, kid”

(IBM Commercial)

http://www.opengis.org

http://www.freegis.org

Mapserver
http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu

Open Source

GIS Web Mapping

Supports WMS/WFS OGC standards

Supports a vast number of GIS data sources

Actively developed by a world-wide community

WMS: Web Map Service

Server listens for HTTP GET or POST (xml encoded) requests

Server responds with an image, an exception, or XML encoded capabilities

Issues of transparency, time, and meta-data

ESRI ArcExplorer combining WMS layers from IEM Mapserver and Iowa State GIS Lab OrthoServer.

Available GIS Datasets

Publicly accessible Spatial Database of observations

National 2km & Midwest 1km base reflectivity rasters generated and archived every 5 minutes

Numerous download pages of historical data in a GIS Ready format.

High res floater done for Hurricane Isabel. Archive is available for

download.

NEXRAD Web Map Service
http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/wms/comprad.php?

Publicly Accessible WMS with composite base reflectivity

Raw layers are available for HTTP download

Will remain public until I get slashdotted

NEXRAD and TV radar both showing 'solar spikes' at sunset.

Mapping Applications

RADAR Comparisons

Dynamically compare 7 NEXRADs, 1 TV C-band RADAR, and a composite

Powered by PHP MapScript with ~50 lines of code

Click on the composite to compare the 8 RADARs

IEM Freeze

GIS Layers

NEXRAD

Road Temps

Air Temps

State Borders

County Borders

Label

Logo!

NEXRAD with warnings

Terrible Tuesday

Using NWS Warning Polygons

Warnings are mined into a spatial database in real time

Mapserver can use this as a data layer

Warnings are synced with the NEXRAD layer for display

Provides valuable insight for the specific areas and tracks the forecasters are concentrating on

Great data-source for verification studies

Summary

Where is the IEM going with GIS?

I don't know.

What will I show next year at AMS/IIPS/GIS?

Perhaps I won't be invited!

Who can use our software and data?

Anybody who likes Open-Source and isn't afraid to have some fun in the process!

Will OSS/Mapserver/Linux rule the world?

YES! WHA-HA-HA!!!

I'm done, questions?

Daryl Herzmann

3010 Agronomy

515-294-5978

akrherz@iastate.edu

2003-10-21T21:25:52