July 27

Lightning Strike Map within AerisWeather Maps

This post contains information on legacy features from our Flex, API, and Maps subscriptions. To learn about the latest iteration of our lightning offering, which includes access to industry-leading lightning strike data and mapping capabilities in the form of an Add-On, please click here.

Lightning strikes are a common occurrence this time of year, leading to injuries and damage within the US and globally. AerisWeather Maps offers a lightning strike density layer, which highlights clusters of frequent lightning activity. While visualizing clusters and density is useful for getting a sense of general lightning activity, many users have requested the ability to plot individual strikes. With our new Lightning Strikes layer in Maps, now you can!

As a value-added reseller of Earth Networks Total Lightning Network, we are announcing two new lightning strike layers within Maps. These new layers display lighting strikes over the past 5 to 15 minutes and are global. Best of all, these layers are already included as a standard option with all levels of Maps and Flex subscriptions!

Lightning Strikes – Past 15 minutes

The new

lightning-strikes

1	lightning-strikes

layer displays lighting strikes that have occurred over the past 15 minutes, fading from white (latest strikes) to gray (oldest strikes). The layer is updated every five minutes. For instance, you want to display lightning strikes around Minneapolis for the past 15 minutes:

http://maps.aerisapi.com/[client_id]_[client_key]/flat-dk,water-depth,lightning-strikes,admin-cities-dk/700x400/minneapolis,mn,6/current.jpg

1	http://maps.aerisapi.com/[client_id]_[client_key]/flat-dk,water-depth,lightning-strikes,admin-cities-dk/700x400/minneapolis,mn,6/current.jpg

Lightning Strikes – Past 5 minutes

If you would rather display near real-time activity on the lightning map instead of the past 15 minutes, the

lightning-strikes-5m

1	lightning-strikes-5m

layer displays the strikes over the past 5 minutes and is updated every 5 minutes. The following is the same 15-minute example above but updated to only display the most recent strikes over the past 5 minutes:

http://maps.aerisapi.com/[client_id]_[client_key]/flat-dk,water-depth,lightning-strikes-5m,admin-cities-dk/700x400/minneapolis,mn,6/current.jpg

1	http://maps.aerisapi.com/[client_id]_[client_key]/flat-dk,water-depth,lightning-strikes-5m,admin-cities-dk/700x400/minneapolis,mn,6/current.jpg

Lighting Strikes within the Map Builder

As with all of our supported map layers, you can start utilizing the lightning strike layers today using our Map Builder tool within your account. The Lighting Strikes layer is available under the Severe category. Once you add the layer to your map, click the edit icon to switch between the 5 and 15-minute options:

Lightning Strikes on an Interactive Map

As with any Maps layer, they can be used on static maps or within interactive maps. The following snippet provides an example of using AerisJS to add lightning strikes to an interactive map:

<div id="map-canvas"></div>

<!-- Leaflet -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/leaflet/0.7.2/leaflet.css"/>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/leaflet/0.7.2/leaflet.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.aerisjs.com/aeris.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.0.3/jquery.min.js"></script>

<style>
#map-canvas {
width: 800px;
height: 600px;
}
</style>
<script type="text/javascript">
// Configure Aeris API keys
aeris.config.set({
 apiId: '[client_id]',
 apiSecret: '[client_secret]'
});

// Create the map, where 'map-canvas' is the id of an HTML element.
var map = new aeris.maps.Map('map-canvas', {
 zoom: 4,
 center: [38.5482, -96.3281],
 baseLayer: new aeris.maps.layers.AerisTile({
 tileType: 'flat-dk',
 zIndex: 1
 })
});

// Create 'lightning-strikes' layer
new aeris.maps.layers.AerisTile({
 tileType: 'lightning-strikes',
 zIndex: 7,
 map: map
});

// Create 'admin-cities' layer
new aeris.maps.layers.AerisTile({
 tileType: 'admin-cities-dk',
 zIndex: 8,
 map: map
});
</script>

<style>

#map-canvas {

width: 800px;

height: 600px;

}

</style>

// Configure Aeris API keys

aeris.config.set({

apiId: '[client_id]',

apiSecret: '[client_secret]'

});

// Create the map, where 'map-canvas' is the id of an HTML element.

var map = new aeris.maps.Map('map-canvas', {

zoom: 4,

center: [38.5482, -96.3281],

baseLayer: new aeris.maps.layers.AerisTile({

tileType: 'flat-dk',

zIndex: 1

})

});

// Create 'lightning-strikes' layer

new aeris.maps.layers.AerisTile({

tileType: 'lightning-strikes',

zIndex: 7,

map: map

});

// Create 'admin-cities' layer

new aeris.maps.layers.AerisTile({

tileType: 'admin-cities-dk',

zIndex: 8,

map: map

});

</script>

Combining Lightning Strikes with other Layers

Try combining the lightning strikes layers with other layers, such as radar or the lightning strikes density for some unique visualizations:

http://maps.aerisapi.com/[client_id]_[client_key]/flat-dk,water-depth,lightning-strike-density,lightning-strikes,admin-cities-dk/700x400/minneapolis,mn,6/current.jpg

1	http://maps.aerisapi.com/[client_id]_[client_key]/flat-dk,water-depth,lightning-strike-density,lightning-strikes,admin-cities-dk/700x400/minneapolis,mn,6/current.jpg

Lightning strikes overlaid on Lighting Strike Density

Start using the lightning layers today with your Maps premium account or the Maps free developer trial!

Post Details

Posted by Lee Huffman at 1:09 pm

2 comments

Categorised in: Developer, General, News

Tags: aerisweather amp, aerisweather mapping platform, lightning maps, lightning strike map, lightning strikes, mapping platform

2 Comments

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