Have you ever wondered whats behind the weather forecast TV reports?
Or who is managing government satellites?
Perhaps youve wandered across a sensor where does that data go?
The KNMI forecasts weather, researches climate change, and monitors seismic activity.
Their reach goes far beyond the Netherlands.
In 2017, the KNMI-built TROPOMI was launched into the atmosphere aboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite.
But how is this data collected?
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From sensors to the weather room
The KNMI is made up of several departments.
The sensors do what humans have done for hundreds of years they observe the weather.
Except now, they automatically collect data such as temperature, rainfall, and air pressure.
So you have48 sensor fields 34 on land and 14 in the sea in the Netherlands, Engelen says.
Most of these people areindividual volunteers around 300 in the country, Engelen estimates.
More data means a more accurate weather prediction.
Once the data is collected by field sensors, it is run through the KNMIs models.
All of that data output generates maps, videos, etc.
This data is collected continuously or, at least, should be.
Occasionally, a sensor will go down in the field.
And drunk people would urinate in them, so suddenly there was a lot of rainfall measured there.
Want to work at Rijksoverheid?Theyre hiring.
What happens with the data?
Wagenaars team uses the cloud infrastructure that Engelens sets up.
My responsibility is really collecting the data and making it available, Wagenaar tells TNW.
Managing such a vast trove of open-access data is not without its challenges.
Thats what my team is working on.
So weve been moving towards tailored APIs which give access to the data of those different domains.
We are actively listening to our users, asking them how they want to use the data.
Based on their input we can verify that the APIs will be useful.
The KNMIs research has importance beyond the Netherlands.
This, Wagenaar says, makes it really difficult to get a quick situational awareness when big events happen.
In fact, its how he came to work for the KNMI in the first place.
You are encouraged to give your input on the whole IT process, Engelen says.
When I started to work at the KNMI everything was done on the premises with on-premise services.
Were now moving towards the cloud.
Plus, well be using newer technologies, which is a very interesting journey.
