Change Details - GSD MADIS Surface Data Display

17-May-2007 (beta and production)

Some obscure bugs in the remapping code fixed.

26-April-2007 (beta and production) All beta changes moved to operations Remapping code improved and simplified--particularly in polar regions. (See the Overview window.)

9-Mar-2007 (beta) 'noaa' site renamed beta site Access to retrospective data and AWS, UrbaNet, and OK-Meso data is now controlled by the domain name of the requestor. non-NOAA requestors will not see networks they're not allowed to see. And all requestors will be restricted from seeing retrospective data only for those networks that don't allow retrospective data to be viewed. Thus, the public can now see retrospective data from most networks.

5-Mar-2007 (noaa and production)

'beta' site renamed 'noaa' site (http://www-frd.fsl.noaa.gov/mesonet/noaa/). Access restricted to NOAA.
Network AWS disallowed for non-NOAA version at AWS's request. (This continues the current restriction, but is implemented differently internally to allow NOAA sites to view the AWS mesonet.)
Network Urbanet (part of AWS) included for NOAA only.

12-Dec-2005 (production)

All beta changes (including an old one from 1-Feb-2005) moved to production.

9-Dec-2005 (beta)

Fixed a bug that caused a wind to be plotted if there was a good wind speed but bad direction. Now, no barb will be plotted if either the speed or direction is bad. Routine changed: lib.Barb

28-April-2005 (beta and production)

Removed the functionality to see data older than 48 hours at the request of the Oklahoma Mesonet. (It was only feasible, given current resource constraints, to treat all networks the same.)

5-April-2005 (beta and production)

AWS/WeatherBug data was removed at the request of AWS Convergence Technologies. Comments and questions should be sent to data@weatherbug.com

15-March-2005 (production)

Database loading corrected to allow new data and QC flags from stations to overwrite older data. (Previously, the old data was not updated.)

1-Feb-2005 (beta)

RAOB stations added as an optional overlay. Routines added: RAOB, RAOBLoader.

28-Jan-2005 (production)

All beta changes moved up to production.

9-Apr-2004 (beta)

Loading entirely redone to use a database. Now all networks are always loaded, and the latest data in a particular time window is loaded and displayed. Clicking on a station will bring up a time history by re-querying the database for that station. Routines changed: MainMeso, Station, Ob, MesoLoader, LoadFrame.
Precipitation data added. The precipation indicated is the value of the variable 'precipRate' in the Mesonet netCDF madis files.
The latest data in the most recent two hours automatically loads on startup.
A Close Histories button was added. Clicking it will close all station history windows.

22-Mar-2004 New NWS Coop network added (called "Coop"). Wind gust data added. You can now color-code the data by wind gust, as well as by wind and temperature. Gust data is also shown in the station history window that appears when you click on a station. Load window now closes when you click "Load/Replace data".

10-Feb-2004

You can now specifiy multiple networks with the fast_load option (see 16-Sep-2003 changes). For instance, add the phrase "fast_load=Maritime,RAWS" to initially load both Maritime and RAWS data.

16-Sep-2003

Various initial parameters may be set by appending a query string to the URL. The query string starts with "?", and the "&" symbol separates individual variables. In particular,

The default map may be specified with variables such as "center_lat=25.11¢er_lon=-75.02&scale=25". (You can determine the center and scale for any displayed map by holding down the shift key while clicking anywhere on the map. The center and scale will appear in a new window.)
You may specify the initial color coding to be wind instead of temperature by adding the phrase "&color_coding=wind"
You may specify a single network to load initially by adding the phrase "fast_load=Maritime" (or whatever network you wish to load initially).

Thus, to specify a zoom, a color coding and a network, you should append to the URL a string like the following: ?center_lat=25.11¢er_lon=-75.02&scale=25&color_coding=wind&fast_load=Maritime

We also changed the color mapping somewhat.

4-Aug-2003 Much faster data loading. Added the ability to control the size of wind barbs. (This is mostly useful when you want to eliminate barbs completely to make a clearer plot of stations.) Upgraded code to be compatible with latest versions of java.

26-June-2003 Colorado Department of Transportation (CODOT) mesonet added. Also, all AWS data are now back on the production page (and have been for some time).

5 March 2003 (beta)

Upgraded code to be compatible with latest versions of java.

4 Dec 2002

Most AWS data moved back to the beta page. For AWS, only some observations in the Northeast remain on the production page.

2 Dec 2002 Mesonet "IEM" added. (Covers Iowa and So. Dakota.) Mesonet "AWS" now includes data from several thousand elementary and secondary schools.

1 Aug 2002

Mesonet "AWS" added. (Covers portions of NE US).

15 July 2002

java libraries upgraded for consistency with other FSL java applets. (Should be transparent to users...)

10 July 2002

Four networks added: GoMOOS, HADS, MAP, and NWS-COOP

1 May 2002

Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) mesonet added.

4 April 2002 NOS-PORTS mesonet added. Code changed to read the list of networks from the start page, so the java code no longer needs to be recompiled when new networks are added. Code libraries updated for minor increase in speed.

19 March 2002

Oklahome mesonet added.

14 March 2002

Changed the conversion between mb and inches of Mercury from 0.0295 to 0.02953 in response to feedback from a user.

26 February 2002 New networks added: AWX (has data now) and OKMESNET (will have data soon). New, clearer background map no longer has overlapping continent, country, and state boundaries. Stations with all temperatures now show up if the temperature slider bar says "NOT SELECTED". Previously, only stations reporting temperatures between -40 and 120 degrees F were shown. Station altimeter settings are now given in mb, to the nearest tenth, and inches of mercury, to the nearest hundredth. The "data loaded" information now appears under the map, to make it easier to crop screen shots while still including relevant information. The "data loaded" information now includes the latest time loaded. The heading for the pressure column in the window that appears when you click on a station now correctly indicates that the pressure is the altimeter setting. Major internal reorganization of the code into shared class libraries ("packages") used by other FSL/FRD java applets.

31-Dec-2001

Added Minnesota Dept of Transportation, and several new airports. Also made code consistent with my rtvs5 applet. routines/files changed: ZoomCanvas, LoadFrame, Station, Airport, ValueDisplayer, ListFrame, ZoomPanel, InfoFrame, Geopoint, airport_info.txt

7-Nov-2001 The pressure shown is now the altimeter setting for all networks The Iowa DOT (IADOT) network is now available. Missing networks are now reported in the status window under the map. Number of stations for each network loaded are shown in the Show/Hide data window.

9-Oct-2001

Changed screen layout somewhat to better accommodate non-Windows operating systems.

5-Oct-2001 Most selection is done with secondary windows that open when you click the appropriate button. "Maritime" and "SAO" networks added. You can choose any time range. We keep about 2 days' worth of data on line. Airports may be displayed, via the "overlays" button. The airport name and elevation will be shown when the cursor is over the airport symbol. Data may be color-coded by wind speed or by temperature Data may be selected by wind speed or by temperature using the slider bars below the map. (When the wind speed slider is at its default values, NO wind selection is done. That is, stations with bad winds or winds above the maximum will be shown. Wind speeds are shown in mph. Stations with bad or missing temperatures may be shown via the "Show Special" button. Stations with missing T show in green; those with T failing quality control show in brown. Pressure shown for mesonets and METARS are from the "altitude" netCDF variable. For SAO's and Maritime, they are from the "seaLevelPress" variable. METAR's now have location information.

Prepared by Bill Moninger, Bill.Moninger@noaa.gov
Last modified: Thu May 17 16:38:54 DST 2007