FDSNWS Station Web Service

Below is a full list of service parameters and their usage.

Query Usage

/query? [channel-options] [geographic-constraints] [time-constraints] [misc-parameters] [nodata=404]

where

channel-options         ::  [network=<network>] [station=< station>] [location=<location>] [channel=<channel>]
geographic-constraints  ::  [boundaries-rect] OR [boundaries-circular]
boundaries-rect         ::  [minlatitude=<degrees>][maxlatitude=< degrees>] [minlongitude=<degrees>] [maxlongitude=<degrees>]
boundaries-circular     ::  [latitude=<latitude>&longitude=< longitude>&maxradius=<degrees>] [minradius=<degrees>]
time-constraints        ::  [starttime=<date>] [endtime=< date>] [startbefore=<date>] [startafter=<date>]
                            [endbefore=<date>] [endafter=< date>]
misc-parameters         ::  [level=< station|network|channel|response>] [format=<xml|text>]

Each parameter-value pair should be separated by an ampersand &, and with no space.

Each parameter listed under channel-options can be prefixed with a “-” (minus) sign to exclude certain metadata from a request.

Query POST Usage

Alternately, instead of providing parameter-value pairs in the URL, a file containing a selection list can be POSTed to this service.

level=<network | station | channel | response>
format=<xml | text>
minlatitude=<degrees>
maxlatitude=<degrees>
minlongitude=<degrees>
maxlongitude=<degrees>
<network> <station> <location> <channel> <starttime> <endtime>
...

The parameters network, station, location, channel, starttime, and endtime are included in the repeated lines for the selection file. Wildcards are acceptable for network, station, location, and channel. A simple * wildcard expression is valid for starttime and endtime, but expressions that include ? are not.

The parameters startbefore, startafter, endbefore, and endafter are NOT supported in POST. All other valid parameter-value pairs for GET queries are also valid for POST queries.

Parameter-value pairs should be listed at the top of the file and are entirely optional.

For additional details, including an example selection file, visit the Help section for this service.

Sample Queries

• radial geographic
  /fdsnws/station/1/query?latitude=47.1&longitude=12.7&maxradius=15&nodata=404

• rectangular geographic with time windows
  /fdsnws/station/1/query?startafter=2003-01-07&endbefore=2011-02-07&minlatitude=15&maxlatitude=55&minlongitude=0&maxlongitude=20

• text output, with network level exclusion
  /fdsnws/station/1/query?network=BW,-SY&level=network&format=text

• horizontal channels for subsetted BW data
  /fdsnws/station/1/query?network=BW&station=R*&channel=EH?&level=channel&format=text

Detailed Descriptions of each Query Parameter

¹ latitude, longitude, maxradius and minradius work together to define a radial boundary.

² By default, the service returns a HTTP response code 204, which means the request was successful, but no data (no content) was retrieved. However, because there was no “error”, no error message is generated and it may appear that the browser did nothing. To force an empty query response to display an error message, add nodata=404 to the URL.

Output Format

Output may be text or xml. If format=xml or format is not specified, then the results will be returned in FDSN StationXML format. When format=text, then a simple | separated table is returned. Note, format=text is not available for level=response

Level

Level specifies the level of detail returned within the returned XML.

WADL

Retrieve the WADL associated with this service:

/fdsnws/station/1/application.wadl

Date and Time Formats

YYYY	:: four-digit year
MM	:: two-digit month (01=January, etc.)
DD	:: two-digit day of month (01 through 31)
T	:: date-time separator
hh	:: two digits of hour (00 through 23) (AM/PM NOT allowed)
mm	:: two digits of minute (00 through 59)
ss	:: two digits of second (00 through 59)
ssssss	:: one to six digits representing decimal fractions of a second, down to microseconds

Exclusions

Wildcards and Lists