AWIPS II Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is AWIPS?
A:
The National Weather Service is in the process of developing
the next generation of its AWIPS software (AWIPS II) to provide a
comprehensive package in support of its forecasting and public service
operations. This new software will be developed in Java, allowing
it to run on more platforms than the current AWIPS software. Many
of the underlying technologies in AWIPS will be based on open
source projects and the plan is to make AWIPS software also open
source. Currently, the NWS National Centers and NWS field forecast
offices use different tools to support their mission, with the National
Centers using NAWIPS, and NWS forecast offices use AWIPS, which is
fundamentally different and not compatible with NAWIPS. The new AWIPS
architecture will allow the NWS to reduce development time, expand
data access and provide better integration and collaboration between
the NWS field offices, river forecast centers and National Centers.
Q: Who is developing AWIPS?
A:
Raytheon is responsible for developing the underlying infrastructure
for AWIPS and migrating the existing AWIPS functionality into
that infrastructure. NCEP is responsible for migrating the existing
GEMPAK/NAWIPS functionality into the AWIPS framework.
Q: How is GEMPAK related to AWIPS?
A:
GEMPAK functionality, specifically the underlying analysis and diagnostic routines, will be included with AWIPS, most likely as wrapped code. AWIPS is being developed for a "black box" GEMPAK transition, meaning batch scripts and automated processes which call GEMPAK routines would not require updating after migrating to AWIPS.
Q: What is Unidata's role in all this?
A:
The Unidata Program Center distributes and provides support for GEMPAK
to our member sites. Membership in Unidata is open to U.S. colleges
and universities, and is free of charge. GEMPAK is also available as
unsupported software without charge to organizations which do not
participate in Unidata through the limitations specified in the Unidata
participation policy. The UPC
release of GEMPAK/NAWIPS incorporates several additions developed both
locally and at other locations to enhance the use of real-time data
aquired through the Unidata IDD, and through instructional case studies
such as those developed at COMET. It includes GARP (GEMPAK Analysis and
Rendering Program) which was developed by COMET.
Q: Why is NCEP moving away from GEMPAK?
A:
The National Weather Service announced plans in 2007 to cease
development of NAWIPS in August 2008 and proceed with a migration
of the functionality of that package to the new AWIPS environment.
The decision to migrate NAWIPS to AWIPS was made unilaterally
by NWS. Since NCEP's primary goal is to support the National Centers,
Unidata had no input on this decision.
Q: What is NCEP's plan for NAWIPS/GEMPAK?
A:
NCEP intends to migrate all NAWIPS/GEMPAK functionality to AWIPS and
intends to make AWIPS available to the Unidata community.
Q: If/When the UPC stops supporting GEMPAK, can I still use it?
A:
The GEMPAK source code is freely available and will still be accessible
in some form after the UPC ends official support. It will not stop
working on any certain date. Furthermore, the existing support materials
(tutorial, help manual and documentation) will still be available on
line. The gembud mailing list will be kept active so GEMPAK users
can provide community support to each other.
Unidata AWIPS 16.2.2-3 - EDEX for CentOS 7