Transcript USING THE INTERNET TO COMMUNICATE METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION Victor Stefanescu (NMA-NCMF) Overview Goals Resources Description Workflow Comparative analysis Actual status Technology User interface The goals of the project  Simultaneous dissemination of meteorological products (forecasts, warnings.

USING THE INTERNET TO COMMUNICATE
METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION
Victor Stefanescu (NMA-NCMF)
Overview
Goals
Resources
Description
Workflow
Comparative analysis
Actual status
Technology
User interface
The goals of the project
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Simultaneous dissemination of meteorological products
(forecasts, warnings etc.) to the public (mass-media
customers)
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No waiting time between information updates and
information dissemination
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No waiting time between information dissemination and
information access
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Description
The project consists of an integrated software
system formed by a web application and
its satellite desktop applications.
The web application is accessible with any
browser on any major operating system
(Microsoft Windows, Linux).
The satellite applications work in background,
providing the web application with various data.
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Comparative analysis
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In the past, the ways employed to communicate meteorological
information were classical, all implying waiting queues for the clients:
– facsimile
– telephonic transmissions
– e-mail
Advantages for the new system:
– simultaneous distribution of information to all the authorized
customers
– cutting the costs related to phone line transmissions
– employing modern technologies to post various information
on the Internet
Criticable point of the new system:
– accessing the information rests almost solely with the customer
(there are no explicit announcements regarding updates)
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Technology
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The technology employed in the system is new:
– the web application and its satellite applications can be
maintained for about 15 years from now (minimal lifetime of the
technology)
Standards and programming models:
– all dates respect the ISO international date notation
(yyyy-MM-dd HH-mm-ss)
– ASP.NET, XML, HTML; Unicode text files
– main programming language: (Microsoft Visual) C#
Avoided classical model:
– the information is not stored and accessed by using database
servers (supporting SQL), which are big resource consumers and
prone to systemic malfunctions, but simple files with an efficient
and minimalist format
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Resources
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The absolutely necessary resources in order to implement the new
system:
– 1 or more dedicated programmer(s) and 1 or more decisionmaker(s)
– 1 licence for the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003/2005
Professional/Enterprise software package
– 1 computer which can act as a web server (Microsoft IIS, Linux
machines)
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Workflow
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The general forecast product for each day is structured in files
specifically dedicated to each day, archived for later viewing avoiding the risk of overwriting and systemic errors in the storage
medium
The lists of clients and forecast intervals accessibile by each client can
be modified by authorized operators easily, anytime, from any
computer that can access the web application’s server
Updating the information distributed to clients is a very fluent and
easy procedure, possible from any computer that can access the web
application
The forecast and the current weather situation are displayed in
tabular format and on the national territory’s map
The nowcasting and general warning messages reach the media in
real time
There can be used the alternative e-mail service
The web application’s errors are dealt with automatically by it (file
and work recovery methods)
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Actual status
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Project initiation: 2005.11
Completion of the functional basic structure of the web application:
2005.11
Implementation of the web application on an NMA web server:
2006.04
Working time: continuous / dependent on server’s working state
(access through the HTTP protocol)
Access time: continuous, by ~30 media clients
Maintenance: daily or occasionally (non-essential procedures)
Errors: minor, very rare; all dealt with the same day
Expansion: ready to be implemented at each of the Regional
Meteorological Centers of Romania
- limited only by the imagination of our clients, that of the
meteorologists / meteorological products creators and that of the
programmer(s) / designer(s)
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Results. Change of paradigm
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The meteorological information products are automatically structured
for each customer and they reach simultaneously the media,
immediately after creation (seconds). Thus, the need for human
operators that would create each of our client’s products has
diminished
All the severe weather warnings are accessible immediately after their
creation, thus the media being used as a secondary means of rapid
announcement to the public
This system cuts down the costs of information dissemination
The
communication
style
of
the
National
Meteorological
Administration has been improved
The interest of our customers for our Internet-based products has
been stimulated - an increase of ~20% in the number of customers
from August 2006 to December 2006
The system can be expanded anytime, without impairing its
functionality
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BEFORE the implementation
of the web application
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AFTER the implementation
of the web application
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The authentication page
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Forecasters’ control panel
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Portion from a general forecast editing page
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Building the graphical forecast for locations in Romania
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Building the text/graphical forecast for Europe
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Special messages (warnings, other announcements)
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Building the nowcasting messages
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Portion from the product page - textual forecast
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Portion from the product page - tabular format
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Google map around a chosen location
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Microsoft Virtual Earth map around a chosen location
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The graphical forecast for Romania
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The graphical forecast for Romanian historical regions
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The weather now - tabular format
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The weather now - graphical format
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The weather now - Heat index map
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The weather now - Chill index map
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The nowcasting messages page
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Some other Internet destinations
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Bonus: a RSS feed (news) reader
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