III.  Location Forms

Location Form - Page 1 (Geographic/Physical)

1   Location  (Location.Lid)                     Alphanumeric 8
     The NWS Handbook No. 5 identifier, as assigned by the NWS Office of Systems Operations
     (OSO).  The majority of the entries in this field will be formatted as a three (3) character station
     identifier, followed by the two character state identifier; however, some identifiers (ASOS, etc.) are
     3 characters in length, while some identifiers could be more than 5 characters in length.

2   Name  (Location.Name)                        Alphanumeric 25 
     The name of the city/town nearest to where the station is located.  The city/town should be one
     listed in the Rand McNally Commercial Atlas.  The city should be in the same state as the actual
     location of the station.  The name should not include descriptions not part of the actual name of the
     city, such as "near", "River", "Creek", etc., nor should it include the distance and direction
     normally given in the Detail field, as described below.

     The name given is used throughout the WHFS applications to identify the station.  Do not add
     extraneous information to this field to describe the station; this information should be specified in
     the appropriate field.

3   Basin  (Location.Rb)                         Alphanumeric 30   
     The name of the river basin in which the station is located.  The river basin name used for this field
     should be the name as would be used for an E-19, even though an E-19 may not be necessary for
     the location (e.g. if describing a precipitation gage only station).

4   Lat/Lon  (Location.Lat)                      Alphanumeric 9
             (Location.Lon)                      Alphanumeric 9
     The latitude and longitude in [d]dd mm ss format (degrees minutes seconds).  For locations west of
     the 100th meridian, the longitude is entered in ddd mm ss format.  For locations with only a river
     gage, the values entered are for the river gage location.  For locations with both a river gage and a
     rain gage location, the values entered are for the rain gage location and the river gage coordinates
     are entered with the River Gage information.

     If the actual value of the seconds (ss portion of the coordinates) is not known, leave that portion
     blank, rather than entering 00 for the seconds.  In order to display properly on AWIPS background
     maps, all stations should have the accurate coordinates to the nearest second.

5   Elevation  (Location.Elev)                   Numeric
     The elevation, to the nearest whole foot, of the normal ground surface where the station is located. 
     If the station is a precipitation station (either with or without a river gage being present), the
     elevation entered is for the ground surface at the rain gage location.  Do not enter commas between
     the thousands and hundreds of feet digits.  Elevations are normally referenced to NGVD 1929; if
     another datum is used, make a comment of the datum used in the remarks field.  This value is used
     by the WHFS applications.

6   Station No  (Location.Sn)                    Alphanumeric 10
     The official station index number assigned by the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) through
     the Regional Cooperative Manager (RCM). The 2 digit state id, four digit station number, and 1 or
     2 digit climatic division number are separated by a dash.  Use the format: xx-xxxx-x[x].  The entry
     should be left blank if there is no assigned index number.  Do not use the "N" for the climate
     division.  Refer to Appendix B for the 2 digit state numbers.

7   County  (Location.Co)                        Alphanumeric 20
     The name of the county (parish in Louisiana, borough in Alaska) in which the station is located.  Be
     consistent in the usage of case of characters for the county name, i.e. always use uppercase or
     mixed case when giving the name.  Don't give the same county name in two different forms.

8   State  (Location.St)                         Alphanumeric 2
     The 2-character postal abbreviation for the state name where the station is located, such as AK for
     Alaska, UT for Utah, etc.

9   Revise  (Location.Lrevise)                    Date
     The date, in mm/dd/yyyy format (e.g. 10/30/1996), that changes were last made to information for
     this station.  If the field is blank, the current date will be entered.  The revision date entered here 
     is for the B-44 type information for the station, and will appear on the B-44A produced by SHIMS.  If
     a B-44 is in effect for the station - the date on the B-44 should be the date entered in this field.  If
     no B-44 exists for the station, the date entered in this field may then be either the date of the E-19,
     or the current date if changes are being made to location information.  The revision date for E-19
     type data is entered in the Revise Date field on the River Gage Screen Form.

10  WFO  (Location.Wfo)                          Alphanumeric 3
     The office in whose CWA (County Warning Area) the station is located.  This would also be the
     office responsible for cooperative program management for the station and electronics maintenance.
     (See the discussion of the HSA field on the use of modernized identifiers).

11  RFC  (Location.Rfc)                          Alphanumeric 5
     The five character identifier for the River Forecast Center (RFC) in whose area the location
     resides.  The valid entries are listed in Appendix B.

12  HSA  (Location.Hsa)                          Alphanumeric 3
     3-character AFOS identifier for the office with Hydrologic Service Area (HSA) responsibility for
     this location.  See Appendix B for a list of office identifiers.  NWS office identifiers officially
     remain the "old" AFOS identifiers until Stage II operations begin, which is at the end of AWIPS
     deployment; however, in many cases the "modernized" identifiers are beginning to be used.  For
     purposes of consistency, "modernized" identifiers should be entered in this field.   

13  Hydro Unit  (Location.Hu)                    Alphanumeric 8
     Hydrologic Unit Number obtained from state Hydrologic Unit Maps published by the USGS. 
     There are no dashes used in this field - only the numerical digits of the number.

14  Detail  (Location.Detail)                    Alphanumeric 10
     The direction and distance the station is from the post office of the city listed in Name.  The
     distance is given in whole miles, and the direction is given as one of 16 compass points, (i.e., 2
     SSW, 5 S, 1 NE, etc.)

15  Begin Date  (Location.Sbd)                    Date
     Date that observations began at this station.  The format is mm/dd/yyyy (e.g. 11/15/1996).

16  Type  (Location.Type)                        Alphanumeric 4
     The type of information the station has.  The choices are O - Observer, R - River Gage, P -
     Precipitation, and I - Inactive.  If multiple entries are required to define the station type, do not use
     spaces between the characters.  For example, a type of ORP would be entered for a station that has
     an observer and reports river stage and precipitation.

17  Net  (Location.Net)                          Alphanumeric 3
     The cooperative program network for the station.  Valid entries are: A - climatological, B -
     hydrological, AB - both climatological and hydrological.  Enter U for unofficial stations.


Location Form - Page 1 (Observer)

18  Surname  (Observer.Lname)                    Alphanumeric 28
     The last name of the observer, or the name of the institution taking observations.

19  First  (Observer.Fname)                      Alphanumeric 12
     The first name of the observer.  Leave blank for institutions.

20  Address  (Observer.A1)                       Alphanumeric 30
          (Observer.A2)                          Alphanumeric 30
          (Observer.A3)                          Alphanumeric 30
     The three lines in this field are for the street address portion of the mailing address for the
     observer/institution.  Do not include the city, state, or zip code in this field; they are stored in
     separate fields.

21  City  (Observer.City)                        Alphanumeric 30
     The name of the city for the postal mailing address of the observer.

22  St  (Observer.St)                            Alphanumeric 2
     The 2-character postal abbreviation for the state portion of the mailing address.  For example, NM
     for New Mexico or NY for New York.

23  Zip  (Observer.Zip)                          Alphanumeric 10
     The 5 digit or 9 digit Zip Code for the mailing address.  If a 9 digit Zip Code is used, the format is
     xxxxx-xxxx.

24  Comms  (Observer.Comm)                       Alphanumeric 10
     The communication method the observer normally uses to report the observation.  Some options
     include: Phone (for non 1-800 calls), INWATS (for 1-800 calls), ROSA, Touchtone.

25  Sponsor  (Observer.Spon)                     Alphanumeric 7
     The sponsoring appropriation for a paid observer or reimbursable station (S&E, FC-9, etc.)

26  Rate  (Observer.Rate)                        Dollar
     The monthly fee, in dollars, paid to the observer.

27  Recip  (Observer.Reci)                       Alphanumeric 15
     The NWS office or external agency that first receives the report from this station.  For ROSA,
     CADAS, or HADS stations, the recipient should be entered as the HSA office even though the data
     does not come directly into that office.

28  Report  (Observer.Rprt)                      Alphanumeric 60
     The elements of the observer's report and the corresponding criteria for the observer to make
     reports.

29  DoS  (Observer.Dos)                          Date
     The beginning date, in mm/dd/yyyy format, that this observer or institution began taking
     observations at this station.

30  Home  (Observer.Hphone)                      Alphanumeric 12
     The home telephone number of the observer for this location, in aaa-ppp-nnnn format.

31  Work  (Observer.Ophone)                      Alphanumeric 18
     The work telephone number, or the institution's phone number, in aaa-ppp-nnnn-xxxxx.  The xxxxx
     field is for the extension number the observer can be reached on (use only the numerical part of the
     extension number - do not enter the "x" abbreviation).

32  SSN  (Observer.Ssn)                          Alphanumeric 11
     The observer's Social Security number, in xxx-xx-xxxx format.

33  Gender  (Observer.Gn)                        Alphanumeric 1
     The gender of the observer.  The options are: M - male, F - female, I - Institutional.

34  Task No  (Observer.Tsk)                      Alphanumeric 13
     Task code to which cost for the station are charged.  The station may be a standard NWS supported
     station (S&E) or supported by another agency through the reimbursable program.  The entry in this
     field is the actual task number to which to charge station operations.

35  CD-404  (Observer.Ornr)                      Alphanumeric 4
     The last four digits of the order number on the CD-404 of a paid observer.


Location Form - Page 2 (Data Collection Platform)

36  Owner  (Dcp.Downer)                          Alphanumeric 10
     The owner agency/entity for the data collection platform.

37  GOES ID  (Dcp.Goes)                          Alphanumeric 8
     The ID that NESDIS has assigned to this platform.

38  Criteria  (Dcp.Criteria)                     Alphanumeric 50
     The criteria for the platform to initiate random reports.  Platforms often have multiple criteria, such
     as limits and rate of change for multiple parameters (precipitation, stage, etc.).

39  Time  (Dcp.Rptime)                           Alphanumeric 8
     The first reporting time after midnight on the 24-hour UTC (Universal Coordinated Time) clock
     that the platform is scheduled to report.  The format is hh:mm:ss.  This information is used by the
     WHFS applications to help identify late or missing reports.

40  Freq  (Dcp.Rptfreq)                          Numeric
     The number of minutes between routine scheduled transmissions from the platform.  For example,
     a platform that reports routinely every 4 hours would have an entry of 240.  This information is
     used by the WHFS applications to help identify late or missing reports.


Location Form - Page 2 (Telemetry)

41  Type  (Telm.Device)                          Alphanumeric 10
     The type of telemetry device at this location.  Some examples are: LARC, CR10, etc.  This
     definition is used by the WHFS applications to classify a station according to the sources of data.

42  Payor  (Telm.Payor)                          Alphanumeric 10
     The agency/entity that pays the communications cost for the device.

43  Owner  (Telm.Towner)                         Alphanumeric 10
     The agency/entity that owns the device.

44  Criteria  (Telm.Tcriteria)                   Alphanumeric 50
     The criteria by which the telemetry device will initiate calls to the collecting NWS office.  Some
     devices (such as LARCs) can have multiple criteria based both on absolute limits and rate-of-change.

45  Sensor ID  (Telm.Sensorid)                   Alphanumeric 10
     The ID the device uses in its reports, if it is not the LID of the station.  Examples would be ALERT
     stations or possibly telemetry devices owned by other agencies.

46  Phone  (Telm.Tphone)                         Alphanumeric 12
     The telephone number for the telemetry device, in aaa-ppp-nnnn format.

47  Cost  (Telm.Tcost)                           Dollar
     The monthly cost of the communications service for the device.  This amount need only be entered
     for devices where the communications costs are paid by the NWS.

48  Freq  (Telm.Rptfreq)                         Numeric
     A count of the minutes between routine interrogations of the telemetry device.  For example, a
     LARC that is interrogated by CADAS every 6 hours under routine conditions would have an entry
     of 360 in this field.  This value is used by the WHFS applications to determine when reports are
     expected.


Location Form - Page 2 (External Cooperation)

     Note: The external cooperators information allows scrolling through the multiple entries for the
     current location.

49  Agency  (Extcoop.Agency)                     Alphanumeric 8
     The name of the agency which is an external cooperator for this location.  This should be given as
     the name of the agency only, not the specific office of that agency.  For example, specify USCE for
     the Corps of Engineers, do not specify that it is the Baltimore office.  Use the following field for
     the particular office.  Multiple agencies can be specified for a given location; such as the Bureau of
     Reclamation, a local Flood District, etc.  Refer to Appendix B for appropriate entries for this field.

50  Office  (Extcoop.Office)                     Alphanumeric 20
     The name of the specific office for the corresponding office.  This allows multiple offices for a
     given location to be specified, if appropriate.  Refer to Appendix B for appropriate entries for this
     field.


Location Form - Page 2 (Parameters)

     Note: This parameter information allows scrolling through the multiple entries for the current
     location.

51  Type  (Parm.Type)                            Alphanumeric 
     The source of the measured parameter.  The choices are: D - data collection platform; T -
     telemetry; O - observer.  There can be multiple entries for any or all types, for example: if a DCP
     reports river stage (HG) and precipitation (PC) and an observer reports precipitation (PP) and back-up 
     river bstage (HG), there would be 2 entries for Type D and 2 entries for Type O for that location. 
     If a D type entry is entered, the DCP information for the location should be entered also.  Do not
     enter DCP reported data as T - data are recorded by either an observer or a DCP; all other
     reporting devices are considered T (i.e. Telemetry).
     

52  Parameter  (Parm.Parm)                       Alphanumeric 2
     The 2-letter SHEF code for the parameter(s) reported.


Location Form - Page 2 (Contacts)

     Note: The contacts information allows scrolling through the multiple entries for the current
     location.

53  Sequence  (Contact.Seq)                      Numeric
     The numerical sequence, in order of importance, for listing of the contacts.  For example, entering
     a number 1 will cause that entry to be the first entry displayed, a number 3 will cause the entry to
     be the third entry displayed, etc.

54  Contact  (Contact.Contact)                   Alphanumeric 24
     The name of the contact.  Contacts could possibly be: cooperating agencies, emergency managers,
     city officials, etc.  This field is not intended to contain the name of any observers at the site.  The
     WHFS applications provide special access and display of this helpful information.

55  Phone  (Contact.Cphone)                      Alphanumeric 17
     The phone number to be used to access the contact.  If multiple phone numbers are required, such
     as day time and night time numbers, enter the most used number in this field and enter the other
     number(s) in the Remarks field for the contact.

56  Remarks  (Contact.Cremark)                   Alphanumeric 255
     This field can be used to enter any remarks relating to this contact, such as alternate phone
     numbers, the criteria to be used to call the contact, specific times not to call the contact, etc.



Location Form - Page 2 (Remarks)

57  Remarks  (Location.Lremark)                  Alphanumeric 255
     This field can be used to enter remarks for anything pertinent to the location.  This field is 
     separate from the remarks field associated with the contacts information.