Weather · head-to-head
AviationWeather vs Hong Kong Observatory
The legacy Text Data Server referenced by the original dataserver URL has been discontinued and replaced by the new Aviation Weather Center Data API, reachable at aviationweather.gov/data/api. It serves worldwide METAR/TAF, US/North-Atlantic PIREPs, global SIGMETs, and CONUS G-AIRMETs (which replaced text AIRMETs in January 2025) in raw text, JSON, GeoJSON, CSV, XML, or IWXXM, with no authentication but a 100-requests/minute rate limit.
The Hong Kong Observatory's Open Data API exposes roughly 50 machine-readable datasets covering real-time weather observations, 9-day forecasts, lightning counts, tropical cyclone tracking, tidal predictions, UV index and radiation levels, plus historical rainfall and sunshine records, for Hong Kong and nearby waters. It is a free, keyless service built for machine-to-machine consumption, mirrored on the government's data.gov.hk portal alongside the Observatory's own documented endpoint.
| AviationWeather | Hong Kong Observatory | |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | None | None |
| Pricing | free | free |
| Formats | JSON, GeoJSON, XML, CSV, Text | JSON, XML, CSV |
| CORS | no | yes |
| HTTPS | Yes | Yes |
Hong Kong Observatory supports CORS, while AviationWeather doesn't — pick Hong Kong Observatory for direct browser calls.