Coastal Extensions - Hazard Services

Purpose:

Tasks:

AT-A-GLANCE:

• What? Perform an incremental override of "County", "Zone", "Zone_ShortFuse", and "MarineZone_ShortFuse" in the "types" dictionary in AoiTypes.py to set your coastal extension thresholds. 

• Why? Coastal extensions can allow for more simple polygons along coastlines with compex geometry or islands just offshore and ensure that coastal communities are not cut out of hazard polygons. 

• Syntax Change. The syntax for coastal extension values has changed from strings to numbers in Convective Hazard Services. At present the post-install scripts do not update this syntax so you must do it manually. 

Follow the steps below for more detailed guidance.

1. To maintain the same coastal extension values as you currently use in WarnGen, open the Localization perspective and navigate to D2D –> Warngen. You can find coastal extension values for land hazards over water in SITE overrides of geospatialConfig_COUNTY.xml for county hazards and geospatialConfig_ZONE.xml for zone hazards. Coastal extension values for marine hazards over land can be found in a SITE override of geospatialConfig_MARINE.xml.

2. Open the WarnGen SITE overrides. Within each override, use Ctrl+F to launch the Find/Replace tool and search for extensionArea. Make note of the values of distance and simplification for each type. 

   

3. Staying within the Localization perspective, navigate to Hazard Services –> Hazard Types –> AoiTypes.py and open the BASE file.

4. If a USER override for AoiTypes.py does not already exist, create one by right-clicking BASE –> Create Override File and selecting User. Open the USER override file.

5. In the BASE file, scroll down below the comments at top and note that there are more AOI types than just the three (County, Marine, Zone) that appear in WarnGen. The Hazard Services AOI types that are used for Short Fuse hazards are:

   1.  “County” for most Short Fuse hazards over land 

   2.  “Zone” for Airport Weather Warning (AW.W)

   3.  “Zone_ShortFuse” for Special Weather Statement (SP.S)

   4.  “MarineZone_ShortFuse” for marine Short Fuse hazards

6. Make an override of the AoiTypes dictionary in your USER file, including the “types” dictionary. 

   

7. If you had extensions of county hazards over water in a WarnGen override of geospatialConfig_COUNTY.xml, add the “County” dictionary into the “types” dictionary, using the WarnGen “distance” value for “extensionDistance” and the WarnGen “simplification” value for “extensionTolerance”.

   

8. Similarly, if you had extensions of marine hazards over land in a WarnGen override of geospatialConfig_MARINE.xml, add the “MarineZone_ShortFuse” dictionary into the “types” dictionary, using the WarnGen “distance” value for “extensionDistance” and the WarnGen “simplification” value for “extensionTolerance”.

   

9. As in the previous two examples, if you had extensions of zone hazards over water in a WarnGen override of geospatialConfig_ZONE.xml, add the “Zone” and “Zone_ShortFuse” dictionaries into the “types” dictionary, using the WarnGen “distance” value for “extensionDistance” and the WarnGen “simplification” value for “extensionTolerance”.

10. Save the USER override file using Ctrl+S. Merge if it asks you to.

11. To test the coastal extensions, open the D2D perspective and launch the Storm Track Tool within Hazard Services. Create a county hazard (like SV.W and TO.W) with a polygon that extends off the coast. When you click the Preview… button on the Hazard Information Dialog window, the updated polygon should extend off the coast as desired. You can similarly test the zone hazards (FF.W.Convective and SP.S) to verify their polygons also appropriately extend off the coast, and test marine hazards (MA.S and MA.W) to verify the polygons extend over land as desired.

12. When you are comfortable that the USER override is working as you want, return to the Localization perspective. Promote the USER override to a SITE override by right-clicking USER under AoiTypes.py in the File Browser and selecting Copy To –> Site.

Congratulations, you've configured your coastal extensions.