Here are some common use cases on how to use the WeatherLink v2 API.
- Getting the list of stations
- What data fields are supported for a specific sensor
- Identifying a type of data record
Getting the list of stations
The get the list of stations your API Key has access to you can make an API call to the /stations API endpoint. More information is available in the API Reference.
Here is a quick example of the API response for the /stations API endpoint.
{
"stations": [
{
"station_id": 6974,
"station_name": "Private - BL Orchard Range Test x39",
"gateway_id": 8388665,
"gateway_id_hex": "001D0A800039",
"product_number": "6800",
"username": "testuser",
"user_email": "example@example.com",
"company_name": "Example Company",
"active": true,
"private": true,
"recording_interval": 5,
"firmware_version": 1470358845,
"imei": "351579055911216",
"meid": "A1000045841C5D",
"registered_date": 1467345143,
"subscription_end_date": 1498881143,
"time_zone": "America/Los_Angeles",
"city": "Manteca",
"region": "CA",
"country": "USA",
"latitude": 37.77104,
"longitude": -121.25094,
"elevation": 19
},
{
"station_id": 7327,
"station_name": "Hayward Mesh 15min x4F",
"gateway_id": 8388687,
"gateway_id_hex": "001D0A80004F",
"product_number": "6801",
"username": "anothertestuser",
"user_email": "example2@example.com",
"company_name": "",
"active": true,
"private": true,
"recording_interval": 15,
"firmware_version": 1494962930,
"imei": "351579055911216",
"meid": "A1000045841C5D",
"registered_date": 1467345143,
"subscription_end_date": 1498881143,
"time_zone": "America/Los_Angeles",
"city": "Hayward",
"region": "CA",
"country": "USA",
"latitude": 37.535952,
"longitude": -122.124794,
"elevation": 20.0344
}
],
"generated_at": 1509055056
}
What data fields are supported for a specific sensor
When you query the /sensors API endpoint or the weather observation data endpoints you will see a sensor type is included in the response for each sensor. The sensor type is used to identify the type of sensor in the Sensor Catalog. The Sensor Catalog lists all supported sensors in WeatherLink and includes information about the sensor, like manufacturer, but also includes the list of data fields from the sensor that are available via the WeatherLink v2 API.
Here is a snippet of the Sensor Catalog showing the entry for the Davis Instruments #6440 Soil Moisture Sensor. It shows that this particular sensor reports a single data field that will be named moist_soil_last and that the data field is a floating point number and reports data in units of centibars.
{
"sensor_type": 108,
"manufacturer": "Davis Instruments",
"product_name": "Soil Moisture Sensor",
"product_number": "6440",
"category": "Soil Moisture",
"data_structure": {
"moist_soil_last": {
"type": "float",
"units": "centibars"
}
}
}
Please see the Sensor Catalog and API Reference for more examples and details.
Identifying a type of data record
When you query weather observation data the API response will include a data_structure_type field that identifies the type of the data record. Here’s a truncated response from the /current Current Conditions API endpoint for an EnviroMonitor weather station, showing two data sensors and one health sensor.
{
"station_id": 379012,
"sensors": [
{
"lsid": 5307568,
"sensor_type": 108,
"data_structure_type": 9,
"data": [
{
"ts": 1562187900,
"moist_soil_last": 3.3
}
]
},
{
"lsid": 5307508,
"sensor_type": 24,
"data_structure_type": 6,
"data": [
{
"ts": 1562188200,
"temp_out": 77.3,
"hum_out": 45,
...
}
]
},
{
"lsid": 5307479,
"data": [
{
"mcc_nmc": 310260,
"noise_floor_rssi": -113,
"access_technology": 2,
"lead_acid_battery_voltage": 7073,
"bluetooth_firmware_version": null,
"location_area_code": 40481,
"beacon_interval": 2097,
"link_layer_packets_received": 336,
"solar_panel_voltage": 19362,
"rank": 256,
"creg_cgreg": 85,
"health_version": 1,
"false_wakeup_rssi": -99,
"inside_box_temp": 110.59625,
"cell_id": 164121796,
"power_percentage_tx": 0,
"rssi": 14,
"last_rx_rssi": -76,
"power_percentage_mcu": 6,
"application_firmware_version": 1559080571,
"false_wakeup_count": 40,
"etx": 0,
"rpl_mode": 0,
"uptime": 528615,
"number_of_neighbors": 2,
"last_parent_rtt_ping": 0,
"platform_id": 2,
"cme": 0,
"power_percentage_rx": 1,
"rpl_parent_node_id": null,
"ts": 1565652600
}
],
"sensor_type": 502,
"data_structure_type": 14
},
{
"lsid": 5307480,
"sensor_type": 3,
"data_structure_type": 9,
"data": [
{
"ts": 1562188200,
"bar_trend_3_hr": 0,
"pressure_last": 29.944
}
]
}
],
"generated_at": 1562188310
}
In this example there are 3 sensors.
| Sensor Type | Sensor Description | Data Structure Type |
|---|---|---|
| 108 | Davis Instruments #6440 Soil Moisture Sensor | 9 |
| 24 | Vantage Pro2 Plus #6327C Cabled Integrated Sensor Suite | 6 |
| 3 | Barometer | 9 |
You can reference the Data Structure Types documentation for the full list of all supported data structure types but here are the values for EnviroMonitor for quick reference.
| Data Structure Type | Record Type |
|---|---|
| 6 | ISS Current Conditions Record |
| 7 | ISS Archive Record |
| 8 | |
| 9 | non-ISS Record |
| 14 | Health Record |
Based on this information we see that data from the soil moisture sensor and barometer are non-ISS records. That means these sensors are not part of the Vantage Pro2 Plus Integrated Sensor Suite. Additionally, we see the data structure type of 6 for the data from the Vantage Pro2 Plus which tells us this data record is an ISS current conditions record.