Re: [Flightgear-devel] Hurricane simulator development

2009-11-10 Thread Bob Faulkner


> Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:23:13 +1100
> From: Scott Hamilton 
> Subject: Re: [Flightgear-devel] Hurricane simulator development
> To: FlightGear developers discussions
>   
> Message-ID: <1257808993.16277.5.ca...@itpm40.central.det.win>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
> 
> On Mon, 2009-11-09 at 17:56 -0500, Bob Faulkner wrote:
> 
>  I notice that our local (Australian) national meteorology
> department lists several international
>  hurricane and cyclone warning centres, and from what I see of 
> the NOAA NHC it seems to only report in it's local area.
> 
>  Is there any way this could be made to work with a international
> set of data?
> 
>  For reference here is the list and map of coverage areas for 
> each regional warning centre;
> 
> http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/cyclone/about/tc-warning-centres.shtml
> 
>  S.
> 

I've only been able to find such a raw text advisory available from the NHC,
but I'm sure they also exist for the other monitoring centers. I had planned
on using an xml file to store the URL's that should be polled for data, so
adding regions should be trivial in that respect. The biggest problem I can
think of that would get in the way is if the different agencies format the
advisories differently. That has the potential to become a coding nightmare if
we have to parse 15 different advisory formats.

I obviously do want full world coverage though.





> Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:46:16 +0100
> From: Oliver Schroeder 
> Subject: Re: [Flightgear-devel] Hurricane simulator development
> To: FlightGear developers discussions
>   
> Message-ID: <200911100946.16198.f...@o-schroeder.de>
> Content-Type: text/plain;  charset="iso-8859-15"
> 
> Hi.
> 
> We could build our own server, which collects the data from all 
> sources and make it available to flightgear clients. I see two 
> benefits of this approach: 1) we have all sources, and 2) we don't 
> abuse the public services
> 
> As I don't see any complications in fetching the data, I would 
> volunteer to write the server.
> 
> Regards,
> Oliver
> 
> On Tuesday 10 November 2009 00:23:13 Scott Hamilton wrote:
> > On Mon, 2009-11-09 at 17:56 -0500, Bob Faulkner wrote:
> > 
> > 
> >  I notice that our local (Australian) national meteorology
> > department lists several international
> >  hurricane and cyclone warning centres, and from what I see of the
> > NOAA NHC it seems to
> >  only report in it's local area. 
> > 
> >  Is there any way this could be made to work with a international
> > set of data? 
> > 
> >  For reference here is the list and map of coverage areas for each
> > regional warning centre;
> > 
> > http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/cyclone/about/tc-warning-centres.shtml
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >  S.


This sounds like a great idea to me. The biggest issue here would be who is
going to host the service and will that service be reliable enough?

If you do decide to tackle this then I would ask that you actually parse the
advisories for the needed data, then serve only the necessary details to the
FlightGear clients. This would minimize the bandwidth load on the server as
well as make my job a lot easier since my code will only have to deal with a
standardized format that contains only data I care about.

You and I would need to get together to hammer out the format.



The storm advisories (at least from the NHC) are released using 5 filenames
per region. Each region's file ends with the numbers 1-5. Each number
corresponds to a storm. For example, all the advisories for Hurricane Ida were
released under the filename MIATCANT1. Each advisory has an advisory number in
it which I will need to do internal sanity checking. I would also like a
stanza to indicate the filename of the advisory as that's how I'll logically
reference the individual storms.

There is no rush on getting the server done as I've literally just started
this, and it's going to take quite some time for me to hammer out the initial
code and get it tested. The more I dig into this, the more parts I find I'll
have to interface with. Right now I'm climbing the steep learning curve to get
a grip on the different functions in the sim and how I'll have to relate to 
them.


The URL to get the advisories from NHC is:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ftp/pub/forecasts/aviation/

We'll need to invest some time into finding equivalent advisory servers for
the other centers.

So, here is what I'd need, comma separated with values pulled from the example
advisory data below (this is not to say this is the format I want, just the
stanzas I'd ne

Re: [Flightgear-devel] Hurricane simulator development

2009-11-10 Thread Oliver Schröder
Hi.

We could build our own server, which collects the data from all sources and 
make it available to flightgear clients.
I see two benefits of this approach:
1) we have all sources, and
2) we don't abuse the public services

As I don't see any complications in fetching the data, I would volunteer to 
write the server.

Regards,
Oliver

On Tuesday 10 November 2009 00:23:13 Scott Hamilton wrote:
> On Mon, 2009-11-09 at 17:56 -0500, Bob Faulkner wrote:
> 
> 
>  I notice that our local (Australian) national meteorology
> department lists several international
>  hurricane and cyclone warning centres, and from what I see of the
> NOAA NHC it seems to
>  only report in it's local area. 
> 
>  Is there any way this could be made to work with a international
> set of data? 
> 
>  For reference here is the list and map of coverage areas for each
> regional warning centre;
> 
> http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/cyclone/about/tc-warning-centres.shtml
> 
> 
> 
>  S.
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> > This message is to announce my intentions to develop a hurricane 
simulation
> > system for FlightGear.
> > 
> > I've done only preliminary work on locating data resources, and in 
exploring
> > the source code to get a grasp of the different systems I'll have to 
interface
> > with in FlightGear. This will be my first time working on a project as 
large
> > as FlightGear.
> > 
> > My plans are to have a command line option to enable hurricane simulation 
much
> > the same as the existing real weather fetch mode does. When enabled the
> > program will fetch data from NOAA's Tropical Cyclone ICAO (Aviation) 
Advisory
> > server. This is a simple text advisory that won't be too difficult to 
parse. A
> > sample of this advisory is at the end of this message. I have conversed 
with
> > the administrators of that server via email and they appear to have no 
problem
> > with the idea. I will write some form of protection to avoid all the
> > FlightGear clients storming their servers for new advisories at the NXT 
MSG times.
> > 
> > The new module will use this data to, by default, render a "best guess"
> > simulation of any active hurricanes based on the advisories. There is 
always a
> > queue of the last 5 storms each in the Atlantic and Pacific regions 
available
> > there so any of those 10 storms could be selected by the user to be 
simulated.
> > 
> > I would also plan on adding a dialog under the environment menu to allow 
the
> > user to select any of those storms or to define their own hurricane 
parameters
> > for simulation.
> > 
> > To be sure, this will be a very rough simulation of a hurricane, 
especially
> > early on.
> > 
> > I want to make sure that there is as little performance overhead as 
possible
> > for the model. I essentially want to have the model maintain a table of
> > conditions, based on storm strength and movement, present at any given 
region
> > relative to the storm center, and feed those conditions to the existing
> > weather modeling structures based on the current user's position. 
> > 
> > This would basically be a table of prebuilt models of the different levels 
of
> > storm strength that would be selected and positioned based on the advisory
> > data. I plan to build models for depressions, storms, and category 1-5 
hurricanes.
> > 
> > I'm hoping the existing weather modeling code can handle wind speeds in 
the
> > 150kt+ range!
> > 
> > What I would like to know is who would be a good developer for me to look 
to
> > for guidance with integrating this module into the existing framework. 
Also,
> > I'm not a meteorologist so I'm hoping to have some mentors to go to if I 
have
> > questions about the best way to model various aspects and area's within a
> > hurricane.
> > 
> > Does anyone have any comments, ideas, or criticisms of this idea before I
> > really start investing a lot of effort into it? Any individuals I should 
talk
> > to before investing a lot of my time into it?
> > 
> > Thanks!
> > Bob
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Below is the current advisory for Tropical Storm Ida:
> > 
> > 000
> > FKNT21 KNHC 092054
> > TCANT1
> > TROPICAL STORM IDA ICAO ADVISORY NUMBER  24
> > NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL   AL112009
> > 2100 UTC MON NOV 09 2009
> >  
> > TC ADVISORY
> > DTG:  20091109/2100Z
> > TCAC: KNHC
> > TC:   IDA
> > NR:   024
> > PSN:  N2824 W08830
> > MOV:  N 16KT
> > C:0991HPA
> > MAX WIND: 060KT
> > FCST PSN + 06 HR: 100300 N2936 W08814
> > FCST MAX WIND + 06 HR:055KT
> > FCST PSN + 12 HR: 100900 N3024 W08751
> > FCST MAX WIND + 12 HR:050KT
> > FCST PSN + 18 HR: 101500 N3048 W08721
> > FCST MAX WIND + 18 HR:045KT
> > FCST PSN + 24 HR: 102100 N3100 W08642
> > FCST MAX WIND + 24 HR:040KT
> > RMK   THE FORECAST POSITION INFORMATIO

Re: [Flightgear-devel] Hurricane simulator development

2009-11-10 Thread Oliver Schroeder
Hi.

We could build our own server, which collects the data from all sources and 
make it available to flightgear clients.
I see two benefits of this approach:
1) we have all sources, and
2) we don't abuse the public services

As I don't see any complications in fetching the data, I would volunteer to 
write the server.

Regards,
Oliver

On Tuesday 10 November 2009 00:23:13 Scott Hamilton wrote:
> On Mon, 2009-11-09 at 17:56 -0500, Bob Faulkner wrote:
> 
> 
>  I notice that our local (Australian) national meteorology
> department lists several international
>  hurricane and cyclone warning centres, and from what I see of the
> NOAA NHC it seems to
>  only report in it's local area. 
> 
>  Is there any way this could be made to work with a international
> set of data? 
> 
>  For reference here is the list and map of coverage areas for each
> regional warning centre;
> 
> http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/cyclone/about/tc-warning-centres.shtml
> 
> 
> 
>  S.
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> > This message is to announce my intentions to develop a hurricane 
simulation
> > system for FlightGear.
> > 
> > I've done only preliminary work on locating data resources, and in 
exploring
> > the source code to get a grasp of the different systems I'll have to 
interface
> > with in FlightGear. This will be my first time working on a project as 
large
> > as FlightGear.
> > 
> > My plans are to have a command line option to enable hurricane simulation 
much
> > the same as the existing real weather fetch mode does. When enabled the
> > program will fetch data from NOAA's Tropical Cyclone ICAO (Aviation) 
Advisory
> > server. This is a simple text advisory that won't be too difficult to 
parse. A
> > sample of this advisory is at the end of this message. I have conversed 
with
> > the administrators of that server via email and they appear to have no 
problem
> > with the idea. I will write some form of protection to avoid all the
> > FlightGear clients storming their servers for new advisories at the NXT 
MSG times.
> > 
> > The new module will use this data to, by default, render a "best guess"
> > simulation of any active hurricanes based on the advisories. There is 
always a
> > queue of the last 5 storms each in the Atlantic and Pacific regions 
available
> > there so any of those 10 storms could be selected by the user to be 
simulated.
> > 
> > I would also plan on adding a dialog under the environment menu to allow 
the
> > user to select any of those storms or to define their own hurricane 
parameters
> > for simulation.
> > 
> > To be sure, this will be a very rough simulation of a hurricane, 
especially
> > early on.
> > 
> > I want to make sure that there is as little performance overhead as 
possible
> > for the model. I essentially want to have the model maintain a table of
> > conditions, based on storm strength and movement, present at any given 
region
> > relative to the storm center, and feed those conditions to the existing
> > weather modeling structures based on the current user's position. 
> > 
> > This would basically be a table of prebuilt models of the different levels 
of
> > storm strength that would be selected and positioned based on the advisory
> > data. I plan to build models for depressions, storms, and category 1-5 
hurricanes.
> > 
> > I'm hoping the existing weather modeling code can handle wind speeds in 
the
> > 150kt+ range!
> > 
> > What I would like to know is who would be a good developer for me to look 
to
> > for guidance with integrating this module into the existing framework. 
Also,
> > I'm not a meteorologist so I'm hoping to have some mentors to go to if I 
have
> > questions about the best way to model various aspects and area's within a
> > hurricane.
> > 
> > Does anyone have any comments, ideas, or criticisms of this idea before I
> > really start investing a lot of effort into it? Any individuals I should 
talk
> > to before investing a lot of my time into it?
> > 
> > Thanks!
> > Bob
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Below is the current advisory for Tropical Storm Ida:
> > 
> > 000
> > FKNT21 KNHC 092054
> > TCANT1
> > TROPICAL STORM IDA ICAO ADVISORY NUMBER  24
> > NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL   AL112009
> > 2100 UTC MON NOV 09 2009
> >  
> > TC ADVISORY
> > DTG:  20091109/2100Z
> > TCAC: KNHC
> > TC:   IDA
> > NR:   024
> > PSN:  N2824 W08830
> > MOV:  N 16KT
> > C:0991HPA
> > MAX WIND: 060KT
> > FCST PSN + 06 HR: 100300 N2936 W08814
> > FCST MAX WIND + 06 HR:055KT
> > FCST PSN + 12 HR: 100900 N3024 W08751
> > FCST MAX WIND + 12 HR:050KT
> > FCST PSN + 18 HR: 101500 N3048 W08721
> > FCST MAX WIND + 18 HR:045KT
> > FCST PSN + 24 HR: 102100 N3100 W08642
> > FCST MAX WIND + 24 HR:040KT
> > RMK   THE FORECAST POSITION INFORMATIO

Re: [Flightgear-devel] Hurricane simulator development

2009-11-09 Thread Scott Hamilton
On Mon, 2009-11-09 at 17:56 -0500, Bob Faulkner wrote:


 I notice that our local (Australian) national meteorology
department lists several international
 hurricane and cyclone warning centres, and from what I see of the
NOAA NHC it seems to
 only report in it's local area. 

 Is there any way this could be made to work with a international
set of data? 

 For reference here is the list and map of coverage areas for each
regional warning centre;

http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/cyclone/about/tc-warning-centres.shtml



 S.

 




> This message is to announce my intentions to develop a hurricane simulation
> system for FlightGear.
> 
> I've done only preliminary work on locating data resources, and in exploring
> the source code to get a grasp of the different systems I'll have to interface
> with in FlightGear. This will be my first time working on a project as large
> as FlightGear.
> 
> My plans are to have a command line option to enable hurricane simulation much
> the same as the existing real weather fetch mode does. When enabled the
> program will fetch data from NOAA's Tropical Cyclone ICAO (Aviation) Advisory
> server. This is a simple text advisory that won't be too difficult to parse. A
> sample of this advisory is at the end of this message. I have conversed with
> the administrators of that server via email and they appear to have no problem
> with the idea. I will write some form of protection to avoid all the
> FlightGear clients storming their servers for new advisories at the NXT MSG 
> times.
> 
> The new module will use this data to, by default, render a "best guess"
> simulation of any active hurricanes based on the advisories. There is always a
> queue of the last 5 storms each in the Atlantic and Pacific regions available
> there so any of those 10 storms could be selected by the user to be simulated.
> 
> I would also plan on adding a dialog under the environment menu to allow the
> user to select any of those storms or to define their own hurricane parameters
> for simulation.
> 
> To be sure, this will be a very rough simulation of a hurricane, especially
> early on.
> 
> I want to make sure that there is as little performance overhead as possible
> for the model. I essentially want to have the model maintain a table of
> conditions, based on storm strength and movement, present at any given region
> relative to the storm center, and feed those conditions to the existing
> weather modeling structures based on the current user's position. 
> 
> This would basically be a table of prebuilt models of the different levels of
> storm strength that would be selected and positioned based on the advisory
> data. I plan to build models for depressions, storms, and category 1-5 
> hurricanes.
> 
> I'm hoping the existing weather modeling code can handle wind speeds in the
> 150kt+ range!
> 
> What I would like to know is who would be a good developer for me to look to
> for guidance with integrating this module into the existing framework. Also,
> I'm not a meteorologist so I'm hoping to have some mentors to go to if I have
> questions about the best way to model various aspects and area's within a
> hurricane.
> 
> Does anyone have any comments, ideas, or criticisms of this idea before I
> really start investing a lot of effort into it? Any individuals I should talk
> to before investing a lot of my time into it?
> 
> Thanks!
> Bob
> 
> 
> 
> Below is the current advisory for Tropical Storm Ida:
> 
> 000
> FKNT21 KNHC 092054
> TCANT1
> TROPICAL STORM IDA ICAO ADVISORY NUMBER  24
> NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL   AL112009
> 2100 UTC MON NOV 09 2009
>  
> TC ADVISORY
> DTG:  20091109/2100Z
> TCAC: KNHC
> TC:   IDA
> NR:   024
> PSN:  N2824 W08830
> MOV:  N 16KT
> C:0991HPA
> MAX WIND: 060KT
> FCST PSN + 06 HR: 100300 N2936 W08814
> FCST MAX WIND + 06 HR:055KT
> FCST PSN + 12 HR: 100900 N3024 W08751
> FCST MAX WIND + 12 HR:050KT
> FCST PSN + 18 HR: 101500 N3048 W08721
> FCST MAX WIND + 18 HR:045KT
> FCST PSN + 24 HR: 102100 N3100 W08642
> FCST MAX WIND + 24 HR:040KT
> RMK   THE FORECAST POSITION INFORMATION IN
>   THIS PRODUCT IS INTERPOLATED FROM
>   OFFICIAL FORECAST DATA VALID AT ...
>   0600...1200...AND 1800Z.
> NXT MSG:  20091110/0300Z
>  
> $$
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Delusional Mail (http://www.delusionalmind.com)
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal Reports 2008 30-Day 
> trial. Simplify your report design, integration and deployment - and focus on 
> what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's new with
> Crystal R

[Flightgear-devel] Hurricane simulator development

2009-11-09 Thread Bob Faulkner
This message is to announce my intentions to develop a hurricane simulation
system for FlightGear.

I've done only preliminary work on locating data resources, and in exploring
the source code to get a grasp of the different systems I'll have to interface
with in FlightGear. This will be my first time working on a project as large
as FlightGear.

My plans are to have a command line option to enable hurricane simulation much
the same as the existing real weather fetch mode does. When enabled the
program will fetch data from NOAA's Tropical Cyclone ICAO (Aviation) Advisory
server. This is a simple text advisory that won't be too difficult to parse. A
sample of this advisory is at the end of this message. I have conversed with
the administrators of that server via email and they appear to have no problem
with the idea. I will write some form of protection to avoid all the
FlightGear clients storming their servers for new advisories at the NXT MSG 
times.

The new module will use this data to, by default, render a "best guess"
simulation of any active hurricanes based on the advisories. There is always a
queue of the last 5 storms each in the Atlantic and Pacific regions available
there so any of those 10 storms could be selected by the user to be simulated.

I would also plan on adding a dialog under the environment menu to allow the
user to select any of those storms or to define their own hurricane parameters
for simulation.

To be sure, this will be a very rough simulation of a hurricane, especially
early on.

I want to make sure that there is as little performance overhead as possible
for the model. I essentially want to have the model maintain a table of
conditions, based on storm strength and movement, present at any given region
relative to the storm center, and feed those conditions to the existing
weather modeling structures based on the current user's position. 

This would basically be a table of prebuilt models of the different levels of
storm strength that would be selected and positioned based on the advisory
data. I plan to build models for depressions, storms, and category 1-5 
hurricanes.

I'm hoping the existing weather modeling code can handle wind speeds in the
150kt+ range!

What I would like to know is who would be a good developer for me to look to
for guidance with integrating this module into the existing framework. Also,
I'm not a meteorologist so I'm hoping to have some mentors to go to if I have
questions about the best way to model various aspects and area's within a
hurricane.

Does anyone have any comments, ideas, or criticisms of this idea before I
really start investing a lot of effort into it? Any individuals I should talk
to before investing a lot of my time into it?

Thanks!
Bob



Below is the current advisory for Tropical Storm Ida:

000
FKNT21 KNHC 092054
TCANT1
TROPICAL STORM IDA ICAO ADVISORY NUMBER  24
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL   AL112009
2100 UTC MON NOV 09 2009
 
TC ADVISORY
DTG:  20091109/2100Z
TCAC: KNHC
TC:   IDA
NR:   024
PSN:  N2824 W08830
MOV:  N 16KT
C:0991HPA
MAX WIND: 060KT
FCST PSN + 06 HR: 100300 N2936 W08814
FCST MAX WIND + 06 HR:055KT
FCST PSN + 12 HR: 100900 N3024 W08751
FCST MAX WIND + 12 HR:050KT
FCST PSN + 18 HR: 101500 N3048 W08721
FCST MAX WIND + 18 HR:045KT
FCST PSN + 24 HR: 102100 N3100 W08642
FCST MAX WIND + 24 HR:040KT
RMK   THE FORECAST POSITION INFORMATION IN
  THIS PRODUCT IS INTERPOLATED FROM
  OFFICIAL FORECAST DATA VALID AT ...
  0600...1200...AND 1800Z.
NXT MSG:  20091110/0300Z
 
$$




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