openmeteo.org: A Web Service for the Dissemination of Free Meteorological Data

Abstract

Individuals or organizations managing meteorological or hydrological stations typically need to either collect the data on personal computers or bear the costs required to setup a server. As an alternative, the openmeteo.org database provides users and organizations the option to upload their time series, on condition that their data will be available to the public under a free license (the Open Database License and the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, depending on the type of data). Each user has write access to his own data, whereas the public has read access to all the data. Enhydris, the software that powers openmeteo.org, is also free, available under the GNU General Public License v.3, and provides several useful features like time series graphs and plots, display of online data, maps etc. The purpose of openmeteo.org is not only to enable people to manage their data more easily, but also to bring people into a community and encourage a spirit of openness and sharing.