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PNG Maps API

warning

Please note that this product is reaching its end-of-life phase, and therefore won't be developed further anymore. Its successor is the maps API, which is based on our new Weather Maps and much more advanced technology.

API URL

note

Note that the best way to configure your map is using the developer tool link on the meteoblue weather map page, rather than creating an URL by hand.

To see the weather map API in action, go to the meteoblue website:

https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/webmap/

On the bottom-right of the page, you will find the developer tool under Settings -> Show developer info, which gives you the URL of the map displayed on the screen, making configuring your own map very easy.

Parameters

Example API-URL:

http://my.meteoblue.com/visimage/webmap?variable=temperature&level=surface&time=2017022115&imgxs=963&imgys=800&latmin=45.3024&latmax=49.7213&lonmin=2.2834&lonmax=12.8632&countryoverlay=1&colorbar=1&apikey=DEMOKEY&sig=70072eb3b60418b6f54184d3052f4f28

The following list shows the structure of the API-URL:

http://my.meteoblue.com/visimage/webmap? is the base address for weather maps API.

Mandatory Settings:

ParameterDescriptionExample
apikeyyour personal API key&apikey=DEMOKEY
variableweather maps layers (see chapter Weather maps layers)&variable=temperature_pressure
timedate and time in UTC – yyyymmddhh&time=2017022115
imgxsupper limit of horizontal pixel size*&imgxs=963
imgysupper limit of vertical pixel size*&imgys=800
latminminimum latitude coordinate in WGS84 (>-77)&latmin=45.3024
latmaxmaximum latitude coordinate in WGS84 (<77)&latmax=49.7213
lonminminimum longitude coordinate in WGS84 (>-180)&lonmin=22.79
lonmaxmaximum latitude coordinate in WGS84 (<180)&lonmax=12.8632

* The image size is an upper limit, actual images will be somewhat smaller because the api makes sure that the geographical region, specified by latmin, latmax, lonmin, lonmax is exactly met. Note that the delivered image size will be 3'000 x 3'000 pixels at most.

Optional Settings

ParameterDescriptionExampleDefault
levelheight level (see chapter Height levels)&level=surfacesurface
countryoverlayshow country boarders, 1=yes, 0=no&countryoverlay=10
timestampshow the timestamp and resolution of the underlying model, 1=yes, 0=no&timestamp=11
colorbar=1height level colorbar on map, 1=yes, 0=no&colorbar=10
webmercatorif set to 1, the latmin,latmax,lonmin,lonmax coordinates can be specified in WEB-mercator metric coordinates (EPSG:900913 or EPSG:3857)&webmercator=10

Special Settings

Transparent Pressure Lines

variable=none_pressure will give a transparent image with only the pressure lines.

pressure lines
warning

Do not combine variable=none_pressure with colorbar=1.

Transparent Temperature Overlay

&variable=temperature Will give a transparent image with only the temperature overlay:

pressure lines

Combinations

Each map layer can be combined with a line overlay by adding an underscore.

Examples:

  • Temperature and streamlines: &variable=temperature_streamlines
  • Temperature and pressure lines: &variable=temperature_pressure
  • Wind speed and wind direction: &variable=wind_arrows
  • All possible combinations can be checked on the meteoblue website: https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/webmap/

Image Formats

  • All maps are delivered as lossless 8 bit colour PNG image.
  • The maps can be overlayed with any web-mapping service (Google maps, OSM, etc) using the web-mercator projection (EPSG:900913 or EPSG:3857)
  • The maps are optimized to be overlayed on a map background (Google maps, OSM, etc). A good value of transparency to use for the weather map is around 60%. Some maps, (where appropriate e.g. precipitation, dust, air quality index, probabilities, clouds or maps featuring ocean forecasts) have full transparency in certain parts.
  • Image size: the image size can be specified only approximately. The values for imgxs (horizont- al direction) and imgys (vertical direction) represent the upper limits of the size, so images are typically somewhat smaller than this upper bounds. The reason is that the maps are generated to meet the exact geographical region specified by latmin,latmax,lonmin,lonmax, which is required to allow for a perfect overlay with the background maps. You should use a image size which is close to the one used in final display. As such if you zoom in or out of a map it is recommended to call a new map for the new geographical region in the requested image size. The reason is that maps containing line overlays e.g. pressure or wind arrows are optimized in size to be well readable at the requested pixel size. Furthermore, when zooming in, the content to some degree will show more detail or even use a different higher resolution weather model, where available. Note that weather models have a spatial resolution of 4 to 30 km, therefore it is not useful to zoom in to regions covering only a few kilometres as the underlying information will not improve beyond the resolution limit. The resolution of the model used on a particular map can be displayed using &timestamp=1 in the URL.

Calls

Number of Calls

The number of calls that you need is depending on the number of updates, days and layers, as well as if you want to allow users to truly interact with the map, rather than showing a static geographical region.

Example:

  • 24 images (hourly data) for 6 days for one layer with 2 daily updates = 24 x 6 x 2 = 288 calls per day
  • 24 images (hourly data) for 6 days for three layers with 2 daily updates = 24 x 6 x 3 = 432 calls per day

If you want to zoom and pan the map arbitrarily you will need likely thousands of calls as every zoom and pan operation ideally would trigger a new API call to achieve the best result, in this case you should contact us for special pricing.

Calls per Minute

Without further agreements we impose a rate limit of 100 calls per minute.

Maximum calls per minute with daily calls >144'000: allowed are 0.1% of the daily calls

Example:

150'000 daily calls = max. 150 calls/minute 500'000 daily calls = max. 500 calls/minute 1'000'000 daily calls = max. 1'000 calls/minute

If the calls per minute limit is exceeded, meteoblue does not guarantee the immediate delivery of the requested data. Calls may be either significantly delayed or denied.

Weather Map Layers

The following tables will list all avalable options a user has for the URL-Paramter variable.

Temperature

VariableParameter ValueComment
Temperaturetemperature
Max temperature (last 12 h)tmax12
Min temperature (last 12 h)tmin12
Max temperature (last 24 h)tmax24
Min temperature (last 24 h)tmin24
Max temperature (last 48 h)tmax48
Min temperature (last 48 h)tmin48
Max temperature (last 72 h)tmax72
Min temperature (last 72 h)tmin72
Temperature amplitude (last 24 h)tmmp24
Temperature change (last 24 h)tmch24
Equivalent potentialthetae
Wet-bulb potentialthetaw
Dew pointdewpoint
Dew point deficitdewdef

Clouds

VariableParameter ValueComment
Cloud covercloudcover
Convective clouds vertical extent (hPa)convectiveclouds
Convective cloud base (m asl.)convectivecloudbot
Convective cloud top (hPa)convectivecloudup
Cloud base heightcloudbase
Cloud top heightcloudtop

Waves

VariableParameter ValueDescription
Swell heightwaveswellht
Swell periodswellwaveperiod
Wind wave periodwwaveperiod
Wind wave heightwwavehg
Significant wave heightwaveht
Wave height/directionwaveht_primarywavedirection

Precipitation

VariableParameter ValueComment
Precipitation 1-hour and cloudsprecipitation01_cloudcover
Precipitation 3-hour and cloudsprecipitation03_cloudcover
Precipitation 1-hourprecipitation01
Precipitation 2-hourprecipitation02
Precipitation 3-hourprecipitation03
Precipitation 6-hourprecipitation06
Precipitation 12-hourprecipitation12
Precipitation 24-hourprecipitation24
Precipitation 48-hourprecipitation48
Precipitation 72-hourprecipitation72
Snow fall (last 1 h)precipitation01_snowfall
Snow fall (last 3 h)precipitation03_snowfall
Snow fall (last 12 h)precipitation12_snowfall
Snow fall (last 24 h)precipitation24_snowfall
Snow fall (last 48 h)precipitation48_snowfall
Snow fall (last 72 h)precipitation72_snowfall
Estimated snow depthsnowdepth
Precipitation probability >0.1mmpcpprob01

Wind

VariableParameter ValueComment
Wind speedwind
Wind (low speeds)windlowscale
Wind (detail)wind_isotach_arrows
Wind gustgust

Air Quality

VariableParameter ValueComment
Grass pollencams_pollen_grass_barbsEurope only
Birch pollencams_pollen_birch_barbsEurope only
Olive pollencams_pollen_olive_barbsEurope only
Desert dust concentrationcams_dustsfc
Ozone concentrationcams_ozonesfc
Ozone concentration (Europe1^1)cams_ozonesfc_europeEurope only
Aerosol optical depth (total) at 550nmcams_aod550
Air quality index (CAQI)cams_aqindex
SO2_2cams_so2
SO2_2 Europecams_so2_europeEurope only
PM10cams_pm10
PM10 (Europe1^1)cams_pm10_europeEurope only
PM2.5cams_pm25
PM2.5 (Europe1^1)cams_pm25_europeEurope only
Carbon monoxide (Europe1^1)cams_comono_europeEurope only
NO2_2cams_no2
NO2_2(Europe1^1)cams_no2_europeEurope only

1^1 Within Europe, the resolution of the forecast is 12 km, which is very high for air quality purposes, however the forecast cannot capture local effects like pollution along a road in a city, where actual concentrations could be much higher. In such a case you should refer to very local measurements taken at the exact spot of interest.

Others

VariableParameter ValueComment
Relative Humidityrh
CAPE / Lifted Indexcape_liftind
Risk (last 24h)risk24
500 hPa Vorticity/Heightvorticity_gph&level=500mb
1000-500 hPa Thickness in mmthickness_pressure&level=500mb
500 hPa Height/Pressureheight_pressure&level=500mb
850 hPa Temperature/Heighttemperature_gph&level=850mb
250 hPa Wind (Jet Stream)wind_streamlines_&level=250mb

Lines

Lines are overlays that can be plotted over the layers. There are many lines available like streamlines or pressure lines.

VariableParameter ValueComment
Streamlinesstreamlines
Pressure (sea level)pressure
Wind speedisotach
Arrowarrows
Temperaturetmp
Relative humidityrelhum
Geo potential heightgph
Freezing level heightfreezinglvl
Wind wave directionwwavedirection
Primary wave directionprimarywavedirection
Lifted Indexliftind
K-Indexlkind
Soaring Indexlsoar
Dew pointldewp
Equivalent potential templthete
Wet-bulb potential templthetw
Vorticitylvort

Height Levels

meteoblue weather maps are offered for different height levels.

note

Some variables can only be combined with specific height levels. To check which height level is available for which layer, please check on the meteoblue website.

Surface Height

VariableParameter ValueComment
Surfacesurface2m / 10m above ground

Heights in mb, hPa and km

Height in mbHeight in hPaHeight in kmParameter Value
9509500.5950mb
9009001.0900mb
8508501.5850mb
8008002.0800mb
7007003.0700mb
6006004.2600mb
5005005.5500mb
4004007.2400mb
3503508.1350mb
3503509.2300mb
25025010.4250mb
20020011.8200mb