metaf2xml

metaf2xml is an open source, multiplatform and free command-line software that can be used to decode and parse aerodrome forecasts (TAF), aviation routine weather reports (METAR, SPECI), observations from buoys (BUOY), as well as synoptic observations (SYNOP).

Download, parse and decode aviation data

All parts of the messages are parsed by the metaf2xml software, some common format errors are corrected or tolerated, and the extracted data will be written automatically to the XML file format or passed to a user-defined function (all done in Perl).

Can be used to convert XML to text and HTML or XML

metaf2xml also provides XSLT style sheets, which can be used to convert XML to text, HTML or XML with different schemas, and a web-based user interface that can be used to display and download up-to-date weather data from Ogimet, NOAA, and other sources.

Requires no installation

The software requires no installation and can be used directly from the source package, after downloading it from Softoware or the project’s website, saving it on your Home folder, and uncompressed it with your favorite archive manager utility. Being a command-line tool, metaf2xml requires you to use a terminal emulator app to interact with it. Please read the README file found on the source package for more details on how to use the software.

Runs on Linux, BSD, Solaris, Windows and Mac

Being designed from the ground up to be a multi-platform application, metaf2xml is currently supported on any distribution of GNU/Linux, as well as on the BSD, Solaris, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows computer operating systems.

Under the hood and supported hardware platforms

Looking under the hood of the metaf2xml project, we can notice that while it is written in the Perl programming language, it’s independent of a hardware platform, thus supported on 32 and 64-bit machines. The XSL (XPath/XSL-FO/XSLT) programming languages were also used in metaf2xml.

What is new in this release:

• parser, bufr, src2raw, metaf2xml.pl, cgi, metafsrc2raw.pl, install.pl:
• require Perl 5.10.1+ (use state, //, \K)
• parser:
• SYNOP section 5: process 4 more groups (for NL)
• SYNOP section 1: fix ranges for VV=9* for US
• parser, bufr, xsl, dtd:
• extend BUFR parsing
• parser, xsl, xsl-sum, dtd:
• remove report/@query_start, add it and Perl version as comments
• cgi:
• adapt to new URLs for Ogimet, recognise quota reached
• ui, cgi:
• use operational (version 1.3) instead of experimental (1.5, to be shutdown) NOAA/ADDS dataserver (partially revert 69efd22)

What is new in version 1.57:

• parser, bufr, src2raw, metaf2xml.pl, cgi, metafsrc2raw.pl, install.pl:
• require Perl 5.10.1+ (use state, //, \K)
• parser:
• SYNOP section 5: process 4 more groups (for NL)
• SYNOP section 1: fix ranges for VV=9* for US
• parser, bufr, xsl, dtd:
• extend BUFR parsing
• parser, xsl, xsl-sum, dtd:
• remove report/@query_start, add it and Perl version as comments
• cgi:
• adapt to new URLs for Ogimet, recognise quota reached
• ui, cgi:
• use operational (version 1.3) instead of experimental (1.5, to be shutdown) NOAA/ADDS dataserver (partially revert 69efd22)

What is new in version 1.56:

• parser, xsl, dtd:
• add range for table 1677. use @rne/@rpi instead of @rn/@rp with @q=exclLower
• parser, xsl, dtd, metaf-sum:
• TAF: trendType: use FM instead of PROB. summary: show probability
• metaf-sum:
• SYNOP cloudInfo: omit if type and height are N/A. show VV
• cgi:
• use the list form of "open" for pipes if platform supports it parser, bufr, xsl, metaf-ui.xsl, dtd, metaf2xml.pl, cgi, install.pl
• prepare for BUFR processing
• Makefile:
• just pass variables to install.pl
• metaf2xml.pl, cgi, metafsrc2raw.pl, install.pl:
• use Pod::Usage::pod2usage
• allow scripts to be loaded as library
• install.pl:
• use default if variable is empty
• add options -v, -n
• metaf2xml.pl:
• remove option -O

What is new in version 1.54:

• parser, src2raw, metaf2xml.pl, cgi, metafsrc2raw.pl:
• make message prefixes SYNOP and BUOY deprecated
• parser, xsl, dtd, lang:
• TAF: recognise QNH and temperature forecast
• metaf-sum, cgi:
• summary: fetch and display TAF, too

What is new in version 1.53:

• parser, xsl, dtd, lang:
• SYNOP section 3: process groups 918sqDp, 919MwDa, 97[5-9]vpDp, 959vpDp
• parser, xsl, metaf-sum, dtd:
• SYNOP section 9: process group 0dxdxfxfx for DE
• metaf-add, ui, dtd, lang, cgi:
• distinguish SYNOP by station type (wmo,ship,mobil) instead of source (land,ship)
• xsl, metaf-sum:
• SYNOP: show offset to actual obs. time
• support GUI demo with browsers based on WebKit
• metaf-sum, lang:
• improve handling of summary header
• metaf-sum:
• wind: show direction for gusts, use 1 column instead of 2
• mark derived humidity
• parser, src2raw, metaf2xml.pl, cgi, metafsrc2raw.pl:
• allow and make check for exact Perl module version
• xsl, ui, cgi, css, install.pl:
• move style to CSS file to allow stricter CSP directives
• parser, xsl, metaf-sum, lang, cgi:
• if data source is DB: also get station info from DB
• parser:
• SYNOP section 3: allow ///// as 5j1j2j3j4 group. process tempMax, tempMin for MOBIL
• parser, metaf2xml.pl:
• allow character data in "empty" nodes
• install.pl:
• settings can be provided as arguments. extend description of installation
• fix installation of files having CRLF as end-of-line
• improve installation of man pages
• metaf-add:
• adapt to changes in DTD, stations.xml. improve namespace handling

What is new in version 1.51:

• parser, xsl, dtd:
• METAR/TAF: use code table 1690 for heights and vert. vis. except for US
• parser, xsl, metaf-sum, dtd:
• SYNOP US: use FMH-2 instead of code table 1600 for base of lowest cloud
• parser, xsl, dtd, lang:
• extend processing of SAO
• parser, XML, xsl, dtd:
• METAR: 5 groups handled as extensions become remarks

What is new in version 1.50:

• dtd, ui, cgi:
• new data source: SQL database
• parser, XML, src2raw, xsl, dtd, lang:
• extend processing of SAO
• xsl, ui, metaf-sum, dtd, lang, cgi:
• prepare translations for pl, pt-br
• xsl, ui, metaf-sum, lang, install.pl:
• split metaf-lang-{de,en,es,pl,pt-br,ru}.xsl from metaf-lang.xsl
• lang:
• improve Russian translation (thanks to Roman Nikitin)

What is new in version 1.49:

• The number of errors raised for invalid groups in METAR and TAF was reduced significantly: more groups and variants are recognized, and certain unrecognized groups are skipped.
• The processing of BUOY messages is now complete, and Canadian automatic SAO are also processed.
• The option -x for metaf2xml.pl was renamed to -o; the option is also honored by the example callback functions.
• A few minor bugs were fixed.

What is new in version 1.47:

• This version extends parsing for BUOY and SYNOP messages.
• There are many smaller changes and other extensions.

What is new in version 1.46:

• Starting with this release, the parsed data can be accessed via a callback function. Releases are now installed with a Perl script.
• The hourly temperature in METAR remarks is processed as an observed value, not a 1 hour average.
• Missing data for weather history (RABMM) and 24h min./max.
• temperature in METAR remarks is recognized.
• Many smaller changes and bugfixes have been made.

What is new in version 1.45:

• Two small but nasty bugs were fixed.

What is new in version 1.44:

• metaf.pl and metafsrc2raw.pl now use the module src2raw.pm; less forking is now required. The source "Ogimet ship" can now be used to fetch ship data.
• The display of wind, pressure (change), and temperature in the summary was extended.
• Many smaller improvements and bugfixes were made.

What is new in version 1.43:

• add processing of BUOY messages sections 0, 1, 2
• do not make text of report a link or provide station info as hint if called from command line or for format=text metaf2xml.pl, metafsrc2raw.pl:
• extend option -H to 5: with optional group BBB
• add parameter "end_date" for Ogimet (usable from command line, only)

What is new in version 1.42:

• 2011-02-06 release 1.42
• XML, dtd, xsl, ui, metaf-sum:add namespace for XML and translation data, plus minor changes
• parser, dtd, xsl, lang:
• TAF: add trendType "FM" to clearly distinguish it from "BECMG FM" (thanks to Jesse (angelldev))
• SYNOP section 3: process groups 92[01]SFx, 923S'S, 924SVs, 925TwTw, 927S6Tw, 941CDp, 943CLDp, 950Nmn3, 951Nvn4, 989VbDa, 991ADa
• improve processing of SYNOP sections 1, 2 and 3: allow more variants for several groups; improve processing for countries CN, FR, TV; ...
• SYNOP section 3: correct periods for region VI, MG, MZ
• improve parsing of visibility and weather for METAR and TAF
• parser, XML, dtd, xsl, metaf-sum, lang:
• change period handling
• parser:
• METAR: forward 'isGrid' to all winds if specified; use existing patterns for additional countries
• XML, metaf2xml.pl, gui:
• remove option -X for metaf2xml.pl, tag is mandatory
• ui, gui:
• use explicit link for favicon
• gui:
• tipo=SN is not supported for src_synop=ogimet; disallow tipo=SI for now, filter is broken and returns no reports check if input parameter hours is a number
• metaf-sum:
• make text of report a link to show it in mode=detailed

What is new in version 1.41:

• The ice/icing groups of SYNOP section 2 are now processed as well as groups in SYNOP section 5 from US sea station reports.
• The determination of the country of the issuer of the SYNOP report (required to apply national decoding rules) was improved.
• The display of past weather in the summary was extended.
• Several minor corrections and extensions were implemented.

What is new in version 1.35:

• This release adds the processing of SYNOP groups in section 5 for stations operated by the USA (land) and Canada.
• The dependency on XML::Writer was removed.
• There are also a number of smaller improvements for the parser and a few bugfixes.

What is new in version 1.34:

• parser:
• METAR: recognise new format for runway state
• TAF: recognise new date/time formats also for max./min. temperature
• SYNOP: tolerate invalid values for table 4377

What is new in version 1.33:

• This release adds the processing of the new TAF date/time formats. SYNOP groups 95[01]xx are also processed.
• There are also a number of smaller additions, changes, and a few bugfixes.

What is new in version 1.32:

• This release adds the processing of SYNOP groups in section 3 for the Antarctic.
• The tags for the visibility and the wind direction contain information about rounding offsets.
• Some more SYNOP groups deviating from the standard are tolerated.
• The summary format for SYNOP now shows the present weather (in METAR coding) and the highest gust (from section 3).
• The data source NOAA/NWS (ships) was added.
• There are also a number of smaller changes in the parser and a few bugfixes.

Requirements:

• Perl