Below is a sample of the web page and the sections on every page. Figure 1: Top of web page
Header Bar - This is a standard header based on the
weather.gov layout. Each of the elements are links to other sites such
as NWS, NOAA and Dept. of Commerce. Click on the "Aviation Weather Center"
text to go to the web site's home page.
Figure 1: Example of login
When a user logs in, their name appears in the upper right of the header
bar and the User menu changes to "Logout" and "Profile".
Favorites Bar - This is a set of quick links to other pages on the
site. This helps navigation in the absence of the left hand menu. These can be
set up through the "User" "Settings" page.
Navigation Bar - This is the primary navigation bar. It replaces
the left hand menu from the older site. All items are available by either
hovering over or clicking on the header item. Figure 2: Use of navigation bar
All links on the web site are in blue and will change to orange when you hover
over them.
Local Forecast - This provides the same local forecast that
weather.gov with one caveat. If you put in a 4 letter ID for an
airport, you'll get an airport specific aviation forecast. This is also
available under the "User" drop down for access on all pages.
Top News - The intent on the new web site is to provide more
news items. So only a news headline is listed along with the date of
issuance. Clicking on the headline, takes you to the new page where the
text is displayed.
Page Title - This is the title for the page which describes the
type of data being displayed. In this case, it's "Aviation Weather Overview".
The INFO link will take you to a help page for that display.
Map Display - This is a current map for a particular data type. On
the METARs page, it's an OpenLayers GIS map containing METARs. On the main
page, it's a composite of current aviation information with roughly a dozen
layers that can be turned on and off.
Figure 3: Bottom of web page
Additional Info/Links - Below the map are typically links to other
pieces of data (see example below). On the main page, this area is used for
the mission statement
Bottom Navigation - This mimic the top navigation bar but with all
the links listed. This is a quick view of the pages.
Footer - This is a standard footer of critical links to other sites
and information pages.
User Settings
Figure 4: User Settings
The user settings page under the "User" drop down allows the user to set
up preferences for the web site. At this point there are two available
settings:
Interactive Map Toggle - This toggles the interactive GIS maps
on or off.
Favorites Bar Setup - This allows the user to set up seven quick
links that will display at the top of every page (see Fig. 1).
OpenLayers GIS Page Layout
Figure 5: OpenLayers GIS Page layout
Page Title - This is the title for the page which describes the
type of data being displayed. In this case, it's "ADDS METARs".
OpenLayers Map - The interactive GIS map has these components:
Data type and valid time label - This appears above the map and
displays the type of data plus the valid time. This is updated when data in
the display are updated.
GIS Map - This is typically a 800x500 pixel display are for
OpenLayers to display data.
Zoom Controls - Located at upper left of map. These are used to
zoom in and out on the map. The scroll wheel on the mouse will also work.
Full Screen Toggle - Located in the upper right of map. This
toggles the map display into full screen mode. When in full screen, this
button will toggle back to normal mode
NOAA Logo/Menu Toggle - In normal mode, this is just a label. In
full screen mode, this will toggle the display of the data control menu.
Location Display - Located in the lower right corner of display.
This shows the current latitude and longitude of the cursor or "--" if the
cursor is off the map.
Data Controls - These are the controls for the OpenLayers GIS Map.
The controls for most displays will be above the plot or data but the
selections on the GIS map are more extensive so they're put below the map.
The controls are broken into sections for the selection of background maps,
map overlays, types of data plotted and how that data are to be plotted.
Additional Links/Data - This section has links to the static plots
by region and the ability to select raw METAR data by site or region.
Typically pages will be laid out this way with links to plots on the lower
left and links to raw data on the lower right.
Data Selection
Figure 6: OpenLayers Data Pop-up
When either point data such as a METAR report or a advisory polygon are
selected, a pop-up window will appear with more data for that location. In some
cases, the box will be partially off screen but the map can be panned to show the entire pop-up.
Data Plots
Figure 7: OpenLayers Station Model Plot
In many cases, the data are plotted using standard symbols and plotting
models. Fig. 7 shows the station model used in the METAR and TAF plots.
Temp - Temperature plotted in the upper left in F (C for
metric setting)
Altm - Last three digits of the altimeter setting plotted upper
right in inches Hg (hPa for metric). In this case, 966 represents 29.66
inches Hg.
Ceiling - Ceiling height in hundreds of feet. This represents the
height of the lowest broken or overcast cloud layer.
ICAO - The 4 letter ICAO identifier for the site. KRFD is Rockford
IL.
Windbarb - The wind barb. The stick points in the direction the
winds are coming from. Each full barb represents 10 knots of wind. Each
half barb represents 5 knots. Red represents wind gusts. In this case,
you have winds from the SSW at 25 knots with gusts to 30 knots.
Dewpt - The dewpoint temperature plotted in the lower left in F (C
for metric setting).
Visib - The visibility plotted to the left of the weather symbol,
in statute miles (km for metric).
Wx - A symbol representing present weather plotted just to the left
of the cloud cover symbol.
Cloud - The cloud cover symbol is plotted in the center. The amount
the circle is filled represents the amount of cloud cover. In this case, it's
overcast. The color of the circle represents the flight conditions:
green - VFR (Visual Flight Rules)
blue - MVFR (Marginal Visual Flight Rules)
red - IFR (Instrument Flight Rules)
purple - LIFR (Low Instrument Flight Rules)
Plot Page Layout
Figure 8: Plot Page layout
The Plot Page layout is similar to the GIS page layout.
Title - Page title
Links - Links to other similar pages. In this instance, links back
to the main METAR page and to the data and METAR board pages.
Data Controls - These are the controls for the plot. This allows
you to update region, time, etc. for the plot on the fly. The "<<"
and ">>" allow you to quickly go back and forwards through time.
Plot - The plot area.
Loop Controls
Figure 9: Loop controls
The loop controls are very similar to the plot page data controls except
a "Loop" toggle button is added. When the page is first loaded, only the
latest image is displayed. The "<<" and ">>" buttons back step
and forward step through the loop. When the "Loop" button is clicked, the
"<<" and ">>" buttons slow down the loop speed or speed it up. The
"Loop" button is now changed to a "Stop" button to pause the loop.
Data Page Layout
Figure 10: Raw Text Page layout
The Plot Page layout is similar to the GIS page layout.
Title - Page title
Links - Links to other similar pages. In this instance, links back
to the main METAR page and to the plot and METAR board pages.
Data Controls - These are the controls for the data. This allows
you to update station identifiers, format, number of hours and whether a TAF is included. Outside of the IDs, the update is done on the fly. A Submit button
is added for the ID update. When the new stations are entered, either the
Submit button or the Enter key can be pressed.
Raw Data - The raw data are output to this area. In some cases
a horizontal rule is added to the output for great clarity. In this case, to
separate data from each location.
The identifiers entered in the ID box can be a list of stations separated
by a space or comma (i.e. KMCI KORD) or can be a region specifier. In this
case, @TOP is the output from the top U.S. airports. You can enter two letter
state abbreviations (i.e. @NY, @MO) or country abbreviations (i.e. #GB, #DE).
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