ECMWF web re-engineering project

The European Centre for Medium-Range Forecasts currently provides a vast number of graphical products to users via its website. The users are provided with some limited interactivity, such as basic animation or the ability to create an epsgram at a location of their choice. Due to the success of this facility, ECMWF is starting a project to re-engineer its web based services with the aim to provide highly interactive and parameterised graphical products, to forecasters of the ECMWF Member States and commercial users. Users will be allowed to interact directly with the plots and perform actions such as zooming and panning. They will be able to customise some of the products, for example by changing the event threshold of probability maps, and have some control on the graphical attributes (isolines, shading) used to render the plots. Products will also be provided via OGC web map services (WMS) so they can be integrated in the users' own GIS software. ECMWF is investigating technologies that will allow it to implement a solution that is highly available, scalable and fast.