Methodology
How observations become planetary intelligence.
Observed or source-backed facts remain distinct from PlanetVexa-derived summaries, rankings and relationships. Official warnings and advisories are shown only when supplied by the responsible authority. Freshness measures the update pipeline, not the age or validity of the physical event itself.
Explain, then connect to real data
Editorial revision dates are independent from collector freshness. The guides for earthquake magnitude, hurricane categories, significant wave height and Kp index connect definitions to current source-backed records without turning a live refresh into an editorial update.
Weather data classificationOfficial, observed, estimated, forecast and derived
Warning, Watch and Advisory labels are preserved only from the competent issuing authority.
Sensor observations and satellite estimates retain their product type, observation window and latency.
Model run and valid time are separate fields. Forecast values are never presented as observations.
Summaries and future anomaly classifications are explicitly labeled and cannot become official warnings.
Five different kinds of flood intelligence
A flood event, official flood warning, satellite flood detection, modeled river discharge and hydrological forecast are separate concepts. Satellite detection can be affected by clouds, terrain and sensor limitations. GloFAS discharge is model information and does not replace local authorities.
Historical percentiles and river signals
PlanetVexa will activate derived river-condition labels only after a versioned comparison with the matching GloFAS historical simulation has been tested and published. Until then, these products remain unavailable rather than inferred.
Environmental layer snapshots
Large GRIB, NetCDF, GeoTIFF and raster products are processed server-side into versioned artifacts. They are not downloaded as global raw datasets by the browser and are not converted into millions of event records.
Airspace methodologyHow aviation data is handled
PlanetVexa collects airport metadata from OurAirports and aviation-weather products from the NOAA Aviation Weather Center on the server. The browser receives only normalized PlanetVexa REST responses, and the last validated snapshot is preserved when an update fails.
Shown as a source-backed observation. Decoded fields remain linked to the original raw report.
Shown as a forecast with issue time and official validity window, never as a current observation.
Official geometry, validity and bulletin text are preserved. PlanetVexa proximity is labeled as derived geographic context.
Identifiers, location and service classification come from OurAirports and are updated independently from weather.
Freshness, caching and fallback
Each collector is monitored independently. Successful responses are validated and stored in the local database; dashboard requests read that validated snapshot rather than calling AWC from the visitor’s browser. If collection fails, the previous snapshot is retained and its freshness state changes instead of silently appearing current.
Volcanic ash context
Volcanic-event points and official volcanic-ash SIGMET polygons come from different products and remain separate. Nearby airports are geographic context only. PlanetVexa does not interpolate, simulate or infer an ash plume.
Operational limitation: PlanetVexa is not a flight-planning, dispatch, navigation or safety-of-flight service. Aviation information must be verified through the appropriate official operational channels.
Platforms are not events
Buoys and stations are stored as observation platforms with time-indexed measurements. Copernicus Marine ocean physics and wave products are environmental layer snapshots, not millions of event records. Observation time, model run, valid time, units, depth and quality remain separate.
Orbital methodologyElements, propagation and observation are different
CelesTrak GP/OMM data is stored by NORAD catalog ID without assuming a five-digit limit. PlanetVexa uses SGP4 to calculate a position for a stated time from the latest element epoch. The result is labeled propagated/calculated and is not onboard GPS telemetry, a collision assessment or a conjunction service.
Air-quality methodologyGround measurements and atmospheric models stay separate
OpenAQ measurements retain pollutant, unit, averaging period, location and original provider. CAMS analyses and forecasts are distinct gridded products with model run and valid time. PlanetVexa does not invent a global AQI or calculate an index from a single instantaneous reading.