Connecting ArcGIS 9.2 to NDFD Web Services

Import NDFD Data from the WFS
Import NDFD Data from a File

Use ArcCatalog to Connect to WFS

ArcGIS can be used to access the NDFD Web Feature Service (WFS).  This document describes how to access and display NDFD data retreived via the NDFD WFS.

Start ArcCatalog, click on the "Interoperability Connections" folder, and select "Add Interoperability Connection".  See the image below.





After you double click on the "Add Interoperability Connection" entry, the "Interoperability Connection" window appears. Select "Web Feature Service (WFS)" from the "Format" pull down and enter "http://www.weather.gov/forecasts/xml/OGC_services/ndfdOWSserver.php" in the "Dataset" field. Next click on the "Setting" button.

 See the image below.





Once the "Web Feature Service (WFS) Inpu..." window appears, click on the elipse "..." to the right of the "Table List" field.

 See the image below.





This action should bring up the "Web Feature Service (WFS) Table List" window. After a pause, the window will have an entry for the "ndfd:Forecast_GmlsfPoint" feature. When the entry is visible, select the check box to the left of the feature.

 See the image below.





Now click the OK button on each of the last three windows. The Catalog window should look like the image below





Use ArcMap to Display the NDFD Data





Open ArcMap, choosing an appropriate map. Then click the "Add Data" button. This will result in the "Add Data" window shown below. Select the WFS entry and click the "Add" button.





Finally, right click on the Forecast_GmlsfPoint feature entry in the data section of the ArcMap display and then select "Preferences". From the "Layer Properties" window, check the "Lable features in this layer" check box and select the NDFD elements you want to diplay from the pull down menu called "Lable Field".





Click "OK" and the data should be displayed on the map.

Using NDFD Data Wrapped in GML

The Data Interoperability Extension allows users to import from files containing data encoded in Geography Markup Language (GML). Since the NDFD WFS and SOAP service return NDFD data encoded in GML, users can save the results of a getFeature request to a file and then import the data into ArcMap. Several sample getFeature requests are provided below:

Default Request returns selected cities from across the United States
http://www.weather.gov/forecasts/xml/OGC_services/ndfdOWSserver.php?SERVICE=WFS&Request=GetFeature&VERSION=1.1.0&TYPENAME=Forecast_GmlsfPoint

Bounding Box example returns data for a small subgrid
http://www.weather.gov/forecasts/xml/OGC_services/ndfdOWSserver.php?SERVICE=WFS&Request=GetFeature&VERSION=1.1.0&bbox=-82.00,35.00,-81.5,35.5&resolution=10&time=2007-05-23T23:00:00&elements=maxt&TYPENAME=Forecast_GmlsfPoint

User input returns a single feature for a single point, single NDFD element, and single time
http://www.weather.gov/forecasts/xml/OGC_services/ndfdOWSserver.php?SERVICE=WFS&Request=GetFeature&VERSION=1.1.0&latLonList=38.99,-77.99&time=2007-05-23T23:00:00&elements=maxt&TYPENAME=Forecast_GmlsfPoint

Other subsets of NDFD data can be obtained from the following web page:

http://www.weather.gov/forecasts/xml/OGC_services/ndfdOGC_services.htm

start ArcCatalog, click on the "Interoperability Connections" folder, and select "Add Interoperability Connection".  See the image below.





Select "GML Simple Feature Level SF-0 Profile" from the "Format" pull down menu of the "Interoperability Connection" window. From the "Database" menu, locate and select the file containing the NDFD GML-encoded data. Then click "OK" to dismiss the window  See the image below.





NOTE: The connection will have a number of feature types displayed (see image below). Use the "Forecast_GmlsfPoint Point" feature.





Now open ArcMap and click on the "Add Data" button. Then ensure the "Interoperability Connections" item is selected from the "Look in" pull down menu. Select the connection that you created in the ArcCatalog. Click the "Add" button to add the connection and dismiss the window. The points retrieved from the service should now be visible on the map.





To display the NDFD elements, right click on the connection you just added and select the "Properties" menu item. In the "Layer Property" menu, ensure the Label features in this layer check box is selected. Next select the NDFD element you want displayed from the "Label Field" pull down menu. Click the "OK" button and the data for the selected element should appear on the map.