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METAR Request

You only need to specify this style URL in your client and it will automatically know what other URLs it has to request for other resources such as vector tiles and sprites:

https://api-mm.ncm.gov.sa/mvt/aviation_reports/metar:0/style.json?<optionals>

Optional Fields

Optional fields can be attached to the query string as follows:

https://...?option_name=<option_value>&...

The following table describes all optional parameters:

FieldDescriptionValueExample
datetime A date to retrieve the vector data
If no datetime is provided, the system defaults to the time of the request.
Dates and times are specified according to the ISO-86011 format (YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssZ). All times are in UTC. Note that the part containing time specifications (Thh:mm:ss) is optional. The default setting is now. For more details see Date/Time Description 2018-04-12T12:45Z
access_token Instead of basic authentication, you can opt to use OAuth authentication as described here: OAuth Authentification String. eyJhbGciOicCI6 ... y2QT4fwpMeJ

Visual Representation

 
WhatDescriptionUnit
Visibility Horizontal visibility
Special Case for METAR reports with ///: /// is displayed.
Special Case for METAR reports without visibility information: -999 is displayed
in meters
Weather the reported weather condition (the symbol is only present if the METAR reports a weather condition) string
Cloud coverage Cloud coverage in octas
Special cases:

Cloud Coverage Symbol which is displayed if data is missing:

Cloud Coverage Symbol which is displayed when data is not reported:

A red symbol for cloud coverage means that one of the following cloud keywords are present: TCU, CB, CBMAM

symbol
Wind barb Wind speed and direction Special cases:

Wind data explicitly not reported in METAR (///):

Missing wind data in the report:

Note that these special cases are always aligned to the north. This is not an indication for the wind direction.

wind barb symbol
ID Airport identifier identifier string
Ceiling Vertical visibility
Special Case CAVOK:
If METAR reports CAVOK, instead of the ceiling, CAVOK is displayed.
Special Case: ///
if METAR Reports ///, /// is displayed.
Special Case: -999
If METAR does not report any information about the ceiling, -999 is displayed.
in feet above ground
Temperature/dew point The reported ambient temperature and dew point. Negative temperatures are displayed by using M as prefix instead of a minus sign. integer
SPECI If the report contains the keyword SPECI, it is displayed on the top left of the symbol. SPECI
Greyed out symbol If the report is invalid due to timeout (issue time is already older than 1h) the symbols opacity is set to 0.5 to indicate the timeout state.

Note: For zoom levels<8, the above symbol is not rendered when using the default style, instead a simple dot is displayed, which indicates the location of available reports.

Further Relevant METAR Informations

Apart from the information represented by the symbol above, we also encode other relevant information into the Protobuf file. These can be extracted and projected on your map by using a custom stylesheet. Here is a list of the additionally available fields:

KeyData TypeUnit
icao string -
latitude double -
longitude double -
issue_time string ISO time format string
raw_metar string -
wind_speed double m/s
wind_direction double °
altimeter string hPa or "///" (indication that it is explicitly not reported by the METAR)
wind_gust string m/s or "///" (indication that it is explicitly not reported by the METAR)