README.md

   1 InfoEx AutoWx (IEAW)
   2 =============
   3
   4 This program fetches data from an NRCS SNOTEL site and pushes it into
   5 the InfoEx system using the new automated weather system implementation.
   6
   7 License under the MIT license (see file: LICENSE).
   8
   9 Disclaimer
  10 ----------
  11
  12 Your usage of the NRCS and InfoEx systems is bound by their respective
  13 terms and this software makes no attempt or claim to abide by any such
  14 terms.
  15
  16 Installation
  17 ------------
  18
  19 It's recommended to use venv and pip with this program. Here's a typical
  20 sequence of commands for a new setup:
  21
  22 `$ cd /path/to/src`
  23 `$ python3 -m venv env`
  24 `$ . env/bin/activate`
  25 `$ pip install -r requirements.txt`
  26
  27 How to use it
  28 -------------
  29
  30 This program is designed to be run from the command line (or via
  31 cron(8)) and administered via a simple, concise configuration file.
  32
  33 This design allows you to run a separate program instance for each NRCS
  34 weather station from which you'd like to automate the importation of
  35 data into your InfoEx subscriber account.
  36
  37 To run ad-hoc (be sure to activate the virtual environment, as detailed in the
  38 Installation section):
  39
  40 `./infoex-autowx.py --config [path/to/config-file.ini] [--dry-run]`
  41
  42 **NOTE: Specifying --dry-run will also not clean up the generated CSV
  43 file.** This is so that you can debug any issues more easily.
  44
  45 Here's an example of a crontab(5) with two SNOTEL sites, each of which
  46 will run once per hour (note that this will activate the virtual environment
  47 created earlier):
  48
  49 `2 * * * * /usr/bin/env bash -c 'cd /home/user/infoex-autowx && source env/bin/activate && ./infoex-autowx.py --config laurance-lake.ini'`
  50 `4 * * * * /usr/bin/env bash -c 'cd /home/user/infoex-autowx && source env/bin/activate && ./infoex-autowx.py --config mud-ridge.ini'`
  51
  52 Configuration File
  53 ------------------
  54
  55 The configuration file is separated into two parts, the [station]
  56 portion, and the [infoex] portion.
  57
  58 The [station] values describe which weather station's data you're after.
  59 See the next section in this README for instructions on obtaining these
  60 values.
  61
  62 The [infoex] values describe your credentials for the InfoEx automated
  63 weather station FTP server and other InfoEx-related configuration
  64 options.
  65
  66 `[station]`
  67 `type = [Either mesowest or nrcs]`
  68 `token = [MesoWest API token -- ignored when type is nrcs]`
  69 `station_id = [The NRCS/MesoWest identifier for a particular station]`
  70 `desired_data = [A comma-delimited list of fields you're interested in]`
  71
  72 `[infoex]`
  73 `host = [InfoEx FTP host address]`
  74 `uuid = [InfoEx-supplied UUID]`
  75 `api_key = [InfoEx-supplied API Key]`
  76 `csv_filename = [Arbitrary name of the file that will be uploaded to InfoEx]`
  77 `location_uuid = [The UUID used by InfoEx to identify your automated Wx site]`
  78
  79 Finding Your NRCS `station` values
  80 ----------------------------------
  81
  82 To complete the [station] configuration section for an NRCS station, you
  83 must fill in the attributes of the NRCS SNOTEL site from which you want
  84 to import data.
  85
  86 Here are the steps to do that:
  87
  88 1. Find your station by clicking through this website:
  89
  90    https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snow/sntllist.html
  91
  92    Or by using the interactive map:
  93
  94    https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/wcc/home/quicklinks/imap
  95
  96 2. Once you've found your station, look for the "Station ID" (a 3- or
  97    4-digit number).
  98
  99 3. Combine your Station ID, state abbreviation, and the network type
 100    "SNTL" to get your NRCS station triplet (`station_id`, in the
 101    configuration file). For example:
 102
 103    655:OR:SNTL
 104
 105    would represent the Mud Ridge station (Station ID 655) in the state
 106    of Oregon (OR). SNTL just represents that the station is in the
 107    SNOTEL network and is used internally by NRCS.
 108
 109 Once you have your station ID, fill in the field in your configuration
 110 file. Now you must select which data you'd like to pull from NRCS to
 111 push into InfoEx.
 112
 113 For that, visit the NRCS web service:
 114
 115 https://wcc.sc.egov.usda.gov/awdbWebService/webservice/testwebservice.jsf?webserviceName=/awdbWebService
 116
 117 Click "getElements" on the left, and then click, "Test Operation." This
 118 will return a long list of elements to your web browser from which you
 119 can choose. Each returned element has its identifier and a description.
 120
 121 Once you've chosen your elements, combine all of their respective
 122 "elementCd" values into a comma-delimited string and put that into your
 123 configuration file as the `desired_data` value.
 124
 125 For example:
 126
 127 `station_id = 655:OR:SNTL`
 128 `desired_data = TOBS,PREC`
 129
 130 indicates that I'd like to import "AIR TEMPERATURE OBSERVED" and
 131 "PRECIPITATION ACCUMULATION" from the NRCS SNOTEL site at Mud Ridge, OR,
 132 into InfoEx.
 133
 134 Finding your MesoWest `station` values
 135 --------------------------------------
 136
 137 MesoWest has great documentation which can be found here:
 138
 139 https://developers.synopticdata.com/mesonet/v2/getting-started/
 140
 141 To complete the [station] configuration section for a MesoWest station,
 142 you must fill in the attributes of the MesoWest station ID from which
 143 you want to import data. Here are the steps to do that:
 144
 145 1. Firstly, get set up with MesoWest's API by going to the above
 146    'Getting Started' link. Once you're set up, you can copy a token from
 147    the MesoWest web portal into your configuration file's `token` value.
 148
 149 2. Next, you will want to find the Station ID for the MesoWest weather
 150    station of interest and copy it to the `stid` value.
 151
 152 3. Finally, you must choose what data types you want to push into
 153    InfoEx.  MesoWest refers to these as 'field names' and a list is
 154    available here:
 155
 156 https://developers.synopticdata.com/about/station-variables/
 157
 158 The MesoWest API supports on-the-fly unit conversion, so that can be
 159 specified to infoex-autowx via the configuration option `units`. This
 160 can be either 'english' or 'metric', with 'english' meaning imperial
 161 units as used in the United States.
 162
 163 For example:
 164
 165 `token = (token id)`
 166 `stid = OD110`
 167 `desired_data = air_temp,snow_depth`
 168 `units = english`
 169
 170 indicates that I'd like to import "Temperature" and "Precipitation
 171 accumulated" from the MesoWest station at Santiam Pass, OR, into InfoEx,
 172 and that I want that data in imperial units.
 173
 174 Version History
 175 ---------------
 176
 177 - 2.0.0 (Jul 2020)
 178
 179   Implement MesoWest integration.
 180
 181   This release also makes significant changes to the configuration file,
 182   hence the major version bump. Such changes are not taken lightly but
 183   given the desire to support multiple data sources, were necessary.
 184
 185 - 1.0.0 (Jun 2020)
 186
 187   First released version. Cleaned up the program and design.
 188   Implemented configuration file, added LICENSE, README, docs, etc.
 189
 190 - 0.8.0 (Apr 2020)
 191
 192   First finished (unreleased) version.
 193
 194 - pre-0.8.0 (Apr 2020)
 195
 196   First (private) finished implementation with successful importation of
 197   NRCS data into InfoEx.