Internet Mapping Services for the National Weather Service

Internet Mapping Services for the National Weather Service Internet Mapping Service Integrated Work Team March 27, 2003 1

IMS Team chartered August 2002 by Barry West and Gary Carter Bob Bunge, CIO [co-chair] Ken Waters, PR [co-chair] Ira Graffman, OST Steve King, WR Donna Page, OHD Wendy Pearson, CR Frank Richards, OCWWS Dave Ruth, OST Jack Settelmaier, SR Bruce Webster, NCEP 2

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) 3

Background • Water Resources Internet Mapping (WRIM) Team (Sep 01 – Jun 02) • Prior S&T Committee actions - 2 of 3 adopted • Experimental use of Arc. IMS on cooperating Regional/HQ web farms until a full implementation plan is developed. (ongoing) • NWS-wide team to examine full implementation issues. (IMS team) • Arc. IMS be the NWS IMS standard. (deferred) 4

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! 5

“Customer Pyramid” 6

IMS is Requirements-Driven – Draft NWS Strategic Plan for 2003 -2008 Goal #3 – Serve Society’s Needs for Weather and Water Information – NRC report: “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. ” – 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 7

IMS Benefits • NWS’ 21 st century delivery of weather data • Consistent with NRC report (and NOAA’s Geo. Spatial 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. ) 8

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 9

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. 10

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 11

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 12

Prototype Implementation Requirements • Software – ESRI Arc. IMS 4. 0. 1 – $8 K • Hardware – Use existing Linux platforms – Other tools - $2 K • Communications – Use existing NWSnet telecommunications to move data to participating web farms • Contractor support (“Glue”) – $65 K – User interface development, coordination, maintenance 13

Alternatives to Arc. IMS • 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 14

Recommendations • Endorse Use of Arc. IMS across NWS – STIP Inclusion • Fund Prototype – FY 03: ~$75 K • Identify Steering Committee – OS&T Lead and Oversight 15

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! 16