Interpretation of meteorological data in a GIS-based simulation environment

Abstract: The main object of this thesis was to investigate the possibility of integrating a visualization of meteorological data in an interactive GIS-based simulation environment. The work was carried out at at the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI). Focus was put on meteorological parameters affecting radar signals. The task consisted of mapping of existing visualization methods used for weather and investigating suitable data sources and structures. Furthermore, the work was implemented in Java and NASA's API WorldWind. The result was evaluated through a semi-structured interview held with a focus group at FOI. The data chosen was model data describing precipitation rate from the European organization ECMWF's open database. A software module was developed to decode and structure the data which were later fetched and visually represented using symbols from the MIL-STD-2525 standard. The main conclusion drawn from the interview was that the proposed implementation was suitable for some scenarios. Alternative visualisations have to be developed from which the user will be able to choose from. The data module serves together with the symbols as a good start for further visualizaiton work.