About Nexrad Spatial

Nexrad Spatial is an immersive, fully 3D volumetric weather radar and data visualization application built on top of Unreal Engine 5.7. It allows you to step inside extreme weather events, view raw radar sweeps from across the globe in breathtaking 3D detail, and analyze live atmospheric data dynamically in Virtual Reality.

This project is a heavily expanded derivative work of the open-source OpenStorm Radar project (originally developed by Jordan Schlick). It utilizes the powerful underlying volumetric rendering algorithms and data decoders of OpenStorm, while introducing a suite of specialized spatial computing features, real-time alerting, and an upgraded immersive user experience.

Features

Core Features (Inherited from OpenStorm)

  • Full 3D level 2 radar volumetric rendering using custom ray marching shaders.
  • Real-time multithreaded data loading and parsing without limits.
  • Broad support for base radar products (Reflectivity, Radial Velocity, Spectrum Width, Correlation Coefficient, Differential Reflectivity).
  • Real-time live data downloading and Historical dataset support.
  • Built-in 3D global topological (USGS) map with elevation and GIS boundaries.

New Spatial & VR Features (Nexrad Spatial)

  • Immersive VR Inspector Tool: Reach out with your VR controller to probe the center of a storm. Dynamically extracts the exact dBZ, velocity, or specific radar moment of the voxel you are interacting with, displaying the data and your exact altitude AGL dynamically on your controller.
  • Live NWS Warning Polygons: Seamless integration with the National Weather Service API. Real-time Tornado, Severe Thunderstorm, Flash Flood, and Special Marine warnings are downloaded and mapped as procedural mesh outlines perfectly to the 3D globe's surface in your environment. You can interact with and click these warning polygons in VR to instantly view the detailed alert text and information directly from the NWS.
  • Level 3 Storm Tracks & 3D Markers: Process live Level 3 storm tracking data, generating dynamic visual Hail and TVS (Tornado Vortex Signature) icons right at the exact storm cell echotop altitude.
  • Spatial Weather Audio: Experience the storms with immersive 3D spatialized rain and hail audio that responds to your position within the radar volume.
  • Intelligent LOD & Culling System: Performance-first architecture automatically distance-culls detailed GIS data and warning shapes when they aren't relevant to your camera view.
  • Data-Driven Spatial UI: Beautiful floating spatial UI built natively using Slate. Toggle Imperial/Metric unit conversions dynamically across the app, constrain frame rates, modify warning visibilities, and customize VR locomotion properties.
  • Custom Color Tables: Full support for custom radar color tables. Personalize how radar products like reflectivity and velocity are visualized by easily dropping .pal configuration files into the project.
  • Overhauled Locomotion: Extended OpenXR VR locomotion mapping (Trigger and Grip vertical movement bindings) across modern hardware including Meta Quest, Valve Index, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets.

Getting Data

Nexrad Spatial is currently limited to the contiguous United States.

  • Simply click on a physical radar dish on the 3D map inside the app to instantly fetch live data.
  • Retrieve historical archive data via the app's built-in data management system in the 'Archive' tab for easy import and recall of historical events.