Data Extraction Plans

This week we are planning to work on extracting the data from GRIB files. After reviewing the spec from the file we are going to use the average temperature from the last 3 hour periods.

We also reviewed the Google Maps API in particular the heatmap layer API.

The library in python that we are going to use is pygrib It requires several libraries like numpy in order to work.

We are starting to develop the business model that will allow us to extract the data in the following dimensions:

• lat/lon
• city (for the United States): we are going to get an approximate
• timestamp when the data point was collected
• month, week, day, hour (averaged value)

Regarding the data source, some important points: 

• each coordinate have the state in the united states (the resolution is every 10 Km)
• the time period is an instant (every 3hrs)
• it is the average surface temperature code 138 from the GLDAS model

We are also reviewing the use of Fusion Tables for displaying the geodata.

Keep you posted.

GRIB and GLDAS files

Finally we were able to find a library in python that allows us to read the data in GRIB format

http://pygrib.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/docs/index.html

We found the library easy to use and for now, we are thinking in extracting the data as part of a manual process.