TOPIC:

Is there a way to download a grib file from the command line rather than the app? The idea is to create a script that automatically downloads specific data for use in another (chart plotter) application. curl might be ok if I knew how to format the GET request.

Hello,
The tool is only interactive for the models available on the fly, but can open files from other sources that may be available via command line.

You have it backwards. My goal is NOT to import other gribs into the app. It is the other way around: I want to use the XYGRIB server to fetch gribs that I can use in my navigation program. I realize I can use XYgrib to download a grib, save it, then import it into another program. I would rather create a script that does that automatically.

My guess is that sites like XYgrib format a request to the NOAA grib site, fetch a subset of their GRIB data, and then deliver it to a user. In other words, they are an interface to the NOAA grib server. Best practices are that they would do this periodically and then re-serve the gribs to users. I just want to fetch those gribs through the XYgrib interface.

So, to be simple: How do I format a request to the XYGrib server to deliver a [compressed] grib fine.

Thanks for the response.

ALippman wrote: You have it backwards. My goal is NOT to import other gribs into the app. It is the other way around: I want to use the XYGRIB server to fetch gribs that I can use in my navigation program. I realize I can use XYgrib to download a grib, save it, then import it into another program. .

Hello,
You were perfectly clear and well understood, but at this stage it is not possible to do it automaticaly.
qtVlM (see www.meltemus.fr/index.php/en) has integrated the possibility to use OpenGribs servers to download files, but only interactively, as there is no way yet to get files automaticaly and they do offer this opportunity from other grib servers.
There is also no facility to get files via mail as mentionned in this post : opengribs.org/fr/forum/xygrib-support/62...us-forme-de-mail#280

Hi @ALippman and welcome to the forum.

The issue you raised regards the concept of using the grib data. Our grib server is designed to be very responsive in providing custom requested grib data to an interactive user. To provide this responsiveness all data is pre-prepared on our grib-server and we do not relay the request to the source servers as this would take for ever.

To maintain the responsiveness for interactive client software packages (XyGrib and some others that offer access to our data for free), we will actually not develop scripting access as this has the potential of leading to bulk download and the subsequent degradation of the responsiveness we wish to keep.

Your need for scripting download of grib files and automation of loading them to an application is a perfectly valid need but it does not require the responsiveness of an interactive grib-server/client solution. If you are going to script anything you would be far better off downloading from the original data sources and not from an intermediary source. Many scripts can be found by searching the net and NOAA provides a guide on scripting for the NOMADS Grib Filter.

Should you need any help on scripting let me know and I can perhaps provide you with some examples.

David

I understand your concern. My use case is not repeated downloads. When I am on the open sea, the Sat costs are excessive and they build up as some non-stoppable processes in the computer transfer data. My goal is to make a simple script to grab the least data I need then shut down the link.

Indeed, if you have hints about how to extract the surface wind and pressure for a given area and period from NOAA that would be a great help.