name: OpenWeatherMap Vocabulary
description: Controlled vocabulary for the OpenWeather API surface, covering core weather, climate, air quality, solar, and operational concepts.
created: '2026-05-29'
modified: '2026-05-29'
namespaces:
  - prefix: owm
    uri: https://openweathermap.org/ns#
  - prefix: schema
    uri: https://schema.org/
  - prefix: geo
    uri: http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#
terms:
  weather:
    - term: Observation
      definition: A single time-stamped weather measurement set for a location.
    - term: CurrentWeather
      definition: Latest available observation at the requested coordinates.
    - term: Forecast
      definition: Predicted weather at a future time and location.
    - term: HistoricalWeather
      definition: Observation captured at a past time stamp.
    - term: WeatherAlert
      definition: Government-issued weather warning or alert for a region.
  parameters:
    - term: Temperature
      definition: Air temperature at the observation location. Units depend on units parameter.
    - term: FeelsLike
      definition: Human perception of temperature accounting for wind and humidity.
    - term: Pressure
      definition: Atmospheric pressure at sea level in hectopascals unless otherwise indicated.
    - term: Humidity
      definition: Relative humidity expressed as a percentage.
    - term: WindSpeed
      definition: Wind speed in meters per second (standard, metric) or miles per hour (imperial).
    - term: WindDirection
      definition: Compass direction the wind originates from in meteorological degrees.
    - term: Cloudiness
      definition: Sky cloud coverage expressed as a percentage.
    - term: Visibility
      definition: Horizontal visibility in meters, capped at 10000.
    - term: Precipitation
      definition: Rain or snow accumulation over a window such as 1h or 3h.
    - term: UVIndex
      definition: Ultraviolet exposure index for the surface.
    - term: DewPoint
      definition: Temperature at which dew forms given current humidity.
  airQuality:
    - term: AirQualityIndex
      definition: OpenWeather AQI on a scale of 1 to 5.
    - term: AQILevels
      definition: 1 Good, 2 Fair, 3 Moderate, 4 Poor, 5 Very Poor.
    - term: CarbonMonoxide
      definition: CO concentration in micrograms per cubic meter.
    - term: NitrogenMonoxide
      definition: NO concentration in micrograms per cubic meter.
    - term: NitrogenDioxide
      definition: NO2 concentration in micrograms per cubic meter.
    - term: Ozone
      definition: O3 concentration in micrograms per cubic meter.
    - term: SulphurDioxide
      definition: SO2 concentration in micrograms per cubic meter.
    - term: FineParticulateMatter
      definition: PM2.5 concentration in micrograms per cubic meter.
    - term: CoarseParticulateMatter
      definition: PM10 concentration in micrograms per cubic meter.
    - term: Ammonia
      definition: NH3 concentration in micrograms per cubic meter.
  solar:
    - term: GlobalHorizontalIrradiance
      definition: Total solar irradiance on a horizontal surface in W/m2.
    - term: DirectNormalIrradiance
      definition: Direct beam solar irradiance perpendicular to the sun in W/m2.
    - term: DiffuseHorizontalIrradiance
      definition: Diffuse solar irradiance on a horizontal surface in W/m2.
    - term: ClearSkyModel
      definition: Solar irradiance assuming a cloud-free atmosphere.
    - term: CloudySkyModel
      definition: Solar irradiance accounting for prevailing cloud cover.
  geocoding:
    - term: DirectGeocoding
      definition: Convert location name to coordinates.
    - term: ReverseGeocoding
      definition: Convert coordinates to one or more location names.
    - term: ZipGeocoding
      definition: Convert a postal code and country to coordinates.
  operations:
    - term: APIKey
      definition: OpenWeather appid query parameter used to authenticate requests.
    - term: RateLimit
      definition: Per-tier ceiling on calls per minute and calls per month.
    - term: Tier
      definition: A subscription level Free, Startup, Developer, Professional, Expert.
    - term: PayAsYouCall
      definition: Pricing model for One Call 4.0 where the first 1,000 daily calls are free and additional calls are billed per call.
    - term: Quota
      definition: Total request volume permitted within a billing cycle.
  maps:
    - term: TileLayer
      definition: Weather data raster overlay tile referenced by z/x/y coordinates.
    - term: Layer
      definition: Named weather variable rendered on a tile (clouds_new, precipitation_new, pressure_new, wind_new, temp_new).
units:
  temperature: [standard (Kelvin), metric (Celsius), imperial (Fahrenheit)]
  windSpeed: [metric (m/s), imperial (mph)]
  pressure: hPa
  precipitation: mm
  visibility: meters
  concentration: ug/m3
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com