Google Earth and WDSSII

[Greg Stumpf]

Those with Google Earth, check out:

http://wdssii.nssl.noaa.gov/geotiff/

Click on the SP domain on the map near the bottom, and check out such products as Hail Swath and Rotation Tracks. These are multi-radar/sensor applications under development at NSSL, hopefully soon to be part of the NWS suite of products.

 

[Chad Ringley]

Originally posted by Greg Stumpf
Those with Google Earth, check out:

http://wdssii.nssl.noaa.gov/geotiff/

Click on the SP domain on the map near the bottom, and check out such products as Hail Swath and Rotation Tracks. These are multi-radar/sensor applications under development at NSSL, hopefully soon to be part of the NWS suite of products.

Incredible! And to have it in such a powerful program like Google Earth...amazing. Load time was actually not that bad, and I like the fact that on a second load, all the information comes in pretty quickly (at least for me).

Thanks for the heads up, I'll have to use this as part of my basing suite tomorrow

 

[Bill Tabor]

Originally posted by Greg Stumpf
Those with Google Earth, check out:

http://wdssii.nssl.noaa.gov/geotiff/

Click on the SP domain on the map near the bottom, and check out such products as Hail Swath and Rotation Tracks. These are multi-radar/sensor applications under development at NSSL, hopefully soon to be part of the NWS suite of products.

Neither my Firefox nor IE recognize the .kmz file when I click on SP.

Edit: Oh, guess I have to install Google Earth first.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

MODERATOR: I split this topic off from the 3/7 NOW thread since it didn't specifically pertain to the 3/7 case, but moreso because it's equally applicable to all days and is in the interest of many.

 

[Kevin Bowman]

Thanks, this is pretty cool, ill have to play around with it for awhile

 

[Melissa Moon]

Dude this is awesome!! How long have you guys been working on this?

 

[Joel Wright]

Hmm, doesn't work for me. Regular Google Earth works fine. It shows all the maps as usual; but when I load this all I get is a blank white map no matter what I select. :cry:

 

[Greg Stumpf]

Originally posted by Melissa Moon
Dude this is awesome!! How long have you guys been working on this?

The initial GE application was written within a day or two of Google's announcement of the free app last summer. The WDSSII multi-radar/sensor products have been under development at NSSL for about 4-5 years now, and the CONUS versions were implemented to support SPC operations within the last year. NSSL finally got the hardware to produce all the imagery you see in the last few months. Soon, we also hope to add archive (0-48 hours) hail and rotation tracks to aid NWS verification efforts (overlay tracks on roads and placemarks prior to ground surveys or probing telephone calls).

NSSL wishes to stress that these images and data are still experimental - so use at your own risk! More info is on the web page.

 

[JP Santiago]

Well this is one impressive application for Google Earth and wonderful for the armchair chaser who can't make it out for whatever reason. It adds a bit of perspective (literally) to ordinarily flat maps when you can tilt the view. It may not necessarily be practical, but it makes for impressive viewing when a cluster of storms is headed your way and you've got the map tilted!

(now if someone could make data 3-D, that'd be just outright fun to watch!)

 

[Bill Tabor]

How quickly will damage swirl path and hail swaths be updated? I wonder if it will be quick enough to chase a torn one day and explore the damage path the next? If so that would be seriously cool. I can see how that can really simplify damage surveys and emergency rescue, etc.

 

[Greg Stumpf]

Originally posted by Bill Tabor
How quickly will damage swirl path and hail swaths be updated? I wonder if it will be quick enough to chase a torn one day and explore the damage path the next? If so that would be seriously cool. I can see how that can really simplify damage surveys and emergency rescue, etc.

We haven't made the final decision on that yet - it will be a function of server resources and space. Possibly, 2-hour accumulation periods. For example:

20060308_2000 - 20060308_2200 Rotation Tracks
20060308_2200 - 20060309_0000 Rotation Tracks

etc

 

[Greg Stumpf]

Originally posted by Bill Tabor
How quickly will damage swirl path and hail swaths be updated? I wonder if it will be quick enough to chase a torn one day and explore the damage path the next?

I should also mention that these images are updated every 5 minutes, with the moving time window (last 5 minutes get sliced off he end), and are live.

 

[Greg Stumpf]

As promised, a limited archive of products are now available, for the CONUS and the subdomains. These include 120m Hail Swath and Rotation Tracks products. We will certainly be using these for post-event verification.

Look for the links labelled. "A few archived products will be available for up to a week: CONUS, NW, NE, NC, SW, SE, SC, SP, GC"

In fact, here is the direct Southern Plains link.

http://wdssii.nssl.noaa.gov/geotiff_archive/SP/

 

[Bill Tabor]

Thanks for the heads up about this Greg. No doubt this is kick a$$ software. I've even been having fun cruising around the map and seeing my house and old houses on the map - very detailed.

Couple of questions:

1) Does it have storm relative velocity or similar products? I don't see that listed other than as swirl type products.

2) I can't find timestamps for the images. How do we know how old the radar is?

3) Additionally - I wonder how old the basemap from Google is? It appears to be 2 or 3 years old based on features I see in my yard and around my neighborhood.

 

[Dan Cook]

This software is great.