Meteorological Information Display and Query System Based on WebGIS

With the rapid development of detection technique in meteorology, more and more real-time detection data are obtained in Beijing Municipal Meteorological Bureau, but the integrated display system for all kinds of detection data is relatively left behind. Considering the situation, a meteorological information display and query system is developed, free software Mapserver and PostgreSQL are used in the system.Mapserver is an open source development platform which multi-format geographic data are supported on Internet. MapServer is not a full-featured WebGIS system. Instead, MapServer is good at rendering geographic data like maps, images, and vector data on the web. Beyond browsing GIS data, MapServer allows you to create "geographic image maps" that are, maps that can direct users to the content. Many kinds of geographic format data are supported, interface for second development in many language is provided, and it can be used in many operation systems. MapFile is a kind of file format, in which the color and style of map elements are defined. Map elements are managed and organized by MapFile in Mapserver. What users need to do is just to setup up Mapserver and configure Web server correctly and create their own MapFile, then their WebGIS system is built successfully. PostgreSQL is also an open source Database software. Usually, PostgreSQL is used to manage their data, such as GIS database.It is very easy to build a WebGIS system by using Mapserver and PostgreSQL. In Beijing Municipal Meteorological Bureau, Linux system is chosen as WebGIS operation system. First, Mapserver and PostgreSQL need to be installed under Linux system. In addition, some configurations need be done to make sure they can work together. Second, detection data database has to be built. Database is used to store meteorological observation data and at the same time makes query more efficient. The third step is to handle station data which is very important. Station data are converted into geographic format data, which are points displayed on maps. Last is to create MapFile according to the file format of MapFile. In the system, real-time data including temperature, precipitation, humidity and other observation data are showed on maps directly, and the dynamic search and query for data are realized. For example, different time is input by users, different observation data of different time are displayed on maps. Especially the temperature and precipitation contours can also be displayed in the system. In addition, wind vector is displayed on map as map symbol which is created by wind observation data. In conclusion, multi-data integrated display is realized in the system. Multi-data information can be known for forecasters directly from it, with which immediate, efficient and scientific assistant decision support are supplied.