Introducing AerisWeather’s new roadweather endpoint, powered by the advanced and precise Vaisala Xweather road weather forecasts. This innovative endpoint delivers essential information on road conditions through a summary index (green, yellow, or red), enabling users to gauge driving safety at a glance. With the Road Weather Conditions add-on, the API further details the road surface condition (dry, wet, snow, ice) and road surface temperature. For comprehensive road weather insights, including water, snow, and ice thickness, hydroplane and turnover probabilities, visibility, and fog probabilities, the RoadWeather Analytics add-on is available. Enhance your application’s capabilities with this cutting-edge road weather endpoint to help users make better-informed decisions and promote safer driving experiences.
The following actions are supported with the roadweather endpoint:
| :id | Requesting data by using the :id action is used for returning data for a particular item that has an ID associated with it. This is the primary method for requesting general weather information for a single location (observations, forecasts, advisories, etc.) as the location's name or a zip code serves as the id. Other endpoints may expect a certain value for the ID, such as storm cells whose ID value is a combination of the radar site identifier and unique identifier assigned to every storm cell. Refer to an endpoint's detailed documentation for specific information regarding how to use the :id action. |
| route | The route action returns data for points along a given route. This can be useful to obtain weather information along a transportation route, trails and more. The route is a series of locations, usually latitude/longitudes provided via the p query parameter or for longer routes via GeoJSON within a POST request. The route will return an array of GeoJSON points with the requested data for each point. |
The following parameters are optional unless otherwise noted:
| p | p=:place |
Defines the location to query data for. Refer to the list of supported place value formats. |
| for | for=:string |
Returns the results starting for the time frame specified. The for parameter is an alias of the from, but useful to indicate a specific time versus a time rangeSupports a UNIX timestamp or a specific date string. Alternatively, common date formats supported by the PHP strtotime() function will be accepted; however, commas are not accepted. Examples: for=tomorrow for=friday for=1302883980 for=MM/DD/YYYY for=YYYY/MM/DD for=+2hours for=2017-02-27 5:00 PM |
| from | from=:string |
Returns the results starting from the value specified. For best practices we recommend using the to parameter as well to define a specific time frame.Supports a UNIX timestamp or a specific date string. Alternatively, common date formats supported by the PHP strtotime() function will be accepted; however, commas are not accepted. Examples: from=tomorrow from=friday from=1302883980 from=MM/DD/YYYY from=YYYY/MM/DD from=+2hours from=2017-02-27 5:00 PM |
| to | to=:string |
Returns the results between now and the value specified. For best practices we recommend using the from parameter as well to define a specific time frame. When used in conjunction with the from parameter, the value of to will be relative to the value of from, not relative to the current time. Supports a UNIX timestamp or a specific date string. Alternatively, common date formats supported by the PHP strtotime() function will be accepted; however, commas are not accepted. Examples: to=+6hours to=+5days to=1302883980 to=MM/DD/YYYY to=YYYY/MM/DD to=2017-02-27 5:00 PM |
| plimit | plimit=:total |
Applied only on the periods property, the total number of periods to return as an integer. The maximum plimit for this endpoint is 250. |
| pskip | pskip=:number |
Applied only on the periods property, used to skip over a specific number of periods in the data set. |
| psort | psort=:string |
Applied only on the periods property, used to sort results based on certain fields contained within the periods. |
The following filters can be passed to the filter parameter to reduce the results that are returned:
| primary | Returns road weather information for primary roads. NOTE: the location must be near a primary road. |
| secondary | Returns road weather information for secondary roads. NOTE: the location must be near a secondary road. |
| bridge | Returns road weather information for bridges. NOTE: the location must be near a bridge. |
| noroadcheck | By default the API ensures the requested location is within 100 meters of a supported road. With this filter, this check is bypassed and the API will return information on the closest supported road within 20km. |
Default Sort: dt:1 (Date time ascending)
You can use the following fields to sort data. Review the sorting docs page for more information on the sort functionality.
| dt | Used with the psort parameter. Sort the periods based on the forecast date/time |
| summary | Used with the psort parameter. Sort the periods on the road condition summary. GREEN, YELLOW, RED. |
| summaryindex | Used with the psort parameter. Sort the periods on the road conditions summaryIndex value (0, 1, 2). |
| condition | Used with the psort parameter. Sort the periods based on the road condition (DRY, MOIST, WET, SLUSH, SNOW, ICE). |
| temp | Used with the psort parameter. Sort the periods based on the road surface temperature |
| truckrollover | Used with the psort parameter. Sort the periods based on the probability of a potential truck roll over due to high winds |
| hydroplane | Used with the psort parameter. Sort the periods based on the probability of a potential hydroplane incident. |
| lowvisfog | Used with the psort parameter. Sort the periods based on the probability of low visibility due to fog. |
| lowvisblowingsnow | Used with the psort parameter. Sort the periods based on the probability of low visibility due to blowing snow. |
The /[:endpoint]/[:action]? portion within the query template below can be exchanged with any of the examples. Also, please note you will need to input your client credentials in the [ID] and [SECRET] fields which can be found under the Apps section of the members area.
https://api.aerisapi.com/[:endpoint]/[:action]?client_id=[ID]&client_secret=[SECRET]
Returns the road weather information for a road within 100meters of the specified latitude/longitude. Since no filter is provided, the API will return data for the nearby primary road if one is nearby, alternatively it will fall back to a secondary road if there is one nearby./roadweather/44.9648,-93.2682
Returns the road weather information for a primary road within 100 meters of the specified latitude/longitude./roadweather/44.9648,-93.2682?filter=primary
Returns the road weather information for a secondary road within 100 meters of the specified latitude/longitude./roadweather/44.9648,-93.2682?filter=secondary
The following is an example of what each object in the response will consist of. Depending on your requested action, the response may contain multiple instances of this object within an array.
{
"id": "79wefx4",
"dataSource": "vaisala-road-wx",
"road": {
"type": "primary",
"name": "Washington Avenue South"
},
"loc": {
"long": -93.253452,
"lat": 44.968276
},
"place": {
"name": "minneapolis",
"state": "mn",
"country": "us"
},
"periods": [
{
"timestamp": 1685628900,
"dateTimeISO": "2023-06-01T09:15:00-05:00",
"summary": "GREEN",
"summaryIndex": 0,
"roadSurface": {
"condition": "DRY",
"tempC": 35.2,
"tempF": 95.36,
"waterFilmThicknessMM": 0,
"waterFilmThicknessIN": 0,
"snowThicknessCM": 0,
"snowThicknessIN": 0,
"iceThicknessMM": 0,
"iceThicknessIN": 0,
"conditionProbability": {
"dry": 100,
"wet": 0,
"snow": 0,
"ice": 0
}
},
"riskProbability": {
"truckRollover": 0,
"hydroplane": 0,
"lowVisFog": 0,
"lowVisBlowingSnow": 0
}
}
],
"profile": {
"elevM": 242,
"elevFT": 793.96,
"tz": "America/Chicago"
}
}
{
"type": "FeatureCollection",
"features": [
{
"type": "Feature",
"id": "79wefx4",
"geometry": {
"type": "Point",
"coordinates": [
-93.253452,
44.968276
]
},
"properties": {
"id": "79wefx4",
"dataSource": "vaisala-road-wx",
"road": {
"type": "primary",
"name": "Washington Avenue South"
},
"loc": {
"long": -93.253452,
"lat": 44.968276
},
"place": {
"name": "minneapolis",
"state": "mn",
"country": "us"
},
"periods": [
{
"timestamp": 1685639700,
"dateTimeISO": "2023-06-01T12:15:00-05:00",
"summary": "GREEN",
"summaryIndex": 0,
"roadSurface": {
"condition": "DRY",
"tempC": 49.2,
"tempF": 120.56,
"waterFilmThicknessMM": 0,
"waterFilmThicknessIN": 0,
"snowThicknessCM": 0,
"snowThicknessIN": 0,
"iceThicknessMM": 0,
"iceThicknessIN": 0,
"conditionProbability": {
"dry": 100,
"wet": 0,
"snow": 0,
"ice": 0
}
},
"riskProbability": {
"truckRollover": 0,
"hydroplane": 0,
"lowVisFog": 0,
"lowVisBlowingSnow": 0
}
}
],
"profile": {
"elevM": 242,
"elevFT": 793.96,
"tz": "America/Chicago"
}
}
}
]
}
The following properties will be provided in every response object:
Last modified: September 14, 2023