OGC Web Services

The Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc (OGC) is a standards organization leading the development of geospatial and location based services. The OGC has adopted a number of specifications, some of which are used by the IEM. This page lists these services.

Some items of note:

  1. All of these services are available via https:// connections.
  2. There are four DNS aliases for the website to allow web browers to make many simultaneous requests against these services.
    1. mesonet1.agron.iastate.edu
    2. mesonet2.agron.iastate.edu
    3. mesonet3.agron.iastate.edu
    4. www.mesonet.agron.iastate.edu

Tile Map Service (TMS)

Here are working examples using IEM TMS services within various Javascript libraries.

Bing Maps

The Microsoft Bing Maps group kindly provided these two examples.

Single Tile Layer: example

Animated Tile Layer: example

ESRI JS API

Here is an example using the ESRI JS API. This was contributed by Derek Swingley.

Google Maps

Here is an example for Google Maps v3.

OpenLayers

Example for OpenLayers v2.

Example for OpenLayers v3 and higher.

Listing of Tile Map Services

The following services are for Spherical Mercator (EPSG:3857) maps only.

Service NameDescriptionLegend
uscountiesUS County Borders
usstatesUS State Borders
Template: goes_bird_sector_chchannel
Example: goes_east_conus_ch02
Current GOES R/S Imagery. Where:
bird is "east" or "west"
sector is "fulldisk", "alaska" (west only), "conus", "hawaii" (west only), "mesoscale-1", "mesoscale-2", "puertorico" (east only)
channel is two-digit, zero padded 01-16
more info.
Template: hrrr::REFD-FXXXX-0Latest HRRR Reflectivity Forecasts, FXXXX is the forecast minute more info
Template: hrrr::REFD-FXXXX-YYYYMMDDHHMIArchived HRRR Reflectivity Forecasts, FXXXX is the forecast minute more info
Template: ridge::XXX-XXX-0Latest individual RADAR XXX data for product XXX more info
Template: ridge::XXX-XXX-YYYYMMDDHHMIArchived individual RADAR XXX data for product XXX more info
nexrad-n0q-900913NEXRAD Base Reflectivity current
nexrad-n0q-900913-mXXm... where XX is a zero padded number modulo 5 between 05 and 55 minutes old.
nexrad-eet-900913NEXRAD Echo Tops EET current
nexrad-eet-900913-mXXm... where XX is a zero padded number module 5 between 05 and 55 minutes old.
q2-n1p-900913 MRMS 1 Hour Precipitation
q2-p24h-900913 MRMS 24 Hour Precipitation
q2-p48h-900913 MRMS 48 Hour Precipitation
q2-p72h-900913 MRMS 72 Hour Precipitation
q2-hsr-900913 MRMS Hybrid-Scan Reflectivity Composite (SeamlessHSR).
mrms::a2m-YYYYMMDDHHMI Archived MRMS PrecipRate product. An archived raster should be available for each minute modulo 2 since early 2015.
mrms::lcref-YYYYMMDDHHMI Archived MRMS SeamlessHSR product. An archived raster should be available for each minute modulo 2 since early 2015.
mrms::p{1,24,48,72}h-YYYYMMDDHHMI Archived MRMS precipitation estimate over given backwards looking hourly interval. Note that the 1 hourly value is not zero padded with the URI. Rasters are only available at the top of each hour since early 2015! See Above for Ramps

Web Map Service (WMS)

A WMS defines a protocol for web based retrieval of geodata in raster map format. If you are interested in the capabilities XML file, simply add "VERSION=1.1.1&REQUEST=GetCapabilities&SERVICE=WMS&" to the URI string.

Services
  • Iowa Precipitation
    https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/wms/iowa/rainfall.cgi?
  • MRMS Q3 Precipitation (Missing data is grey)
    https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/wms/us/mrms.cgi?
    Layer: mrms_p72h 72 Hour Precipitation
    Layer: mrms_p48h 48 Hour Precipitation
    Layer: mrms_p24h 24 Hour Precipitation
    Layer: mrms_p1h One Hour Precipitation
  • MRMS Q3 Precipitation (Missing data is transparent)
    https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/wms/us/mrms_nn.cgi?
    Layer: mrms_p72h 72 Hour Precipitation
    Layer: mrms_p48h 48 Hour Precipitation
    Layer: mrms_p24h 24 Hour Precipitation
    Layer: mrms_p1h One Hour Precipitation

  • GOES East Imagery (All Sectors, All 16 Channels)
    https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/wms/goes_east.cgi?
    Layer Template: sector_chchannel ie conus_ch02
  • GOES West Imagery (All Sectors, All 16 Channels)
    https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/wms/goes_west.cgi?
    Layer Template: sector_chchannel ie hawaii_ch02

Channel 1
Channel 1 Color Ramp

Channel 2
Channel 2 Color Ramp

Channel 3
Channel 3 Color Ramp

Channel 4
Channel 4 Color Ramp

Channel 5
Channel 5 Color Ramp

Channel 6
Channel 6 Color Ramp

Channel 7
Channel 7 Color Ramp

Channel 8
Channel 8 Color Ramp

Channel 9
Channel 9 Color Ramp

Channel 10
Channel 10 Color Ramp

Channel 11
Channel 11 Color Ramp

Channel 12
Channel 12 Color Ramp

Channel 13
Channel 13 Color Ramp

Channel 14
Channel 14 Color Ramp

Channel 15
Channel 15 Color Ramp

Channel 16
Channel 16 Color Ramp


  • CONUS NEXRAD Base Reflectivity (n0q)
    https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/wms/nexrad/n0q.cgi?
  • Historical CONUS NEXRAD Base Reflectivity [WMS-T] (n0q)
    https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/wms/nexrad/n0q-t.cgi?
  • Historical CONUS NEXRAD Base Reflectivity [WMS-T] (n0r)
    https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/wms/nexrad/n0r-t.cgi?
  • CONUS NEXRAD 8-bit Net Echo Tops (eet)
    https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/wms/nexrad/eet.cgi?
  • CONUS NEXRAD 1 Hour Precipitation (daa)
    https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/wms/nexrad/daa.cgi?
  • CONUS NEXRAD Net Echo Tops (net)
    https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/wms/nexrad/net.cgi?
  • CONUS NEXRAD Storm Total Precipitation (dta)
    https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/wms/nexrad/dta.cgi?
  • RIDGE Single NEXRAD Imagery
    https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/wms/nexrad/ridge.cgi?sector=XXX&prod=XXX&
    You also need to provide two CGI variables for the NEXRAD identifier and level III product you want. For example, sector=DMX&prod=N0Q

    Layer: single Most recent image for the given RADAR identifier and Level III product. A simple JSON metadata file exists for each RADAR and Level III product combination, for example DMX N0Q.

    Layer: single-archive This allows request of a specific volume scan time from IEM's archive of imagery. You need to specify the prod and sector like with the "single" layer, but also need to include a year, month, day and time. All of these values are in UTC. Here's an example request that gets NEXRAD RTX N0Q product for 27 Jan 2015 at 23:03 UTC. You must know the volume scan times prior to making the request. There are JSON services that can help you out. Unfortunately, this service does not support WMS-T due to complications with how I serve this information out, sorry.

  • NWS Current Warnings
    https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/wms/us/wwa.cgi?
  • Iowa Rainfall Estimates
    https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/wms/iowa/rainfall.cgi?
  • Iowa Winter Road Conditions
    https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/wms/iowa/roadcond.cgi?
    Layer: roadcond-noninterstate Non Interstate Road Conditions
    Layer: roadcond-interstate Interstate Road Conditions

Web Feature Service (WFS)

A WFS is a service that provides geodata as simple features in Geography Markup Language (GML).

Services
  • National Weather Service Warnings Current
    https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/wfs/ww.php?
  • National Weather Service Warnings Archive For UTC Date (since 11 Jul 2002)
    https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/wfs/ww.php?date=YYYY-MM-DD&
  • National Weather Service Warnings Archive At Given UTC Time(since 11 Jul 2002)
    https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/wfs/ww.php?date=YYYY-MM-DD&time=HH:MI&