FAIR: a project to realize a user-friendly exchange of open weather data

Abstract

Access to high quality weather and climate data is crucial for a wide range of societal and economic issues. It allows optimising industrial processes, supports the identification of potential risks related to climate change or allows the development of corresponding adaptation and mitigation strategies. Although such data is freely available through Germany’s national meteorological service DWD (Deutscher Wetterdienst) since 2017, the application potential in industry and society has certainly not yet been fully unlocked. Major obstacles are the complexity of the raw data, as well as missing tools for their simple integration into existing industrial applications. The goal of the research project FAIR is to simplify the information exchange between the DWD and economical players. In order to reach this goal a requirement analysis with end-users of weather data from three different sectors was conducted. A central requirement regarding the site assessment of wind plants is quick and easy access to historical wind-series at specific sites. Preferably downloadable in formats like CSV or via an API. Event planning partners are interested in a quick access to health relevant weather information at their event location, and the E-mobility sector in temperature data along planned routes. In this paper, we summarize the results of the requirement analysis and present the deduced technical architecture and FAIR services aiming at a user-friendly exchange of weather data.