Micro Weather

Benefit from more accurate information on current weather and road conditions.

When vehicles become driving weather stations

Who hasn't experienced this? You check the weather app and realize that the actual weather at your current location differs from the information on the smartphone app. But what is the reason for the inaccurate information? In Germany, for example, common weather service providers usually only use data from static weather stations, which of course do not cover the entire city or region exactly. This lack of accuracy affects the safety of road users, as road conditions depend on local weather conditions.

In order to increase the accuracy of information on local weather and road conditions we developed the Micro Weather data product which uses the Mercedes-Benz vehicle fleet as “moving weather stations”. The product collects multiple pieces of anonymized information about the current weather situation and makes it available via Pull API on GPS level. The data mapped on defined road sections is validated and aggregated via a specially developed algorithm.

API

For detailed technical information, specifications, sandbox environments and access options please visit our Mercedes-Benz /developers portal.

Test the API
Benefits

Profit from convincing advantages

Think ahead and improve your weather-related use cases by incorporating the near real-time information on micro weather and road conditions generated by the Mercedes-Benz vehicle fleet.

01
Mobile weather stations to optimize data from static weather stations
02
Monitoring of weather data on smallest road sections
03
Near real-time reports on changing weather and road conditions
04
Determination of road condition via Mercedes-Benz' own innovative aggregation of different data points
Data points

What data access does the API offer?

Whether cities and municipalities or providers of navigation, weather or car sharing services: the data set of the Micro Weather API is the perfect complement to the data of static weather stations to successfully compensate for their limited locality. The following data points are available:

  • Temperature

  • Rain intensity

  • Road condition

  • GPS position

  • Time stamp

  • Confidence level

The product

Learn more about the API

1. The API at a glance

The Micro Weather dataset provides our customers with accurate insights into temperature, rain intensity and road conditions at the most local level. This allows data from static weather stations to be optimized by the Mercedes-Benz vehicle fleet.

The detection can be broken down into the smallest road sections – and conclusions about road conditions can be quickly drawn from rapidly changing weather conditions. In addition, the weather data is updated every 15 minutes. 

2. Wide coverage

The transmitted data is relevant for evaluations & analyses regarding the most local weather and road conditions. The product provides highly accurate weather data based on an intelligent algorithm that we developed using high-resolution measurement technology over more than 100,000 km of driving. Of course, the large connected Mercedes-Benz vehicle fleet offers an enhancive base for covering many regions worldwide.

3. Anonymized data

Data is always transferred anonymized and only from vehicles for which there is a consent from the vehicle owner.

Use our data interface to increase the safety of road users through timely local hazard warnings and optimize navigation services, for example.
How it works

Increase safety and knowledge advantage based on near real-time information

The API’s insight on temperature is obtained via the temperature sensors outside the vehicle. The rain intensity is detected via the windscreen wipers once they are set in the automatic mode. This allows us to get a clear indication whether the rain intensity is high, medium, low or not present. The road condition (e.g. slippery or dry) is an aggregated data point of temperature, rain intensity and additionally solar intensity. Finally, a confidence level gives a sense of how reliable our aggregated data is.

The collection of data from Mercedes-Benz vehicles takes place every 120 seconds, provided the driver has given active consent. The weather data is anonymized and validated in the Mercedes-Benz Cloud and then visualized via Mercedes-Benz Data Dashboard or as an API integrated into an existing application.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Here you can find a collection of questions we’ve been asked by our customers.

Is it possible to get a trial version / sample of the data?

Yes, it is possible to get sample data for every data product. Please get in touch with our business team to get the sample data.

Which data sources contains the data of this product?

All data is coming from the Mercedes-Benz customer fleet (Passenger Car and Van). Data will be provided if the purpose of the data usage fits with the Mercedes-Benz Data Vision to create with data a greater good.

Can you provide data for whole countries?

Yes, we can provide the data products for several countries. Please check out the product detail page on Mercedes-Benz /developers to get an overview about the data coverage per country for this product.

How large is your fleet / vehicle coverage in a specific country/city?

Due to antitrust law and data protection, we cannot share exact figures of vehicles driving around. We could offer you to check the numbers of data points in a defined period.

Do you have restrictions in the selection of your customers?

Our goal as Mercedes-Benz Data is to pave the way for a data-driven automotive world. Always with the focus on providing our customers the greatest added value through new, personalized services. That’s why we work together with selected partners always under protection of the customer rights.

Contact

Talk to us for an individual consultation

If you’re considering using our data product or just want more information, please leave your contact details. We will get back to you as soon as possible.

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