AWIPS II to be freely available through UNIDATA to *all*!

sebenste

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Sure, you may have to run Linux as a dual boot on your laptop. But you will see what the NWS sees! From the UNIDATA website:

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In an effort to keep the Unidata community informed about developments surrounding GEMPAK/NAWIPS transition to AWIPS II, we are pleased to inform you that the National Weather Service (NWS) has notified us that Unidata is free to distribute AWIPS II software, including migrated NAWIPS functionality, to its community. As you know from our previous messages, Unidata has been in ongoing discussions with NWS to make AWIPS II software available under an open source licensing arrangement. As Don Berchoff, Director, Office of Science and Technology states in his letter. "One of our primary objectives as we move forward is to strengthen our partnership with the university community to enable faster and more effective infusion of new science from research to operations in AWIPS. We look forward to our continued partnership with Unidata to meet this objective." The AWIPS II software, including source code and binaries, will be made available to the public. Current AWIPS and NAWIPS development schedules show that the AWIPS II software will be available at the start of FY 2011. We believe this is an important step forward for the Unidata community.
The Unidata Policy Committee was briefed at its recent meeting by NWS and NCEP staff on the progress of AWIPS II and NAWIPS migration and the committee and UPC staff have begun discussing the next steps for Unidata. The UPC is currently evaluating AWIPS II software and its suitability and resource implications for an eventual deployment in our community. Meanwhile, we are also working with our governing committees to develop plans for migrating GEMPAK users to AWIPS II and IDV.
We take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for GEMPAK until suitable replacements are available. Please be assured of Unidata's commitment to a smooth and orderly transition of GEMPAK users as we continue to work closely with AWIPS II developers at NWS and NCEP in bringing AWIPS II to the Unidata community. You can find additional information, including previous announcements and FAQ on GEMPAK migration, at: http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/gempak/nawipsmigration/
We will continue to keep you all updated on our plans and any new developments as they occur. Please feel free to provide input on this process by sending an e-mail to [email protected].
Sincerely, Mohan Ramamurthy, UPC Director ([email protected]), Steven Businger, Chair, Unidata Policy Committee ([email protected]) Gary Lackmann, Chair, Unidata Users Committee ([email protected])
 
This is great! So by saying that we'll be seeing what the NWS will be seeing, does that mean that we'll have access to the same data that they have?

Probably not everything that the NWS sees. There just isn't the bandwidth. What it does mean is that you'll have the same software GUI available, which is very powerful. It sounds like the AWIPS II software will be freely available, but you'll still have to find your own data source (not likely to be free).


EDIT: Someone mentioned to me that availability of data through NCEP's FTP and the NOAAPORT satellite. I don't know how much of the data is available, though.
 
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EDIT: Someone mentioned to me that availability of data through NCEP's FTP and the NOAAPORT satellite. I don't know how much of the data is available, though.

You can find pretty much everything, except the proprietary stuff.

ftp://ftp.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data/nccf/
ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/

However, you would have to write scripts / programs to import the data on a timely basis (or as needed), convert it, etc. It can be quite a painful process if you're not familiar with the basics of programming or script writing.

Other solutions (NOAAport, Unidata's IDD feeds) still require good working knowledge of *nix based systems as you have to setup system services, edit configuration files, install decoders, etc.

In addition, Unidata's IDD network isn't really ad-hoc and requires permission somewhere down the line (I was lucky enough to get permission to access the IDD's non-proprietary stuff and McIDAS back when I was in high-school).

Definitely not for the faint of heart.
 
Has anyone on ST actually pulled this off that I could get some advice or steps for putting this together? I've tried reading this on Unisys to actually try to get it set up, but trying to read it and understand it is like having Stevie Wonder navigating on a chase with you.
 
AWIPS II won't be released until FY11, from what I've read (also seeing it in Gilbert's post). But yes, several have pulled off the GEMPAK/NAWIPS + FTP setup.

You should check this out, Greg: http://skywatch.org/gempak/gempak.htm

That site is owned by ST member Rob Dale.
I use what Rob put together (bought it a few years ago). Jason Darnall, another ST member, helps me with some of the issues that pop up from time to time with linux.

I can say that I am very pleased with Robs software and the data. I have found that the software works best with high speed internet.

The satellite images and options alone are fantastic!

This mornings complex using GEMPAK
http://www.stormreports.org/june72009_complex.htm



Beau
 
Is anyone out there privy to information regarding the release date for AWIPS II through UCAR? According to the letter from the NWS to UCAR on the GEMPAK site, the release to the general public was at one time scheduled for March 15, 2010. Obviously that has passed by, and still not an update to be found anywhere I look.

Here is the quote with the date I am referring to..
I believe the development completion date, currently planned
to be March 15, 2010, is a more appropriate date for releasing the AWIPS
II software to the broader community, and I believe the additional 7
months will be worth the wait.

http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/gempak/nawipsmigration/AwipsIISoftwareReleaseAug09.html

Thanks for any information you folks can provide!
 
Rob, any thoughts on putting a virtual image together like you do with GEMPAK when this becomes available?
 
AWIPS II, as I understand from discussions with IWX WFO personnel, is being developed in Java, so it will supposedly run on any platform.

However, it's unclear from the various presentations on the Unidata GEMPAK/NAWIPS migration page if all the supporting components will be made platform-independent -- e.g. the "Hardware Requirements" in the May 2009 presentation still specify Red Hat as the required OS.
 
Time to revive this old thread!

Good news everyone: we are ever so close to seeing AWIPS-II. Unidata has recently thrown up a page for it.
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/awips2/
The screenshots look promising!

I'm curious about this "CAVE" setup... will it remove the need for scripts to download data? I've been using my own scripts to get the data, so I'm just wandering here... either way, I'm looking forward to it. Hoping it can be built on OS X like GEMPAK can!
 
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It looks like AWIPS II has some hefty hardware requirements as far as system memory is concerned. 8 Gb minimum 15 Gb recommended.
 
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