MeteoAssert: generation and organization of weather assertions from gridded data

MeteoAssert, a system developed at the Forecast System Laboratory, analyzes gridded data sets and produces descriptions which are organized sets of assertions representing the content of weather messages. Each assertion conveys a single weather characteristic with a certain spatial and temporal scope. The assertions in a description are linked by discourse relations that predetermine the structure of the weather message: a natural language text, a piece of graphics, a table, or a mixture of these elements. The descriptions are generated in response to queries representing the information needs of the user. Three models drive the system: territory, time, and parameter. Each model defines the objects in terms by which the descriptions are created. MeteoAssert works as a server to several systems dealing with different applications and preparing various weather displays