1. Integrating NDFD with GIS Billy Brooks I.M. Systems Group, Inc. NOAA/NOS/Coastal Services Center NDFD Technical Workshop November 2, 2006

2. CSC and NDFD www.csc.noaa.gov  CSC’s mission - To support the environmental, social, and economic well being of the coast by linking people, information, and technology  Customers are Federal, State, and Local Coastal Resource Managers  CSC has worked and is working with the NWS to get products into GIS format or enhance GIS compatibility  CSC’s connection to NWS through Shared FTE – located at CSC (Doug Marcy) via agreement with OCWWS / HSD (2002)

3. GIS and NDFD  Meteorological Development Laboratory’s Degrib: NDFD GRIB2 Decoder and Download Program  Provides access to all available forecast elements  Used to convert NDFD from GRIB2 to GIS format (.shp,.flt,.nc,.csv) - Shapefile - Floating Point Grid - NetCDF - Comma Delimited ASCII  Download and conversion can be automated via command line

4. GIS and NDFD  CSC efforts have been to make NDFD data more GIS-friendly  CSC worked with MDL to develop ArcView legend files (.avl) for proper display of converted data and tutorial on how to load NDFD color table legends in GIS  Meets need for consistent, standard display of NDFD in GIS  Included with Degrib version 1.42 on 1/23/04  Developed 2 tutorials: - Data Download and Image Generation www.weather.gov/ndfd/gis/ndfd_tutorial.pdf - Using NDFD in a GIS Environment www.weather.gov/ndfd/gis/ndfd_GIS_tutorial.html

5.  For GIS output to be consistent legends as viewed on the web there is a need create customized legends to match NDFD color tables  25 Color Tables for weather parameters and seasonal differences (max temp, min temp, snow, wspeed and dir, weather, pop12, temp/wind, QPF, waveheight, sky, dewpoint)  Total of 50 AVLs (25 for points and 25 for polygons)  Can be loaded into ArcView 3.x and imported into ArcGIS  Documented process to make legends consistent - provided with Degrib tool documentation NDFD Color Tables to AVLs

8. NDFD GIS Tutorials  Regular Degrib tutorial with screen grabs to make it more user friendly  Using NDFD in GIS  Case studies and examples  Detailed tutorial on how to get NDFD data into GIS including loading legends

9.  Starting in 2004, CSC provided maps of NOAA products to FEMA during hurricane season  Maps included NDFD forecast data – Wind Speed, Wave Height, and QPF  Led to development of Storm Mapping Tutorial – step-by-step tutorial for GIS users that contains chapters on how to download, convert, and display NDFD data www.csc.noaa.gov/storm_info Storm Mapping Tutorial

10. Storm Mapping Tutorial – NDFD Forecast Wave Height

11. Storm Mapping Tutorial – NDFD Forecast Wind Speed

12. Storm Mapping Tutorial – NDFD Forecast QPF

13.  CSC employee at National Hurricane Center worked with NWS to get Tropical Cyclone Wind Speed Probabilities product into NDFD  Data provided as cumulative or incremental probability at 34 kts, 50 kts, and 64 kts  Available through Degrib  Will be included in the Storm Mapping Tutorial TC Wind Speed Probabilities Get graphic from Ethan…need one here Hurricane Paul

14.  As part of the NOAA Coastal Storms Program, CSC is developing an Internet mapping tool that displays NDFD data with local hazards planning data  Emergency managers wanted to view weather forecasts with local hazards planning data  NOAA/NOS Coast Survey Development Lab nowCOAST team has automated download and conversion of select NDFD elements (http://nowcoast.noaa.gov)  Data currently provided as ArcIMS Image Service  CSC is combining service with local GIS data in Internet mapping tool NDFD via Web Service

15.  CSC and others evaluating feasibility of providing data this way  nowCOAST will explore other web service types – OGC Web Map Service  nowCOAST service to include additional data – radar, GOES cloud imagery, warning polygons  Web service allows for integration of data into various levels of GIS functionality: - Internet mapping tools – available from any Internet connection - Lightweight GIS – free desktop GIS (ArcExplorer) - Fully functional GIS – desktop GIS (ArcGIS) NDFD via Web Service

16. NDFD via Web Service – Southern California IMS

17. NDFD for Fire Weather Temperature forecast for 10/18/06 18Z for SW US States and interstate highways added from AWIPS shapefiles  Ira Graffman, GIS Focal Point – NWS Office of Science and Technology  Los Angeles WFO and LA County Fire Department  Automated GRIB2 & DeGRIB Decoder  Data pushed to database  Feature Server (IMS, WMS) using ArcIMS

18. Pacific Region Efforts  Ken Waters, NWS Pacific Region Headquarters  Scheduled download of CONUS and Hawaii grids every 12 hours  Experimental service to upload to Web –Degrib used to convert to shapefile (6 hour forecast for each element) –Additional conversion to NetCDF for local testing in ArcGIS 9.2 Beta  Future plans are to convert solely to NetCDF – multiple time steps and smaller file sizes

19.  Continued investigation into web services and data formats  Data access and visualization tools Further NDFD Investigation Questions? Doug.Marcy@noaa.gov William.Brooks@noaa.gov