NOUS41 KWBC 061212
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...COMMENTS REQUESTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON DC
812 AM EDT WED MAY 6 2009
TO: SUBSCRIBERS:
-FAMILY OF SERVICES
-NOAAPORT
-EMERGENCY MANAGERS WEATHER INFORMATION NETWORK
OTHER NWS PARTNERS...USERS AND EMPLOYEES
FROM: ROBERT BUNGE
INTERNET DISSEMINATION OFFICER
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER
SUBJECT: COMMENTS REQUESTED BY OCTOBER 31 2009 ON
EXPERIMENTAL SERVICE ALLOWING NDFD USERS TO
IDENTIFY UPDATED NATIONAL DIGITAL FORECAST
DATABASE /NDFD/ GRIDS
EFFECTIVE WEDNESDAY MAY 1 2009...AT APPROXIMATELY 1500
COORDINATED UNIVERSAL TIME /UTC/...NWS WILL ESTABLISH AN
INTERNET SERVICE THAT ALLOWS GENERAL REGULARLY-DISTRIBUTED
INFORMATION IN BINARY FORM /GRIB2/ DOWNLOAD USERS TO DETERMINE
WHICH FILES HAVE BEEN RECENTLY UPDATED. THE RECENTLY UPDATED
GRIDS SERVICE /RUGS/ CAN BE USED TO AVOID DOWNLOADING NDFD
FILES THAT HAVE NOT BEEN MODIFIED.
RUGS IS A WEB SERVICE BASED ON THE ATOM SYNDICATION FORMAT.
SERVICE USERS SUBMIT AN HTTP REQUEST TO THE SERVICE CONSISTING
OF THE FOLLOWING INPUTS:
LOCATIONTYPE: USERS INDICATE WHAT TYPE OF LOCATION INPUT
THEY WILL PROVIDE. SUPPORTED LOCATION
TYPES INCLUDE WFO IDENTIFIER, NDFD SECTOR
NAME, STATE ABBREVIATION, OR GRID POINT.
LOCATION: LIST OF LOCATION VALUES APPROPRIATE FOR
THE LOCATION TYPE.
ELEMENT: LIST OF NDFD ELEMENT IDENTIFIERS.
ISSUANCESEARCHTIME: TIME TO START SEARCHING FOR UPDATED FILES.
SEARCHSTARTTIME: TIME TO START SEARCHING FOR UPDATED VALID
TIMES WITHIN AN UPDATED FILE.
SEARCHENDTIME: TIME TO STOP SEARCHING FOR UPDATED VALID
TIMES WITHIN AN UPDATED FILE.
SHOWCHANGEDTIMES: REQUESTS VALID TIMES THAT CHANGED IN AN
UPDATED FILE.
RUGS RETURNS AN ATOM DOCUMENT CONTAINING URLS TO UPDATED
GRIB2 FILES AS CONSTRAINED BY USER INPUT. USERS CAN THEN
DOWNLOAD THE FILES BY ACCESSING THE URL.
USERS CAN PROVIDE FEEDBACK ABOUT THE EXPERIMENTAL RUGS SERVICE AT
THE FOLLOWING WEB ADDRESS. /USE LOWERCASE EXCEPT FOR RUGS/:
HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/SURVEY/NWS-SURVEY.PHP?CODE=RUGS
A 6-MONTH PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD WILL BEGIN ON THE DATE OF
ACTIVATION AND END ON OCTOBER 31 2009.
MORE DETAILS REGARDING RUGS WILL BE PROVIDED IN A SERVICE
DESCRIPTION DOCUMENT WHICH WILL BE ADDED TO THE ONLINE CATALOG
OF NWS PRODUCTS AND SERVICES BEFORE THE IMPLEMENTATION DATE.
REFER TO /USE LOWERCASE/:
HTTPS://PRODUCTS.WEATHER.GOV/VIEWLISTE.PHP
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING RUGS IS AVAILABLE ON THE
SERVICE HOME PAGE /USE LOWERCASE/:
HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/FORECASTS/XML/RUGS
FOR QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS SERVICE...PLEASE CONTACT:
ROBERT BUNGE JOHN SCHATTEL
INTERNET DISSEMINATION OFFICER METEOROLOGIST
OFFICE OF CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND
OFICER TECHNOLOGY
SILVER SPRING MARYLAND SILVER SPRING MARYLAND
301-713-1381 X140 301-713-0056 X111
ROBERT.BUNGE@xxxxxxxx JOHN.SCHATTEL@xxxxxxxx
IF YOU HAVE TECHNICAL QUESTIONS REGARDING THE NDFD DATA...
PLEASE CONTACT:
DAVID RUTH
CHIEF...MESOSCALE PREDICTION BRANCH
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
SILVER SPRING MARYLAND
DAVID.RUTH@xxxxxxxx
NATIONAL TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION NOTICES ARE ONLINE AT
/USE LOWERCASE/:
HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/OS/NOTIF.HTM
$$