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20040409: IDD Data Availability

>From: "Rob Dale" <address@hidden>
>Organization: Skywatch Services
>Keywords: 200404092020.i39KKUCT029700 IDD .com

Hi Rob,

>I notice a few .com sites on the IDD topology latency pages, including one
>clearly commercial client (wunderground.com)

The great majority of the .com addresses reporting LDM-6 statistics to
Unidata are receiving NEXRAD Level II (CRAFT) data.  The NWS has
adopted the LDM-6 as the technology for collecting and distributing the
NEXRAD Level II data, and several commercial sites that are getting the
data have decided to report realtime stats back to us even though they
are not required to.

Some other .com sites are actually secondary schools that are being fed
by special, not-for-profit arrangement from a nearby Unidata university
member.

You are correct when you note that the Weather Underground, Inc.  is
clearly commercial and appears different than the other .com sites.
The reason that they are the sole .com actively participating in the
core IDD is that they volunteered to be a top level IDD injection/relay
node.  They are running an IDD-compatible NOAAPORT data ingest system
solely for the purpose of providing a top level IDD node on the US west
coast.  They run their own, homebrewed, IDD-incompatible NOAAPORT
reception systems for the data they depend on.  We welcome quid pro quo
collaborations such as this from commercial entities as long as they
provide a service that is beneficial to the greater Unidata community.

>Is there now an option to feed
>text / non-proprietary data outside the university environment, or are these
>exceptions?

Non-mainstream sites have always had the ability to establish
collaborations with Unidata universities that result in their being fed
realtime data through the IDD.  The Unidata Program Center (our office)
does not, however, provide any support for these collaborations:  the
non-mainstream entity must work with the university site to resolve
feed problems, get help on using the data, etc.

Also, since the backbone of the IDD, the Unidata Local Data Manager
(LDM), is freely available by anonymous FTP, any site has the ability
to setup their own data distribution network using our tools.  Some
interesting examples of non-university entities that have taken
advantage of the LDM are: the government of Spain, NASA, the Army Corps
of Engineers, the National Meteorological Service of South Korea, etc.
All of these entities chose to not report realtime statistics since
their data movement activities have no connection with the IDD.
Commercial sites getting CRAFT data, on the other hand, are receiving
data that is a primary constituent of the IDD, so they have chosen to
report statistics that better help us to manage the IDD itself.

Please let me know if you would like further clarification on our
IDD participation policy.

Cheers,

Tom Yoksas
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