A Spatial Decision Support System for Radar-meteorology Data in South Africa

The South African Weather Service (SAWS) operates a nationwide network of ground-based meteorologic radar stations (National Weather Radar Network), providing data continuity in some regions dating back to 1994, which is unique for southern africa. The incoming data is processed and archived using the TITAN software package[1]. Thematic digital maps are derived which can be accessed through the METSYS internet presence [2]. During the course of a soil erosion assesment study [3] GRASS was introduced to the former SAWS radar research center (now: METSYS) in 1999. It was realized that a general purpose geographic information system can offer significant advantages over a specialized radar data management system for creating valueadded products for the customers. GRASS is still used for meteorologic research by METSYS today and remains the GIS of choice because it being FreeSoftware and linux-based.