Provision of NWS Info in Geospatial Format

The NWS seeks user input as it evolves its geographical data services.

 

To advance the environmental information enterprise, NOAA/NWS will provide information in forms accessible to the public as well as underlying data in forms convenient to additional processing, to the extent practicable and within resource constraints.

 

Data and products will be made available in internet-accessible, vendor-neutral form. Information will comply with recognized standards, formats, and metadata descriptions to ensure data from different observing platforms, data bases, and models can be integrated and used by all interested parties.

 

Standards used for dissemination of NOAA/NWS datasets will make specifications freely available to the public and available to the user community without charge or restriction. The standards for data dissemination will be mature and well supported by industry.

 

While most NWS information is geospatial in nature, the NWS does not yet systematically provide that information in GIS-ready formats. A listing of current NWS geospatial data resources can be found at:

 

http://www.weather.gov/gis/

 

Up to now, efforts at providing GIS-friendly information have been initiated for generally limited purposes or by particular groups — it is not yet done in an integrated fashion across the NWS. For that reason, the resources included in the link above provide a range of information provided in a number of different modes.

 

The NWS recognizes the need to systematically provide geospatial information in a consistent fashion and with operational reliability. We are seeking comments from users on the provision of geospatial information by the NWS. We will use these comments to help us allocate resources in a way that best meets highest priority user needs.

 

Specifically, we seek input on what classes of information are most valuable (e.g., radar, temperature, winds, hurricane track), preferred formats (e.g., shapefile, OGC compliant), and types of access (e.g., ftp download, map/feature service). Please be a specific as possible. For instance, the NWS provides temperature information in a number of ways – if particular temperature data are important, please identify them.

 

Please provide your comments in the box below. Providing contact information that would allow follow up with you is strictly voluntary.

 

(Source US National Weather Services)