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GetObservation Parameters Description

This page illustrates a list of HTTP/GET and HTTP/POST input parameters and output description for the GetObservation operation of CO-OPS SOS.

GetObservation Request

The input parameters for GetObservation operation include:

Input Name   Description HTTP/GET Example HTTP/POST Example
service Required Service name (SOS) service=SOS 
<sos:GetObservation
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation=
     "http://schemas.opengis.net/sos/1.0.0/sosAll.xsd"
  xmlns:sos="http://www.opengis.net/sos/1.0"
  xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml/3.2"
  xmlns:ogc="http://www.opengis.net/ogc"
  xmlns:om="http://www.opengis.net/om/1.0"
  service="SOS" version="1.0.0">
   ...
</sos:GetObservation>
request Required Operation name request=GetObservation
version Required Service version version=1.0.0
responseFormat Required Response format (MIME type) for GetObservation. Valid values are
  • text/csv
  • text/tab-separated-values
  • text/xml;schema="ioos/0.6.1"
  • application/ioos+xml;version=0.6.1
  • application/vnd.google-earth.kml+xml
  • text/xml;subtype="om/1.0.0/profiles/ioos_sos/1.0"
 responseFormat=text/csv 
<sos:responseFormat>
   text/csv
</sos:responseFormat>
eventTime Optional Time period for requested data. Time stamps are in IOOS-DIF format yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ssZ and in GMT. For HTTP/GET requests, the begin time and end time are specified as eventTime=beginTime/endTime. For HTTP/POST requests, they are specified in an <sos:eventTime> element block.

If no eventTime is specified, the latest available record is retrieved.

 eventTime=
2025-04-26T00:00:00Z/2025-04-26T00:59:00Z 
<sos:eventTime>
 <ogc:TM_During>
    <ogc:PropertyName>
       om:samplingTime
    </ogc:PropertyName>
    <gml:TimePeriod>
       <gml:beginPosition>
          2025-04-26T00:00:00Z
       </gml:beginPosition>
       <gml:endPosition>
          2025-04-26T00:59:00Z
       </gml:endPosition>
    </gml:TimePeriod>
 </ogc:TM_During>
</sos:eventTime>
featureOfInterest Optional A bounding box for requested data. For HTTP/GET requests, the bounding box is specified as featureOfInterest=BBOX:min_lon,min_lat,max_lon,max_lat. For HTTP/POST requests, it is specified in an <sos:featureOfInterest> element block.

If no featureOfInterest is specified, the records of all stations in the network are retrieved.

 featureOfInterest=
BBOX:-177.3600,-18.1333,178.4250,71.3601 
<sos:featureOfInterest>
 <ogc:BBOX>
  <ogc:PropertyName>gml:boundedBy</ogc:PropertyName>
  <gml:Envelope>
   <gml:lowerCorner>-18.1333 -177.3600</gml:lowerCorner>
   <gml:upperCorner>71.3601 178.4250</gml:upperCorner>
  </gml:Envelope>
 </ogc:BBOX>
</sos:featureOfInterest>
observedProperty Required Data type. Valid values include
  • air_temperature
  • air_pressure
  • sea_water_electrical_conductivity
  • sea_water_speed
  • direction_of_sea_water_velocity
  • sea_water_salinity
  • water_surface_height_above_reference_datum
  • sea_surface_height_amplitude_due_to_equilibrium_ocean_tide
  • sea_water_temperature
  • wind_from_direction
  • wind_speed
  • wind_speed_of_gust
  • harmonic_constituents
  • datums
  • relative_humidity
  • rain_fall
  • visibility
For the GET request, the phenomena URL is optional, whereas for the POST request it is mandatory. 		observedProperty=air_temperature 
<sos:observedProperty>
  http://mmisw.org/ont/cf/parameter/air_temperature
</sos:observedProperty>
offering Required Station to retrieve data from. For single station request, value must be a URN of the form urn:ioos:station:NOAA.NOS.CO-OPS:stationid. For collection request, value must be a URN of the form urn:ioos:network:NOAA.NOS.CO-OPS:networkid. Valid values include
  • urn:ioos:network:NOAA.NOS.CO-OPS:All
  • urn:ioos:network:NOAA.NOS.CO-OPS:CurrentsActive
  • urn:ioos:network:NOAA.NOS.CO-OPS:CurrentsSurvey
  • urn:ioos:network:NOAA.NOS.CO-OPS:MetActive
  • urn:ioos:network:NOAA.NOS.CO-OPS:WaterLevelActive
  • urn:ioos:network:NOAA.NOS.CO-OPS:HarmonicConstituents
  • urn:ioos:network:NOAA.NOS.CO-OPS:Datums
 Single Station Example:
offering=
urn:ioos:station:NOAA.NOS.CO-OPS:8454000
Collection Example:
offering=
urn:ioos:network:NOAA.NOS.CO-OPS:WaterLevelActive
Single Station Example:
<sos:offering>
  urn:ioos:station:NOAA.NOS.CO-OPS:8454000
</sos:offering>
Collection Example:
<sos:offering>
  urn:ioos:network:NOAA.NOS.CO-OPS:WaterLevelActive
</sos:offering>
procedure
 Optional Applicable for current meter data only. Procedure to filter response data to return real-time bin data only. For single station request, the procedure includes the sensor ID URN and the "RTB" suffix to specify real-time bin data. For collection request, the procedure uses a network ID IOOS/URN format for currents data. Single Station Example:
procedure=
urn:ioos:sensor:NOAA.NOS.CO-OPS:cb0102:
Nortek-ADP-23114:rtb
Collection Example:
procedure=
urn:ioos:network:NOAA.NOS.CO-OPS:CurrentsActive
Single Station Example:
<sos:procedure>
  urn:ioos:sensor:NOAA.NOS.CO-OPS:cb0102:
Nortek-ADP-23114:rtb
</sos:procedure>
Collection Example:
<sos:procedure>
  urn:ioos:network:NOAA.NOS.CO-OPS:CurrentsActive
</sos:procedure>
result Optional Valid values for result are
  • CRD (urn:ioos:def:datum:noaa::CRD)
  • IGLD (urn:ioos:def:datum:noaa::IGLD)
  • MHHW (urn:ioos:def:datum:noaa::MHHW)
  • MHW (urn:ioos:def:datum:noaa::MHW)
  • MLLW (urn:ioos:def:datum:noaa::MLLW)
  • MLW (urn:ioos:def:datum:noaa::MLW)
  • MSL (urn:ioos:def:datum:noaa::MSL)
  • MTL (urn:ioos:def:datum:noaa::MTL)
  • NAVD (urn:ogc:def:datum:epsg::5103)
  • STND (urn:ioos:def:datum:noaa::STND)
Datums are applicable for "observedProperty" values of water_surface_height_above_reference_datum and sea_surface_height_amplitude_due_to_equilibrium_ocean_tide. 		result=
VerticalDatum==urn:ioos:def:datum:noaa::MLLW

<result>
 <ogc:PropertyIsEqualTo>
  <ogc:PropertyName>VerticalDatum</ogc:PropertyName>
   <ogc:Literal>
     urn:ioos:def:datum:noaa::MLLW
     </ogc:Literal>
  </ogc:PropertyIsEqualTo>
</result>
unit Optional Unit for requested water level predictions, harmonic constituents or datums data. Valid values are
  • Meters
  • Feet
If no unit is specified, the data in meters is retrieved.

Unit for requested air temperature, water temperature. Valid values are
  • Celsius
  • Fahrenheit
If no unit is specified, the data in Celsius is retrieved.

Unit for requested wind data. Valid values are
  • Meters
  • Knots
  • Miles
If no unit is specified, the data in meters is retrieved. 		unit=Meters 
<sos:unit>
   Meters
</sos:unit>
timeZone Optional Time zone for requested harmonic constituents data only. Valid values are
  • GMT
  • LST
If no time zone is specified, the data in GMT is retrieved. 		timeZone=GMT 
<sos:timeZone>
   GMT
</sos:timeZone>
epoch Optional Epoch for requested datums data only. Valid values are
  • Current
  • Superseded
If no epoch is specified, the accepted data (Current) is retrieved. 		epoch=Current 
<sos:epoch>
   Current
</sos:epoch>
dataType Optional Data type for requested water level data or tide predictions. Valid values are
  • PreliminarySixMinute
  • PreliminaryOneMinute
  • VerifiedSixMinute
  • VerifiedHourlyHeight
  • VerifiedHighLow
  • VerifiedDailyMean
  • SixMinuteTidePredictions
  • HourlyTidePredictions
  • HighLowTidePredictions
If no data type is specified, preliminary six minute data type is retrieved for water level, six minute data type is retrieved for tide predictions. 		dataType=PreliminarySixMinute 
<sos:dataType>
   PreliminarySixMinute
</sos:dataType>


GetObservation Response

The response to a GetObservation request is an Observations & Measurements (O&M) standard compliant observation [OGC 06-009r6, p. 30]. CO-OPS' SOS provides retrieval of the latest observations and time series data from a single station or from a "collection" of stations for the user community. Data can be selected with a station ID for single station, a network ID for a collection of stations, or by using a bounding box defined by latitude and longitude with the bounding box covering a subset of stations (i.e. East Coast stations only) or the entire network of stations.

CO-OPS' SOS now supports XML/GML, CSV/TSV, KML/JSON and SWE Common output formats for a single station request, CSV/TSV, KML/JSON and SWE Common output formats for a collection request.

  • XML/GML - an XML format based on OGC's Geographic Markup Language (GML) with IOOS application schema
  • CSV/TSV - IOOS Convention for observation data encoding in Comma-Separated Values (CSV) or Tab-Separated Values (TSV)
  • KML/JSON - KML with Java Script Object Notation
  • SWECommon - The OGC Sensor Web Enablement Common Data Model (SWECommon) with IOOS encoding templates
 
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