Tabular Product Evolution in eXtensible Markup Language

On December 9th, 2008, the 4 XML products (FOX3, FOX7, ObX and TEX) became operational NWS products. In addition, on January 13th, 2009, operational responsibility for the SCS NWS product was moved from HPC to NDFD. Click on the TPEX link for more information about these products.

The WIAB branch of MDL has been supporting Web Services since 2004, with the Digital Weather Markup Language (DWML) Web Service, a web service that receives more than 50 million hits per day. WIAB staff are currently transitioning the NDFD Web Service into an OGC-compliant web service. The WIAB also worked with NCAR and FAA in prototype design/testing of a Web Coverage /Feature/Map Services and Reg/Rep metadata services. Our prototype work also included recommendations on securing the application layer used by web services. Today, WIAB staff serve as subject matter experts on the team building operational Web Services for IDP. Finally, WIAB staff are collaborating with UK Met Office on the MetOcean Application Profile, an 4D/5D extension of the WCS 2.1 core.

In response to the growing need for a modern, up-to-date technology for exchanging meteorological data, the WIAB is tasked with developing logical data models for products that serve the nation's weather enterprise. These models, which describe the content and relationships of meteorological data, can be expressed in any number of physical data models, and in this effort, it is XML (eXtensible Markup Language), a widely recognized standard for data interchange over the Internet.

The WIAB role is to create logical data models and corresponding OGC/ISO compliant XML schemas of meteorological products that serve the nation's needs for weather data.

MDL continues to lead the development of weather products in formats that are compatible with NextGen Web Services. MDL has been tasked to create, verify, validate, and deliver product metadata records and XML schema for the products identified in the NextGen IT Web Services Product Table for some 200+ gridded and non-gridded NWS Aviation-focused products. Our work includes attempts to automate the process for the creation of these metadata records.

The totality of MDL's work in data standards (e.g. GRIB, BUFR, netCDF, HDF, IWXXM, IWXXM-US, USWX, AVWX) and web services (e.g. metadata, WCS, WFS, WMS, WPS) would not be possible without the establishment and strict adherence to international standards. There are World Meteorological Organization (WMO) standards, International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards, Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards and W3C standards that provide guidance on the methods, procedures, techniques and best practices for both web services and data standards. The purpose of adhering to International Standards is to increase interoperability.