Limaps.org - the Blitzortung.org Data Archive
Welcome to Limaps.org, the data archive of blitzortung.org



Limaps.org is the data archive of Blitzortung.org. Here you will find the impact positions computed from the data of the detectors. We only record the results of the calculations and not the raw data sent from the detectors to the server. There is no guarantee that the source of the electromagnetic signal of the thunderstorm lightning is near the calculated position. For each calculated impact position we only guarantee the following statement.

If the calculated position were the source of a pulse of an electromagnetic discharge, then the pulse would be received at the detectors at the times of the signals used for the calculation.

Blitzortung.org is not an official authority for lightning or thunderstorm data. The data is provided only for private and entertainment purposes. The project Blitzortung.org is merely a voluntary leisure activity.

It is not allowed to use the data of Blitzortung.org for storm warning systems, for plausibility checks of overvoltage damages, or risk analysis for precautionary protection of high-quality technology, even if the data are not obtained directly from our site but from third-party websites.

The use of our lightning data is allowed only to the participants of the project or to those we explicitly have allowed it.

We are not liable for the completeness, timeliness, quality and accuracy of the information on our website. We are not responsible for damages, resulting from trusting the content of our website or its use. This also holds if our data is obtained from third-party websites.


The calculation of the impact positions is done on several servers located either in Germany or Finland. Each calculation thread works in its own container. These containers are numbered from C0 to C19. The threads contain the impact positions for a specific region. The regions are numbered from 1 to 15 and named after geographical areas. The regions numbered 6, 8 and 10 are reserved for external calculation servers.

The allocation of regions to containers is shown in the table below.

regions of containes
container region area server location region number
C00---
C01Europs 1Germany1
C02Ozeania 1Germany2
C03North America 1-3
C04Asia 1Germany4
C05Africa 1Germany7
C06South America 1Germany5
C07Japan 1Germany9
C08---
C09---
C10North America 2Finland13
C11---
C12---
C13---
C14---
C15---
C16World 1Finland15
C17Japan 2Finland14
C18Europe 2Finland11
C19Europe 3Finland12


The data is available in different formats, as SQLite data files, as JSON data lines, as maps, and live via special links and websocket servers.

SQLite Data Archive


The SQLite data archive contains the impact data until to ende of 2023 calculated by blitzortug.org in SQLite3 data files. The file names are build as follows:

S{container}-R{region}-Y{year}-M{first month}-{last month}-N{north bound}-S{south bound}-W{west bound}-E{east bound}.sqlite

Example: The file

S1-R1-Y2023-M01-12-N90-S-90-W-180-E180.sqlitedatabase

contains the data calculated in container 1 for region 1 (Europe 1) between January 1 and December 31, 2023 with a latitude between -90 and 90 degrees and a longitude between -180 and 180 degrees.

For more information about the entries in the data files, see the metadata table of the files.

SQLite Data Archive

The database contains two tables named metadata and strokes. The strokes table contains the following columns:

the strokes table
column description
timetimestamp in nanoseconds since midnight on January 1, 1970
latlatitude in degrees (decimal)
lonlongitude in degrees (decimal)
altaltitude above sea level in meters
polpolarity, -1 or +1
mdsmaximum deviation range in nanoseconds
scssmallest all-covering sector in degrees, formerly called mcg
(example: 210 degrees = the detectors are in a sector of 150 degrees from the impact location)
statusstatus (optional)


Here is an example of how to filter out data entries from an sqlite3 database file.

open the database file:

>sqlite3 S1-R1-Y2023-M01-12-N90-S-90-W-180-E180.sqlite
SQLite version 3.37.2 2022-01-06 13:25:41
Enter ".help" for usage hints.

list the table names:

sqlite> .tables
metadata strokes

read the metadata

sqlite> select Value from metadata where name = 'Description';
This database contains information about possible locations of electromagnetic discharges, calculated from the jsondatabase data provided by the participants of the project Blitzortung.org..

show the preferences

sqlite> .show
echo: off
eqp: off
explain: auto
headers: off
mode: list
nullvalue: ""
output: stdout
colseparator: "|"
rowseparator: "\n"
stats: off
width:
filename: S1-R1-Y2023-M01-12-N90-S-90-W-180-E180.sqlitedatabase

output the number of entries in table strokes

sqlite> select count(*) from strokes;
12583194

set output format to csv

sqlite> .mode csv

output selected strokes

sqlite> select * from strokes where lat < 45 and lat > 44.95 and lon 14 and lon > 13.6;
1673898604479904941,44.950874,13.646371,0,0,6140,73,322,13
1673898604479915532,44.969227,13.6342,0,0,9739,134,431,20
1673898604479909643,44.969513,13.630484,0,0,5950,138,412,18
1674257357563815319,44.954322,13.959775,0,0,14821,198,66,13
...

quit the program

sqlite> .quit
>
JSON Data Archive


The JSON data archive contains the impact data calculated by blitzortug.org in text data files. The container directories contain sub-directories named by the date and time of the lightning strikes in UTC times. Each data file contains impact positions of 10 minutes. The hours are divided into 10 minute intervals. Each line of these files consists of one variable coded in "JSON" (JavaScript Object Notation) format. Older files are only available as "zgip" files.

C{container}/{year}/{month}/{day}/{hour}/{10minutes}.json

The

Example: The file

C1/2024/08/21/09/10.json

contains the data calculated in container 1 (for region 1, Europe 1) on August 21, 2024 between 9:10.000000000 and 9.19.999999999 UTC.

Each line of the data files contains one JSON codes variable with the following members:

the members of the JSON variable
name description
timetimestamp in nanoseconds since midnight on January 1, 1970
latlatitude in degrees (decimal)
lonlongitude in degrees (decimal)
altaltitude above sea level in meters
polpolarity, -1 or +1
mdsmaximum deviation range in nanoseconds
mcgsmallest all-covering sector in degrees (example: 210 degrees = the detectors are in a sector of 150 degrees from the impact location)
statusstatus (optional)
sigarray of signals involved

Each signal of the sig array may have have the following members.

the members of the sig array
name description
stastation that has received the signal
timetime difference to the time of the lightning strike in nanoseconds
latlatitude of the detector in degree (decimal)
lonlongitude of the detector in degree (decimal)
altaltitude of the detector above sea level in meters
statusstatus of the signal (bit 1 = polarity negative, bit 2 = polarity positive, bit 3 = signal is used for the computation)

JSON Data Archive
Map Data Archive


The map data archive contains the standard maps displayed on Blitzortung.org recorded at 5 minute intervals. The images are composed of two png files by overlaying them. The upper png file contains the lightning information, the lower png file forms the background. The following maps are available:

map types in the map data archive
period selection
Date UTC:
Time (UTC):
Period before:
Period after:

Map Data Archive
Detector Database


Signals and satistics from detectors

The signals and some statistical information about the detector can be viewed using the following parameterized links. 1. https://map.blitzortung.org/signal.php

parameters for signal.php
parameter value range default value
station> 0-
modesignal/FFTsignal
shift0-4unset (unset = automatic shift adjustment)
polarity-1/1/21 / 2 = automatic polarity adjustment
unit_width1-82
unit_height1-512128
background_transparent0/10
line_colors1R, 1G, 1B, 2R, 2G, 2B, 3R, 3G, 3B, 4R, 4G, 4B, 5R, 5G, 5B, 6R, 6G, 6B255, 0, 0, 0, 255, 0, 255, 255, 0, 255, 0, 255, 0, 255, 255, 255, 128, 0

signal.php

Example: <img src="https://map.blitzortung.org/signal.php? station=3177 &mode=FFT &shift=2 &unit_width=2 &unit_height=128 &polarity=2" alt="signal.php"> (please remove spaces parameters in the URL)

2. https://map.blitzortung.org/statistic_1.php

parameters for statistic_1.php
parameter value range default value
station> 0-
region0-191
time_zone(-11)-120
weeks1-44
minutes_composed1-3010
drawing_area_height1-300120
header_line0/11
header_text0/11
background_transparent0/10
line_colors1R, 1G, 1B, 2R, 2G, 2B, 3R, 3G, 3B, 4R, 4G, 4B255, 255, 255, 255, 191, 0, 0, 255, 0, 0, 128, 255

statistic_1.php

Example: <img src="https://map.blitzortung.org/statistic_1.php? station=3077 &time_zone=2 alt="statistic_1.php"$gt; (remove spaces between parameters in the URL)

3. https://map.blitzortung.org/statistic_2.php

parameters for statistic_2.php
parameter value range default value
station>0-
time_zone(-11)-120
days1-2821
distance_labelsl1,l2,l3,...10,20,50,100,200,500,1000,2000,5000
labels_extension0/10
drawing_area_height1-1000300
bar_width0-10024
bar_sep0-105
header_line0/11
header_text0/11
background_transparent0/10

statistic_2.php

Example: <img src="https://map.blitzortung.org/statistic_2.php? signal=3077 &time_zone=2 &days=21 &labels_extension=1 "statistic_2.php"> (remove spaces between parameters in the URL)

Live Data


The last calculated impact positions from all regions together up to the current time can be accessed using the following URL.

https://loginname:password@data.blitzortung.org/Data/Protected/last_strikes.php

The last 100,000 entries (with detector positions) / 1,000,000 entries (without detector positions) are taken into account. In order to keep the transfer rate as high as possible, the data is not read from a disk, but from main memory. The returned records are sorted time descending. The following parameters can be used to restrict the output:

the parameter table
parameter output restriction dafault
number=nthe last n entries100
time=tentries after time stamp t (nanoseconds since midnight on January 1, 1970)current time stamp
west=lonentries with a longitude of at least lon (decimal)-180
east=lonentries with longitude of at most lon (decimal)180
north=latentries with a latitude of at most lat (decimal)90
south=latentries with a latitude of at least lat (decimal)-90
sig=0/1entries excluding/including the information of the signals involved0

Example: The following url outputs the last 10 entries from the last 1000000 entries with a longitude between -10.0° and 40.0°, a latitude between 70.0° and 20.0°, and without the information about the signals involved.

https://loginname:password@data.blitzortung.org/Data/Protected/last_strikes.php?number=10&west=-10&east=40&north=70&south=20&sig=0

Each line of the data output contains a JSON encoded variable with the following members.

the members table
column description
timetimestamp in nanoseconds since midnight on January 1, 1970
latlatitude in degrees (decimal)
lonlongitude in degrees (decimal)
altaltitude above sea level in meters
polpolarity, -1 or +1
mdsmaximum deviation range in nanoseconds
scssmallest all-covering sector in degrees, formerly called mcg
(example: 210 degrees = the detectors are in a sector of 150 degrees from the impact location)
statusstatus (optional)
sigarray of signals involved

Each signal of the sig array may have the following members.

the members of the sig array
name description
stastation that has received the signal
timetime difference to the time of the lightning strike in nanoseconds
latlatitude of the detector in degree (decimal)
lonlongitude of the detector in degree (decimal)
altaltitude of the detector above sea level in meters
statusstatus of the signal (bit 1 = polarity negative, bit 2 = polarity positive, bit 3 = signal is used for the computation)
containercontainer in that the stroke has been computed


Live data can be accessed via websocket servers. However, this is only permitted to a limited extent on your own homepage. Do not access our websocket servers from highly frequented websites or via apps. Please observe our guidelines for handling our data. Demonstration of live data on commercial websites or apps is not permitted.

Websocket server:
Miscellaneous


Embedding live vector maps

Blitzortung.org's live vector map can be easily integrated with a fixed map style on own websites. The following parameters with values 0=false and 1=true are for the controls.

the control parameter table
parameter value range default value
interactive0/10
NavigationControl0/11
FullScreenControl0/11
ScaleControl0/11
Advertisment0/11
InfoDiv0/11
Cookies0/11
status0/11

The settings in the menu can be controlled by the following parameters, see the examples:

the menue settings table
parameter value range default value
MapStyle0-20
MapStyleRangeValue0-110
LightningRangeValue0-230
LightningCheckboxChecked0/10
CourseRangeValue0-100
CourseCheckboxChecked0/10
CountingRangeValue0-100
CountingCheckboxChecked0/10
CirclesRangeValue0-100
CirclesCheckboxChecked0/10
SpeedRangeValue0-100
SpeedCheckboxChecked0/10
LinksRangeValue0-100
LinksCheckboxChecked0/10
DetectorsRangeValue0-100
DetectorsCheckboxChecked0/10
CoverageRangeValue0-10
CoverageCheckboxChecked0/10
DayNightRangeValue0/10
DayNightCheckboxChecked0/10
AudioRangeValue0-100
AudioCheckboxChecked0/10
RegionRangeValue0-100
RegionCheckboxChecked0/10

<iframe src="https://map.blitzortung.org/index.php ?interactive=0 &NavigationControl=0 &FullScreenControl=0 &Cookies=0 &InfoDiv=0 &MenuButtonDiv=0 &ScaleControl=0 &LinksCheckboxChecked=1 &LinksRangeValue=10 &MapStyle=2 &MapStyleRangeValue=10 &Advertisment=0#3/40/15" width="480" height="360"></iframe>

<iframe src="https://map.blitzortung.org/index.php ?interactive=0 &NavigationControl=0 &FullScreenControl=0 &Cookies=0 &InfoDiv=0 &MenuButtonDiv=1 &ScaleControl=1 &LinksCheckboxChecked=1 &LinksRangeValue=10 &MapStyle=0 &MapStyleRangeValue=0 &Advertisment=0#5/51.2/10.0" width="500" height="600"></iframe>

<iframe src="https://map.blitzortung.org/index.php ?interactive=0 &NavigationControl=0 &FullScreenControl=0 &Cookies=0 &InfoDiv=1 &MenuButtonDiv=1 &ScaleControl=1 &LinksCheckboxChecked=1 &LinksRangeValue=10 &MapStyle=3 &MapStyleRangeValue=4 &Advertisment=0#5/36.5/135.0" width="800" height="800"></iframe>


Layout files of the Blue detectors

Layout Files
Terms of Conditions