[mapserver-users] Meteorological implementations?

[Steve Lime]

You might be able to do that MapServer, depends on how sophisticated the
labeling needs to be. Version 3.7 lets you offset features so you could
define complex presentations around a station point using multiple
layers. As long as data could be stored in shapefiles or another
supported format you'd be ok. 

You could also do something like:

  http://thoreau.dnr.state.mn.us/weather/map.html 

Where detailed station data is presented when the mouse moves over a
station, while displaying more general data in the map itself. In this
case we store station data in XML files but could easily access a
version of the data that is stored in a relational database.

Just thinking out loud...

Steve

>>> Gerry Creager <gerry.creager at tamu.edu> 10/22/02 04:06PM >>>
I believe this to be the case.  Specifically, what I'v envisioned is a

mapserver baselayer and core functionality as a mapservice, with
weather 
station sites overlaid thereon, as queriable objects.  I'd like to find

a way to update the station data as new data rolls in (temperature, dew

point, barometric pressure) as well as setting a wind barb character
and 
rotating same to reflect the direction

Specifically, what we're doing is creating the demo site for a
"Mesonet" 
or a statewide, dense network of weather stations reporting conditions

in near real time.  (Sean, look at www.mesonet.org for a well 
established example.)

We're working under some time constraints that are some where between 
ambitious and unrealistic to get an initial site up.  That's why I 
decided to solicit some input here rather than trying to reinvent the
wheel.

Thanks!
gerry

Steve Lime wrote:
> Describe what you guys mean by station data? MapServer may just
> be a piece of the puzzle. TrueType lines where added specifically
with
> meteorological data in mind.
> 
> Steve
> 
> Stephen Lime
> Data & Applications Manager
> 
> Minnesota DNR
> 500 Lafayette Road
> St. Paul, MN 55155
> 651-297-2937
> 
> 
>>>>Sean Gillies <sgillies at frii.com> 10/21/02 10:36AM >>>
>>>
> Gerry,
> 
> I'm not using Mapserver for any wx stuff, but I know
> the software well and I've seen tons of weather maps.
> 
> Mapserver by itself is not going to be a good tool
> for displaying station data.  If you had isopleths,
> fronts, troughs, etc. as vectors, and maybe even
> radar echos as rasters, Mapserver would be
> great for rendering these.  You'd need some extra
> functionality for station data unless you could
> come up with a creative hack like turning station
> plots into shapes in a shapefile.
> 
> If I were doing it, I'd use Mapserver or mapscript
> to make a base map, and then merge it with custom
> station data imagery created using the Python Imaging
> Library or Python or Perl script interfaces to the
> GD library.
> 
> cheers,
> Sean
> 
> Gerry Creager N5JXS wrote:
> 
> 
>>Has anyone been using Mapserver for meteorological implementations,
>>especially display of weather stations and their data?
>>
>>Could you please reply directly to gerry.creager at tamu.edu with URLs
> 
> and
> 
>>any comments pro- or con?
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Gerry
> 
> 


-- 
--
Gerry Creager -- gerry.creager at tamu.edu 
Network Engineering -- AATLT, Texas A&M University	
Office: 979.458.4020  FAX: 979.847.8578
Cell: 979.229.4301    Pager: 979.228.0173