ACIS Web Services Version 2 Changelog

I. StnData

Changes

Key names are no longer case-sensetive (i.e. "sId" can be "sid", "sDate" and "eDate" can be "sdate" and "edate").
By default, output is now "json". For some requests "csv" can be specified, but not for requests that include "meta", "add" or "smry". Examples 1.1 and 2.1 below shows how the requests must be formatted to mimic the behavior of the same examples in the Verson 1 documentation.
Station ID types of GHCN-Daily (6) and CoCoRaHS (10) have been added.
Under meta options, the code "postal" has been renamed to "state" and "sIds" can be the case-insensitive "sids". These new names are also reflected in the meta results.
"climdiv" (climate division) can be used as a meta option.
The "elems" object definitions have been expanded to include the optional keywords "smry", "add", "normal", "prec" and "maxmissing".
For monthly requests in Version 1, if there were more than 5 days missing in a month, the monthly summary was set to missing. This restriction has been removed in Version 2 and instead you can specifiy the maximum allowable number of missing days with the "maxmissing" keyword.
The "summary" keyword has been removed (replaced by "normal"). Thus, the old specification "summary":"normal" is now "normal":1 and "summary":"departure" is now "normal":"departure".
A significant change has been made to the format of JSON results. Instead of each meta item being a name value pair, all meta items have been grouped into an object with the key "meta". This change can be seen in Example 2.1 below. In ACIS Web Services Version 1, the meta portion of the response was:
"uid":9613,"ll":[-68.017219999999995,46.870559999999998],"sIds":["14607 1","171175 2","CAR 3","72712 4","KCAR 5","USW00014607 6"],"elev":624.0,"postal":"ME","name":"CARIBOU MUNI AP"
The meta portion of the results of the same request in Version 2 is:
"meta":{"uid":9613,"ll":[-68.01722,46.87056],"sids":["14607 1","171175 2","CAR 3","72712 4","KCAR 5","USW00014607 6"],"state":"ME","elev":624,"name":"CARIBOU MUNI AP"}

Updates to examples found in Version 1 documentation

Example 1.1: http://data.rcc-acis.org/StnData?sid=304174&sdate=2009-01-01&edate=2009-01-10&elems=maxt,mint,pcpn,snow,snwd&output=csv
Example 1.2: http://data.rcc-acis.org/StnData?sid=CAR 3&sdate=2009-01-01&edate=2009-01-07&elems=1,2,4,73,74&output=json (output=json is the default and no longer necessary for this example)
Example 2.1: http://data.rcc-acis.org/StnData?sid=304174&sdate=2008-01&edate=2008-12&elems=mly_max_maxt,mly_min_mint&output=csv

JSON example: Result of call with following parameters

{"output":"json", "params": {"sid":"304174", "sdate":"2009-06-25", "edate":"2009-06-25", "meta":["name","state"], 
"elems":[{"name":"avgt","duration":"mtd","reduce":"mean"},{"name":"avgt","normal":"1","duration":"mtd","reduce":"mean"}]}}

II. MultiStnData

Changes

Key names are no longer case-sensetive (i.e. "sDate" and "eDate" can be "sdate" and "edate").
Default output type is "json". Output type of "csv" is not allowed for requests that include "meta", "add", "smry" or a range of dates.
Area code "postal" changed to "state".
Area code "clim_div" changed to "climdiv".
Users can now specify a range of dates (sdate and edate), instead of just a single day or month.
The "elems" object definitions have been expanded to include the optional keywords "smry", "add", "normal", "prec" and "maxmissing".
The "summary" keyword has been removed (replaced by "normal"). Thus, the old specification "summary":"normal" is now "normal":1 and "summary":"departure" is now "normal":"departure".
Calls for just metadata should use the new StnMeta call (documented in IIa below).
The format of JSON results has changed in a way similar to StnData, as described above. The object returned still has the single keyword "data", which is an array of objects, one per station, with each of these consisting of a "meta" object, a "data" array and a "smry" array, if requested.
There is no longer a default reduction (see Example 1.3 below).

Updates to examples found in Version 1 documentation

Example 1.1: http://data.rcc-acis.org/MultiStnData?state=CT,RI&date=2009-02-02&elems=maxt,mint&output=csv
Example 1.2: http://data.rcc-acis.org/MultiStnData?bbox=-89,40,-88,41&date=2009-02&elems=mly_sum_pcpn,mly_sum_snow&output=csv
Example 1.3: http://data.rcc-acis.org/MultiStnData?climdiv=DE01&date=2012-06-01&elems=mly_mean_avgt,mly_sum_pcpn,mly_sum_snow&meta=name,valid_daterange&output=json

JSON example: Result of call with following parameters

{"output":"json", "params": {"climdiv":"02","state":"CT","date":"2009-09", "meta":["state","name"], "elems":[{"interval":"mly","duration":"mly","name":"maxt","reduce":"max"},{"interval":"mly","duration":"mly","name":"mint","reduce":"min"},{"interval":"mly","duration":"mly","name":"pcpn","reduce":"sum"}]}}

Note: "climdiv":"02","state":"CT" can be combined into "climdiv":"CT02".

IIa. StnMeta

Changes

This is a new call that has been added to ACIS Web Services Version 2. It is used to obtain just metadata, no data.
Complete documentation forthcoming...

Updates to examples found under Version 1 MultiStnData documentation

No elems, no dates specified - returns metadata for all stations in the area. valid_daterange cannot be used when no elems are specified.
Example 4.1: http://data.rcc-acis.org/StnMeta?county=36001&meta=name
elems specified, no dates specified - returns metadata for all station in the area. If specified in meta, valid_daterange returned will be an array containing the valid date range for each element specified, in the order specified.
Example 4.2: http://data.rcc-acis.org/StnMeta?county=36001&meta=name,valid_daterange&elems=maxt,mint
elems specified, sdate and edate specified - returns metadata for all stations in the area recording any of the elements specified at any time between the starting and ending dates. If specified in meta, valid_daterange returned will be an array containing the valid date range for each element specified, in the order specified.
Example 4.3: http://data.rcc-acis.org/StnMeta?county=36001&meta=name,valid_daterange&elems=maxt,mint&sdate=2009-01-01&edate=2009-12-31
elems specified, date specified - returns metadata for all stations in the area recording any of the elements specified on the specified date. If specified in meta, valid_daterange returned will be an array containing the valid date range for each element specified, in the order specified.
Example 4.4: http://data.rcc-acis.org/StnMeta?county=36001&meta=name,valid_daterange&elems=maxt,mint&date=2009-12-01

III. General

Changes

Available "meta" keywords have changed as outlined in the table below. In particular, "postal" has changed to "state", a more generic "id" replaces "fips", "clim_div", "cwa" and "huc", and "bbox" has been added.
One (and only one) of the qualifiers "state" (was "postal"), "id" (new), or "bbox" must be specified. The calls can no longer be made without a qualifier.
Updated examples in table below.

General Keywords
Area Keyword	Optional Meta Keywords	Examples
state	id, name, geojson, bbox, state	http://data.rcc-acis.org/General/state?state=NY&meta=state,name,bbox
county	id, name, geojson, bbox, state	http://data.rcc-acis.org/General/county?bbox=-76,41,-75,42&meta=id,name,state
climdiv	id, name, geojson, bbox, state	http://data.rcc-acis.org/General/climdiv?id=NE01&meta=id,name,bbox
cwa	id, name, geojson, bbox	http://data.rcc-acis.org/General/cwa?state=LA&meta=id,name
basin	id, name, geojson, bbox	http://data.rcc-acis.org/General/basin?bbox=-75,40,-72,42&meta=id,name

This changelog addresses items that have changed in ACIS Web Services Version 2 from Version 1 as documented at http://data.rcc-acis.org/doc/WebServicesDocV1.html.