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Perot Systems Government ServicesView Photo(s) of Award Presentation The Historical Tropical Cyclone Mapping and Analysis Tool couples historical tropical cyclone data from the National Hurricane Center with interactive and customizable display and analysis capabilities using ArcIMS.
Business Problem Constantly maintained by staff at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Hurricane Center (NHC), the Atlantic Best Track dataset contains detailed information on all tropical cyclones that have entered the Atlantic Basin since 1851. The database consists of a wealth of information, including the names, dates and times, storm center locations, and intensities for each storm within the record. To expand the availability and to increase the utility of this data set, staff at the NOAA Coastal Services Center developed an on-line mapping and analysis tool using ArcIMS that allows users to quickly display graphical representations of portions of the data set based upon user-selected criteria. Users are invited to enter a location of interest, select from a series of storm parameters and the application plots the storms that meet their criteria. The ability to plot user-defined portions of the data set, combined with the ability to download credible and reliable data in a common GIS format, enhances a person’s knowledge of hurricane climatology for a selected location and enables more widespread use of the data by emergency managers, researchers, and the public. Technology Implemented Raw historical data (ASCII format) were gathered from NHC archives and processed in ArcGIS. Related spatial data layers were collected and loaded into ArcSDE, along with the historical storms data. ArcIMS was customized and coupled with ASP and Microsoft® SQL Server technologies, allowing users to query and analyze the historical data via the World Wide Web. Development Team Biography Web interface portion of the ArcIMS application, as well as to that of the supporting Web site.
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