Understanding the OpenWeather Weather Map Collection.

Having global, accurate, feature-rich and graphical display of weather data can enhance application solutions in a wide variety of scenarios. Transport and logistics organizations can be warned of possible disruptions to their services, enabling them to effectively reallocate resources. Those in the sustainable energy industry can view and track weather systems, helping them manage supply and storage. Independent developers can easily incorporate the customizable OpenWeather APIs into their own solutions.

OpenWeather presents a selection of six versatile APIs, four of which are based on model data, and two on radar. 

Each map type can have uses, even within the same industry. For example with food delivery, model maps can be used for the long-term planning of shift allocation for drivers, and the radar maps can be used for proactive reallocation of driver resources within a city for a particular day.   

Model Data Weather Maps

These maps give several specific and nuanced weather conditions. They have a wide range of applications, including agriculture, logistics and constriction. For example, having an accurate and visual view of a specific and selectable weather condition would be vital in planning concrete mixing for construction projects. 

Weather Maps 2.0 with 3-hour step

This API gives15 weather map layers for:

• Current weather maps;
• Forecast weather maps: The forecast for 10 days with a 3 hours-step;
• Historical weather map: Archive since March, 2019;

Layers include precipitation intensity, accumulated precipitation (rain and snow), wind speed, atmospheric pressure, temperature of a dew point, soil temperature, etc.

Using this API:

Example of API call:

http://maps.openweathermap.org/maps/2.0/weather/{op}/{z}/{x}/{y}

Parameters include: Weather map layer, Number of zoom level, Number of x tile coordinate, Number of y tile coordinate, your API key, Date and time of (Unix time, UTC), Degree of layer opacity, Custom color palette, etc. This is Included in the developer subscription plan and higher. 

Weather Maps 2.0 with 1-hour step

This API gives forecast weather data for up to 4 days with 1 hours-step, and historical data: from 14 September, 2020. 

Layers include precipitation intensity, accumulated precipitation (rain and snow), wind speed, atmospheric pressure, temperature of a dew point, soil temperature, etc.

Using this API:

Example of API call:

 https://maps.openweathermap.org/maps/2.0/weather/1h/{op}/{z}/{x}/{y}

Parameters: Weather map layer, Number of zoom level, Number of x tile coordinate, Number of y tile coordinate, your API key, Date and time of (Unix time, UTC), Degree of layer opacity, Custom color palette, etc. This API is included in the Special Products collection. Please contact us to get access.

Weather Maps 1.0

This API gives current precipitation, clouds, pressure, temperature and wind data, update every 3 hours.

Using this API:

Example of API call:

https://tile.openweathermap.org/map/{layer}/{z}/{x}/{y}

Parameters include the weather map layer, zoom level, x tile coordinate, y tile coordinate and your API key.

An interactive map can be found on our website here.

This API is included in the Free subscription plan and higher. 

Relief Maps

The Relief Map API gives relief maps that can be used for a number of applications, as well as for the base weather map layer, or combined with other layers from other maps.

Users are able customise the look and feel of the map by setting their own light source position and the transparency level of the color layer. 

Relief maps can be used as a base layer in users maps and be combined with any layers from other weather maps. The relief map allows users to set the position of the light source and adjust the transparency of the color layer. 

Using this API:

Example of API call:

http://maps.openweathermap.org/maps/2.0/relief/{z}/{x}/{y}

Parameters include the zoom level, x tile coordinate, y tile coordinate, API key, degree of relief maps opacity, custom color palette, azimuth and altitude angles, etc.

This API is Included in the Developer subscription plan and higher.

Radar-based Weather Maps:

These weather maps are based on global weather models, satellites, radars and the OpenWeather NWP-ML technology. 

They map the intensity and location of global precipitation. Like our other weather maps, they have many applications, but are especially suited to scenarios where the rainfall is the most important element, including logistics, travel and tourism. 

Global Precipitation Maps

This map gives current and historical weather maps for the previous 2 days with a 10 minutes-step, and resolution of less than 1 km. An example of this is the OpenWeather Interactive Weather Maps with Global Precipitation layer, which provide users with free access to visual data.

Using this API:

Example of API call:

https://maps.openweathermap.org/maps/2.0/radar/{z}/{x}/{y}?appid={API key}&tm={date}

Parameters include the zoom level, x tile coordinate, y tile coordinate, Date and time of (Unix time, UTC) and your API key

This API is included in our Professional subscription plan and higher. 

Global Precipitation Maps Current, Forecast & Historical data

This API gives a global historical precipitation weather map for the previous 2 day, updated every 10 minutes, with a resolution of less than 1 km.

It also includes two types of forecasts:

• For the next 6 hours for the US territory

• For the next 2 hours for other global areas

Using this API:

Example of API call:

 https://maps.openweathermap.org/maps/2.0/radar/forecast/{z}/{x}/{y}?appid={API key}&tm={date}

Parameters include zoom level, x tile coordinate, y tile coordinate, Date and time of (Unix time, UTC) and your API key

This API is included in the Special products collection. 

Maps Collection Technical Details

Each product in the Maps Collection can be used with apps that support the display of layers, and has their own unique characteristics.

The maps are supported by all standard mapping libraries like OpenLayers and Leaflet, more information can be found here.

Whatever your area of interest, the OpenWeather weather map collection gives you the ability to visually display accurate, useful and beautiful weather conditions to any device.

Further technical information on the OpenWeather Maps Collection, along with other products can be found here.

Pricing and subscription details can be found here.

For more information on how to gain access to our OpenWeather Weather Maps collection, please e-mail us.