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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

Ira Graffman, OSTSteve King, WRDonna Page, OHDWendy Pearson, CR

Frank Richards, OCWWSDave Ruth, OSTJack Settelmaier, SRBruce Webster, NCEP

Team chartered August 2002 by Barry West and Gary Carter

Bob Bunge, CIO [co-chair]Ken Waters, PR [co-chair]

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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 S&T 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 Society’s Needs for Weather and Water Information

– NRC report:

– Federal Consulting Group/Claes Fornell International Group’s 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 form…the 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 NOAA’s

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/forecasts

• 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 ESRI’s 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– OS&T Lead and Oversight

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Let’s 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!