Internet Mapping Services for the National Weather Service

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Internet Mapping Services for the National
Weather Service

• Internet Mapping Service
• Integrated Work Team
• March 27, 2003

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IMS Team
Team chartered August 2002 by Barry West and Gary
Carter Bob Bunge, CIO co-chair Ken Waters, PR
co-chair

• Ira Graffman, OST
• Steve King, WR
• Donna Page, OHD
• Wendy Pearson, CR

Frank Richards, OCWWS Dave Ruth, OST Jack
Settelmaier, SR Bruce Webster, NCEP
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Key Terms

• Geographic Information System (GIS)
• Software, hardware, data, and personnel used to
  manipulate, analyze, and present information tied
  to a spatial location
• Internet Mapping
• Geo-referenced information made available on the
  World Wide Web via an Internet Map Server (IMS)

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Background

• Water Resources Internet Mapping (WRIM) Team (Sep
  01 Jun 02)
• Prior ST Committee actions - 2 of 3 adopted
• Experimental use of ArcIMS on cooperating
  Regional/HQ web farms until a full implementation
  plan is developed. (ongoing)
• NWS-wide team to examine full implementation
  issues. (IMS team)
• ArcIMS be the NWS IMS standard. (deferred)

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Looking Forward

• Serving NDFD information to the public and
  partners
• Delivering critical weather and hydrology data to
  emergency managers
• Severe weather reports, live watches/warnings
• Radar, satellite, model grids...
• ALL in GIS-ready format!

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Customer Pyramid
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IMS is Requirements-Driven

• Draft NWS Strategic Plan for 2003-2008 Goal 3
• Serve Societys Needs for Weather and Water
  Information
• NRC report
• Federal Consulting Group/Claes Fornell
  International Groups Survey for the NWS
• Emergency managers (479 respondents)
• 8.5 on 10 point scale would use GIS information
  from the NWS

NWS should make its observational data, models,
and other products available in
Internet-accessible digital formthe information
should be stored in a standard format that can be
accessed by the public and used by all those
involved in the weather and climate enterprise.
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IMS Benefits

• NWS 21st century delivery of weather data
• Consistent with NRC report (and NOAAs GeoSpatial
  Data and Climate Services (GDCS))
• Allies NWS with NOAA agencies moving to online
  GIS (NOAA Enterprise GIS working group)
• Many customers will benefit (emergency managers,
  disaster relief agencies, homeland security, land
  management agencies, general public, etc.)

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More IMS Benefits

• IMS database can serve as a more complete
  dissemination interface for NWS data
• NDFD
• Radar Data
• Satellite Data
• Hydrologic Data
• Watches/Warnings

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Prototype Proposal

• Develop live IMS (geared towards emergency
  managers)
• Atlantic/Gulf of Mexico Tropical Cyclone track
  forecasts
• Precipitation and stream gauge observations/foreca
  sts
• Storm surge information
• Weather and flood watches/warnings
• Allows for interactive display with layers such
  as roads, cities, county borders, shelters, etc.

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Prototype Timeline

• Apr 03 Define contractor statement of work
• May 03 Hire contractor
• Jun 03 IMS development
• Jul - Nov 03 Conduct Prototype
• Dec 03 Evaluation
• Jan 04 Prototype Assessment Report

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Prototype Success Criteria

• EM Documented Feedback on Service Improvement
• Demonstrate Ability to Collect, Decode, and Share
  Broad Spectrum of NWS Data
• Measure/Monitor/Assess IMS Usage
• Server and Database Needs
• Peak Usage Stability

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Prototype Implementation Requirements

• Software
• ESRI ArcIMS 4.0.1 8K
• Hardware
• Use existing Linux platforms
• Other tools - 2K
• Communications
• Use existing NWSnet telecommunications to move
  data to participating web farms
• Contractor support (Glue)
• 65K
• User interface development, coordination,
  maintenance

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Alternatives to ArcIMS

• Other commercial mapping programs
• Lack ESRIs market share, support, and product
  customization (reference WRIM Team report, 2002)
• Open Source IMS
• Exciting new technology, but requires
  substantially more human resources for training
  and development
• Emergency Management Data System (EMDS)
• Experimental software written by FSL, no longer
  supported
• Lacks easy integration with common GIS formats

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Recommendations

• Endorse Use of ArcIMS across NWS
• STIP Inclusion
• Fund Prototype
• FY03 75K
• Identify Steering Committee
• OST Lead and Oversight

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Lets Look Forward!!

• Serving NDFD information to the public and
  partners
• Delivering critical weather and hydrology data to
  emergency managers
• Severe weather reports, live watches/warnings
• Radar, satellite, model grids...
• ALL in GIS-ready format!