Data Visualisation Project
This was a self-education exercise in KML (Keyhole Markup Language), which is a form of XML used to convey geographic information and allow visualisation of the data on maps and in Earth browsers.
The aim was to gain an understanding of KML and create a working and valid KML document to visualise our weather data in Google Earth. It was intended that our PWS software would routinely generate a KML document from a template file.
Project Stages
The stages of the project were as follows:
- Match variables with the required station details and weather data,
- Create a Data Visualisation Document
Project Variables
The variables used in this project are listed below. Select a variable to view the complete XML element definition, including: the element name and description, the expected data type, the permitted values where explicitly defined, and whether the element is mandatory or optional.
The variables in the template file are replaced with the equivalent webtags provided by the PWS software. If a variable has no equivalent webtag, the variable is manually updated in the template file. If an optional variable subsequently becomes permanently unavailable, the element is deleted from the template file.
- outside temperature
- station altitude
- international date
- wind direction degrees
- outside dewpoint
- wind gust
- outside humidity
- station latitude
- station longitude
- relative pressure
- pressure change
- station name
- wind direction points
- 1hr rain
- 24hr rain
- wind speed
- 24hr time
- pressure change period
- dewpoint units
- humidity units
- pressure units
- rainfall units
- temperature units
- wind speed units
Project Status
This 2017 project successfully achieved its aims but is now closed.
Screen dump of an observation in Google Earth.
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