Configure Weather Operational Effects

Weather Operational Effects can be used to quickly understand the impact of weather on military operations.

In this topic, you'll learn how to configure the Weather Operational Effects solution to meet specific needs of your organization.

Configure the ArcGIS Pro project

Weather Operational Effects includes an ArcGIS Pro project. To configure the project, complete the steps in the following workflows.

Get started

First, you will download and unzip the Weather Operational Effects Project ArcGIS Pro project.

1. Sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Weather Operational Effects Project item.
2. From the item page, click Download.
3. Unzip the downloaded folder, and then from the unzipped folder, open the ArcGIS Pro project.
4. In the Catalog pane, expand the Tasks folder.

   Note:

   If you do not see the Catalog pane, from the View tab, in the Windows group, click Catalog Pane.

5. Double-click the Weather Operational Effects task group.

Set up the ArcGIS Pro project

Weather Operational Effects can leverage either local or hosted data layers. Both sets of data are provided in the solution.

To set up the Weather Operational Effects Project ArcGIS Pro project, complete the following steps:

1. In the Tasks pane, expand the Set up the Weather Operational Effects project task group to see the collection of tasks.
2. If you plan to utilize the ArcGIS Online applications and hosted feature layers, double-click Set up for Hosted Data.
3. If you do not plan to utilize ArcGIS Online content and would prefer to use local data, double-click Set up for Local Data.

Configure threshold CSVs (optional)

Note:

This workflow is optional and doesn't need to be completed to work with the solution.

After Weather Operational Effects Project is deployed, downloaded, and unzipped, you can modify the threshold CSVs to best suit the needs and capabilities of your unit. Currently, the thresholds are based on U.S. Army doctrine - ATP 2-01.3 Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (March 2019).

There are both imperial and metric units threshold CSVs for each supported operation and weather type. For instance, tracked vehicle operations have CSVs for rainfall rate, snow depth, and visibility. Each CSV outlines the favorable, marginal, and unfavorable conditions for this operation and weather type. These values are then used in the Threshold Operations tool.

To configure threshold CSVs, complete the following steps:

1. Browse to the downloaded and unzipped Weather Operational Effects project folder and open the thresholdtables folder.
2. Open either the Imperial or Metric folder, depending on your preferred units.
3. Double-click the CSV file you wish to update.
4. In the open CSV file, modify the numeric Min or Max values to best meet the needs and capabilities of your unit.

   It is critical that these updated values are in the same units as the original values.

   Note:

   Only modify the numeric values in the Min and Max columns. Do not modify any of the other columns, rows, or CSV file names because it will result in processing errors.

   For example, in AirborneOperationsCeiling.csv, the Unfavorable threshold currently spans a minimum of 0 feet and a maximum of 300 feet. These numeric values need to be updated to reflect 0 to 500 feet instead. For the Unfavorable row, you would replace the Max value of 300 with 500. This change also affects the Marginal threshold. For the Marginal row, you would replace the Min value of 300 with 500.

5. Save the updated CSV file.

Configure raster functions (optional)

Note:

This workflow is optional and doesn't need to be completed to work with the solution.

In addition to the threshold CSV files, the raster functions can also be modified to best suit the needs and capabilities of your unit. Like the threshold CSV files, there are individual raster functions for each supported operation and weather type.

To modify the raster functions applied to the forecast mosaic dataset as processing templates, complete the following steps:

1. Browse to the downloaded and unzipped Weather Operational Effects project folder.
2. Open the WOE.aprx file.
3. In the Catalog pane, browse to the default file geodatabase (WOE.gdb) and expand it.
4. Right-click the WOE_Forecast mosaic dataset and select Manage Processing Templates.
5. In the Manage Processing Templates pane, scroll to the raster function template that you wish to update.
6. In the template item, click the Edit button to open the Function Editor.
7. To modify the thresholds used in the raster function template, double-click the Remap item.
   The Remap properties open.

8. In the List table, update the minimum and maximum values as needed.

   Note:

   Ensure that the units are the same as defined in the preceding Unit Conversion function. Do not modify the Output values as these correspond to the Favorable, Marginal, and Unfavorable classification defined in the Attribute Table raster function.

9. After editing is complete, click OK.
10. In the Function Editor, click the Save button to save your changes.

Configure Weather Operational Effects Center Forecast page

Weather Operational Effects deploys with both Imperial and Metric versions of the Forecast Dashboard. The Weather Operational Effects Center is preconfigured to use the Imperial version on the Forecast page.

If you are using Metric units in your analysis, complete the following steps to update the Weather Operational Effects Center with the Metric Forecast Dashboard:

1. In a browser, sign in to Portal.
2. Browse to the Forecast Dashboard (Metric) item and open the item page.
3. Click Open Dashboard.
4. Copy the URL for this dashboard.
5. Return to your content, browse to the Weather Operational Effects Center, and open the item page.
6. Click Edit.
7. In the left side panel, click the Page icon.
8. In the Page panel, click the Forecast page.
9. In the Body node in the Outline section of the Page panel, click the Forecast Dashboard.
10. In the right side panel for the Embed widget, delete the current URL and replace it with the URL that you copied previously.
11. Save Weather Operational Effects Center and then publish it.

Configure the Forecast Overlay web map and app

After the forecast mosaic dataset has been published as an image service using the tasks in Weather Operational Effects Project, it can be configured with a web map and app.

Configure the web map

First, the image service must be added to a web map and rendered using the operational effects processing templates.

To configure the web map, complete the following steps:

1. In a browser, sign in to Portal.
2. Browse to Forecast Operational Effects Overlays Map and open the item page.
3. Open the map in Map Viewer.
4. Add the published image service to the map.
5. Follow the Use a predefined template workflow to render the image service with the operational effects processing templates.

   Note:

   Template load and application may take several minutes, depending on your system resources.

6. Save the map.

Configure the Forecast Effects app

After the forecast image service has been configured in the web map, it can be used in an app with a Time Slider widget.

To configure the Forecast Effects app, complete the following step:

1. Browse to the Forecast Operational Effects Overlays Instant App and open the item page.
2. Click Configure.
3. In the side panel, click the Slider button.

   The Slider should automatically inherit the time settings from the web map.

   Note:

   See the Slider Instant App documentation for more information.

4. After configuration is complete, click the Publish button.