Glossary

A reference for the domain concepts and project-specific terms used throughout strahlenschutz-cli. The domain is the German radiation-monitoring network; this glossary gives the term used in the CLI/API (where one exists) alongside the original German.

Translation table. The CLI follows these:

German	English / API term
Ortsdosisleistung (ODL)	ambient gamma dose rate
Messstelle / Sonde	measurement station / probe
Kennung (kenn)	station id
Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz (BfS)	Federal Office for Radiation Protection
Zeitreihe	time series

The monitoring programme

Strahlenschutz. “Radiation protection.” The policy field this API serves — monitoring environmental radioactivity to protect the population.

BfS — Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz. The German Federal Office for Radiation Protection, the public authority that operates the national gamma dose-rate monitoring network and publishes its readings as open data.

ODL-Info. The BfS public service (odlinfo.bfs.de) that presents ambient gamma dose-rate data to the public, backed by the open-data endpoint this tool wraps.

IMIS — Integriertes Mess- und Informationssystem. The “Integrated Measuring and Information System” for monitoring environmental radioactivity in Germany. The open-data service is hosted under imis.bfs.de.

What is measured

ODL — Ortsdosisleistung (ambient gamma dose rate). The quantity this network measures: the gamma radiation dose rate at a location, i.e. how much ionising gamma radiation is present per unit time. Reported per measurement station.

µSv/h (microsievert per hour). The unit in which the ambient gamma dose rate is reported. The sievert (Sv) is the SI unit of equivalent dose; readings are on the order of a fraction of a microsievert per hour at normal background levels.

Reading / measurement value. A single ODL value for a station at a point in time, carried in a GeoJSON feature’s properties.

Stations & geography

Messstelle / Sonde (measurement station / probe). A fixed sensor in the BfS network that measures the local ambient gamma dose rate. Roughly 1 700 probes cover Germany.

kenn (station id). The station identifier (Kennung). A fixed-format numeric string (digits only), e.g. 091811461. The client validates the shape (digits only, non-empty) before splicing it into the WFS CQL_FILTER (kenn='<id>'). CLI: station <kenn>, --station <kenn>, timeseries <kenn>.

GeoJSON Feature. One element of the response: a station together with its reading, with a geometry (typically a Point with [lon, lat] coordinates) and a properties object holding the station metadata and ODL value.

FeatureCollection. A WFS GetFeature response as GeoJSON: a type: "FeatureCollection" envelope with a features array, plus optional totalFeatures, numberReturned and timeStamp fields.

Feature kinds (resources)

The service publishes three WFS feature types, surfaced by the client/CLI as friendly “feature kinds” mapped to their WFS typeName:

latest. The most recent ODL reading per station. WFS typeName: opendata:odlinfo_odl_1h_latest. CLI: latest, station.

ts-1h (hourly time series). The hourly-averaged ODL time series for a station. WFS typeName: opendata:odlinfo_timeseries_odl_1h. CLI: timeseries --resolution ts-1h (the default).

ts-24h (daily time series). The daily-averaged ODL time series for a station. WFS typeName: opendata:odlinfo_timeseries_odl_24h. CLI: timeseries --resolution ts-24h.

These values are the FeatureKindValues const array; the TYPE_NAMES map (both exported) translates each friendly kind to its WFS typeName.

The WFS interface

WFS — Web Feature Service. The OGC standard the BfS open-data endpoint speaks (version 2.0). The client fixes the boilerplate parameters so callers never set them by hand.

OGC — Open Geospatial Consortium. The standards body behind WFS. (GeoJSON is not an OGC standard; it is specified by the IETF in RFC 7946.)

ows endpoint. The single service path the client targets: /ogc/opendata/ows on https://www.imis.bfs.de.

GetFeature. The WFS operation that retrieves features. The client sends fixed parameters service=WFS, request=GetFeature and outputFormat=application/json on every call.

typeName. The WFS parameter naming the feature type to fetch (e.g. opendata:odlinfo_odl_1h_latest); set from the chosen feature kind via TYPE_NAMES.

CQL_FILTER. The OGC CQL filter expression applied server-side. Filtering by station is expressed as CQL_FILTER=kenn='<id>'. (The earlier viewparams=kenn:<id> form is silently ignored by this server on the latest type, so it is not used.)

count. The WFS 2.0 result-limit parameter (the CLI’s --max). The WFS 1.x maxFeatures is silently ignored by this server, so the client always sends count.

startIndex. The WFS 2.0 paging offset (the CLI’s --start). It is only honoured when accompanied by a count; a bare startIndex is rejected with HTTP 400, so the client supplies a default page size (1000) when paging without an explicit limit.

sortBy. The WFS parameter selecting the property to sort results by; append ` D (a space, e.g. end_measure D) for descending order (CLI: –sort `).

outputFormat. Fixed to application/json so every response is GeoJSON.

Client query options

FeatureQuery. The query object accepted by the client’s methods: station (→ CQL_FILTER=kenn='<id>'), sortBy, maxFeatures (→ count) and startIndex.

maxFeatures (--max). Maximum number of features to return; sent on the wire as the WFS 2.0 count parameter.

startIndex (--start). Offset for paging.

Search & API concepts

Empty result vs. not-found. The WFS returns an empty FeatureCollection with HTTP 200 for an unknown kenn, never a 404. For a single-station lookup (station <kenn>) the CLI treats “no features” as not-found and raises StrahlNotFoundError, mapping it to exit code 4. timeseries <kenn> and latest --station <kenn> pass the empty collection through with exit 0: a real station can have an empty series as well (a defekt station, or ts-24h), so an empty result there doesn’t prove the id is unknown.

Rate limiting / transient errors. Statuses 429 and 503 are treated as transient and retried automatically with linear backoff (--max-retries, StrahlApiError.isRetryable).

Cross-origin credential strip. On a redirect to a different origin, the engine drops credential-bearing headers (Authorization/X-API-Key/Cookie); an https→http downgrade redirect is refused outright.

Read-only, no auth. The ODL-Info open-data WFS needs no key; this client only issues read-only GET requests.

Library & internals. Terms for the TypeScript client and its internals — StrahlenschutzClient, the request engine, transport, retry/backoff, error types, query builder, FeatureKindValues/TYPE_NAMES, kenn validation — now live in DEVELOPING.md.