NWS should adopt KML

Nagoyan the Earthhopper has been keeping an eye on super typhoon Nabi, which is tracking for Okinawa and possibly thereafter the Koreas, ETA September 7.

Over on Google Maps Mania, he links to Digital Typhoon, a site maintained by Japan’s National Institute of Informatics that provides typhoon Information for Google Earth.

National weather agencies really need to start offering KML overlays and tracking data as a default. We can make our own, but many more will use these tools if they are “official” and seamless to download. The Tulsa forecasting office of the US National Weather Service led the way, but not without getting into trouble for it (just a little). Yet if the USGS can publish in KML, there should be no reason why the NWS can’t follow suit.

[Update 13:01 UTC: Nagoyan’s Flikr page with a shot of Nabi.]

One thought on “NWS should adopt KML”

  1. Thanks for putting this up…I am here in Okinawa right now and it will be hitting us tomorrow night.

    We are pretty much prepared for typhoon and very few human damage every year in Okinawa, however, Nabi is one of the biggest in decades, as it’s severe storm area is bigger than Katrina, reportedly.

    I’m prepared, but cross your fingers…

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