The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

Using MetBroker software with FieldServer

Matthew Laurenson

© 2005 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

Contents

» What is MetBroker» Why use MetBroker to access FieldServer data» What MetBroker tools are available» How does MetBroker access FieldServer data» Which FieldServer data are available through MetBroker

© 2005 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

Database BDatabase A

DSS ADSS B

The Problem: Lack of standard data formats limits DSS portability

© 2005 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

Database B

Database A

The Goal: Users in any country can run any DSS

© 2005 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

What is MetBroker?

MetBroker

Relational

File-based

Web-pages/CGI

WeatherDatabases

(Heterogeneous) Applications

Consistent data access “Driver” for each database

© 2005 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

Existing MetBroker tools:

» Retrieve and graph data from one station» Display data from all stations in an area» Calculate the risk of extreme climatic events based on historical

data» Display risk of climatic events on a regional basis» Get data directly into Excel spreadsheet

© 2005 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

Retrieve data from any station

Retrieves data from any of 12,000 MetBroker-linked stations

Weather elements and resolutions available from station

Station’s period of operation

© 2005 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

View daily maximum and minimum temperatures and rainfall across a region

© 2005 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

Examine risks of climatic extremes

Risk of daily max temp in Bangkok > 34°C, 35°C, 36°C ...

© 2005 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

Probability of one or more frosts in month

based on 25 years data

Interested in frosts colder than -3°C

Month: March

Area around Tsukuba, JapanWeather station

locations

© 2005 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

Retrieve data directly into Excel

© 2005 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

FieldServer data available through MetBroker

<OneDayData>…<Data>  <Date>2003/3/8</Date>   <Time>2:42</Time>   <O-Temp.>0 C</O-Temp.>   <Humid.>62</Humid.>   <PPFD-r>32 C</PPFD-r>   ...</Data>...</OneDayData>

FieldServer XML data structure

© 2005 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

In comparison to “regular” weather station data...

» FieldServers can be easily shifted so location associated with data changes

» Data has irregular time intervals» Some new kinds of data (eg images)

MetBroker not fully able to handle these differences (but is changing toward supporting)

© 2005 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

Current Data Handling Architecture

XML files

RelationalDatabase

DatabaseLoader

Rawdata

FS AgentSystem MetBroker

(JDBC)

(HTTP)

FieldServer–specific applications

FieldServer–specific applications

MMS Dataase?

© 2005 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

Why Both Relational DB and Archive?

» XML is flexible so can accommodate wide range of data structures, but slow to access randomly

» Relational databases offer fast random access and standard access (ODBC, JDBC)

© 2005 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

Options for developing new MetBroker tools

» Java developers:» Applets and Swing applications can use JavaBean components» Servlets for easy access from browsers» Access via Java RMI

» Other languages (eg Microsoft .Net, PHP, PERL, Delphi…)» Access using SOAP through MetSOAP

© 2005 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

JavaBean components for rapid applet and Java Swing application development

© 2005 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

Visual Basic client application

Applicationcode

MS SOAPToolkit

VB function calls

VB objects

MetSOAP

SOAP over HTTP

MetBroker

Delphi client application

Applicationcode

Borland SOAPToolkit

Delphi function calls

Delphi objects

SOAP over HTTP

RMI

MetSOAP

© 2005 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

Why use MetBroker to access FieldServer data?

» Can immediately view and analyze your data with existing MetBroker applications and use services such as interpolation

» Combine FieldServer data with other weather data (eg from national meteorological service, or research network)

» Utilize new MetBroker applications as soon as they are developed

» Develop new software applications to share with or sell to other countries

© 2005 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

Other brokers and servers

» ChizuBroker – online maps» DEMBroker – digital elevation models» ResourceServer – localization system for screen text» CountryServer – national boundaries and regional boundaries

© 2005 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd

For more information on brokers see www.agmodel.net

Thank you