Some time ago in the GIS group, a colleague inquired about sources for accessing granular meteorological data such as temperature, wind speed/direction, humidity, air quality, cloud cover, UV index, etc. While not deeply familiar with meteorological data myself, the group fortunately has many experts. The expert @ESPIPE generously shared a data product website from the meteorological authority. After reviewing it, I found the data exceptionally detailed, supporting queries for any latitude/longitude location across China. Today, I'll share this resource—those with similar needs may find it useful.
Tool Overview
China Meteorological Data Service Network - Comprehensive Real-time Observations
Official Website:
https://data.cma.cn/dataGis/static/gridgis/#/pcindex
China Meteorological Data Service Network (data.cma.cn) is the official authoritative meteorological data service platform, constructed and operated by the National Meteorological Information Centre (NMIC) under the China Meteorological Administration (CMA). It serves as the primary official channel providing various meteorological observations, forecasts, and analytical data to the public, research institutions, government departments, and enterprises. Data originates from CMA's observation networks, satellites, radars, numerical forecast models, etc., ensuring high authoritativeness and accuracy.
Key Functions
- Real-time Meteorological Observations
- Warning Information
- Weather Radar
- Meteorological Satellites
- Air Quality
- Disaster Forecasts
How Real-time Weather Queries for Arbitrary Coordinates Work
Upon clicking the website, you'll notice that selecting any location on the map of China results in precise positioning and immediate display of local weather information.
How is such granular data achieved? The underlying principle wasn't initially clear. I speculated it might involve interpolation techniques. Out of curiosity, I inspected the browser console and discovered my assumption was likely incorrect. Judging by the API naming conventions, it appears that the process first looks up the nearest weather station based on the provided latitude and longitude and then retrieves data from that station. This makes practical sense.
Of course, weather station data alone doesn't account for all information displayed on the page. Other data points are fetched via dedicated APIs also using the latitude and longitude. Interested users can explore further.
Important Considerations
Seeing the captured APIs above, are you excited? Anyone with basic coding skills should understand how to utilize them—simply use tools like Postman to modify the latitude and longitude parameters. While this means you could theoretically fetch basic weather info for any coordinate directly through these endpoints, I strongly advise against doing so.
While suitable for simple testing, if you intend to integrate this into any business system or application—regardless of the method (API scraping or otherwise)—you MUST engage through official integration channels. Any form of unauthorized scraping may violate relevant Chinese laws and regulations. For further details, please refer to my previous article: "Unveiling Fake Location: Hidden Legal Pitfalls in Geographic Information Systems".