So what makes this API different?
From the outset we designed our API to be cloud native, super efficient, on-demand with no pre-calculation.
What does all that mean?
Cloud native - The solution was designed to run in the cloud from the start. That means we take advantage of cloud storage capabilities and serverless architectures.
Super efficient - It would be ironic if an API had a large carbon footprint. We don’t pre-calculated aggregates or use large computer memory. We use compression, on-demand processing and other techniques and keep our memory footprint tiny. We answer queries in less memory than your tablet.
On-demand, no pre-calcalculation - Precalculating results takes time and storage but providing the stored answer can be very fast. However, it also limits the queries that can be answered. We don’t pre-calculate aggregates, adiabatic lapse rate adjustments or anything else. Only in this way do we support the widest range of queries including the support for nested queries. If you want the rolling mean of monthly minimums we have you covered. If you want the monthly maximum of some rolling mean, no problem.
Indexes The API supports a growing number of indexes from those directly taken from the models like surface temperature to derived parameters like dew point temperature and even Koppen climate index.
Functions The API has a growing number of functions to support aggregation, thresholds and filtering. This allows the API to work on lots of data but only return the answer that is often tiny. For example, “what is the mean temperature for each calendar month in this decade across fifteen models”, the answer is nearly a thousand times smaller than the input data!
Formats We support a range of formats to allow users to get immediate insight with minimal tools, load data for onward processing and everything in-between. We allow our users to query the data as a time series for a single location, an area for a single time or a range of dates, latitudes and longitudes for the most flexibility.
What if the API doesn’t have what I need? We know we haven’t thought of everything but have put a lot of thought into making the API extensible. We can add new datasets which can be combined and contrasted with data already behind the API. We can add new output formats so you can more easily work with it in your particular tool. We can add more indexes, perhaps combining new data and old. We can add new functions to process the data in a way we have not thought of. Oh, did we mention the functions can be nested so the new function could work with the existing functions too.
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