Networks Service

Returns metadata and analytics on the networks within the Mesonet dataset

Request Format

https://api.synopticdata.com/v2/networks

Returns a list of networks both current and previous that have data within the Mesonet dataset. You can also explore networks here.

This service returns basic information regarding restricted networks. Meaning you may see networks that will require an upgraded service account to access.

Acquiring data from this web service requires certain parameters. When encoding URLs, all parameters are separated using the ampersand (&) character and their value is indicated by an equal sign (=). Below is a list of accepted parameters.

• token (required), Your application’s API token. This is used to identify who is requesting API data. You are never required to use multiple tokens, but you can use as many as you need. Learn more in our tokens overview.

Optional Parameters

• id (network id), Single or comma separated list of network IDs. Example: &id=1,2,3,4.

• shortname (network short name) Single or comma separated list of network short names. Example: &shortname=uunet,raws.

• sortby (alphabet) Only valid value is alphabet for determining the sorting order. By default networks are sorted by ID. Example: &sortby=alphabet.

Response Format Parameters

• output (json, xml), Indicates the response format of the request. It’s recommend to use the JSON format which there are well supported parsing libraries in all major languages. Below are some of the caveats of using a format other than JSON.

Request Response

JSON Format

The Network service will return its results in a single organized and self describing JSON object. At a minimum, every request will return a JSON object with a "SUMMARY" field.

An example JSON response would be:

{
  "MNET": [
    {
      "CATEGORY": "6",
      "REPORTING_STATIONS": 57,
      "LAST_OBSERVATION": "2018-01-19T15:50:00Z",
      "URL": null,
      "PERCENT_REPORTING": 98.28,
      "PERIOD_CHECKED": 120,
      "TOTAL_STATIONS": 64,
      "ACTIVE_STATIONS": 58,
      "LONGNAME": "University of Utah MesoWest Mesonet",
      "SHORTNAME": "UUNET",
      "PERCENT_ACTIVE": 90.63,
      "ID": "153"
    },

    ...

    ],
    "SUMMARY": {
      "NUMBER_OF_OBJECTS": 123,
      "RESPONSE_CODE": 1,
      "RESPONSE_MESSAGE": "OK",
      "RESPONSE_TIME": "0.164985656738 ms"
    }
}

• SUMMARY{}

  • NUMBER_OF_OBJECTS, (always returned) is a integer value of the number of stations returned.

  • RESPONSE_CODE, (always returned) is a numerical code indicating the status of the request.

    • “1” = “OK”
    • “2” = “Zero Results”
    • “200” = “Authentication failure”
    • “400” = “Violates a rule of the API”
  • RESPONSE_MESSAGE, (always returned) is a string explaining the RESPONSE_CODE.

• MNET[]

  • CATEGORY, network type. See [Network Types][networktypes-api] service for details
  • REPORTING_STATIONS, number of stations currently reporting in this network. Interval is defined below.
  • LAST_OBSERVATION, time stamp of last observation seen.
  • URL, network/data provider’s URL, if available.
  • PERCENT_REPORTING, percentage of active stations currently reporting data.
  • PERIOD_CHECKED, the interval of time used to calculate analytics. In minutes.
  • TOTAL_STATIONS, total number of stations assigned to this network.
  • ACTIVE_STATIONS: number of stations currently set to active status.
  • LONGNAME, formal name of network.
  • SHORTNAME, short name of network. This can be used to with the network selector.
  • PERCENT_ACTIVE, percentage of active stations compared to the total number of stations assigned to this network.
  • ID, network ID number. This can be used to with the network selector.