About MeteoStar
A long‑standing provider of weather integration, data processing, and visualization solutions.
Now part of Kipp & Zonen.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
MeteoStar’s history and evolution
MeteoStar has a long heritage in weather data integration and visualization. The brand originated within Lockheed Martin in the 1990s and transitioned through several organizations before joining Kipp & Zonen in 2026.
Throughout these transitions, many of the same experts have continued to support customers across government and industry.
1990s
1997
2012
2015
2023
2026
What Kipp & Zonen provides with MeteoStar's products
MeteoStar is a weather integrator that combines environmental data with customer data to support operational decision making. Its tools and services are used across aviation, hydrology, fire weather, space launch, and road weather applications.
Key capabilities include:
- Weather data integration
- High speed visualization
- Multi source data fusion
- Operational decision support
Enhanced Softcopy Mapping Software (ESMS)
Overview
Enhanced Softcopy Mapping Software (ESMS) is a high speed mapping and visualization toolkit designed for time critical data environments. It is the third generation of the SMS product line, evolving from SMS and SMS+ to support modern color depth, faster processing, and improved maintainability.
ESMS originated from early Air Force and Navy requirements for high performance mapping and image processing. The software was rewritten in 2001 to support 24‑bit color at the speed of 8‑bit processing, with ANSI compliant code and significantly improved performance.
ESMS supports dynamic map data loading anywhere in the world and includes multi time imagery handling, allowing operators to view current imagery or historical layers from minutes, hours, or years prior.
Today, ESMS continues to deliver streamlined performance on Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 7, 8, 9, and 10.
Benefits
- High speed map updates in a fraction of a second
- Display of thousands of objects with rapid refresh
- Geographic or screen based object placement
- Multi time imagery layers
- Line of sight calculations
Direct receive and weather data reception solutions
Overview
With MeteoStar, Kipp & Zonen now provides direct receive systems for high resolution satellite imagery and weather data. These systems support geostationary and low earth orbit satellites and integrate with LEADS tools for image processing, weather guidance, and forecast product generation.
LEADS workstations and servers can ingest additional meteorological sources such as radar, surface observations, and GTS feeds, enabling fused visualization and analysis.
Supported ingest systems include:
- GOES R
- EUMETSAT
- NOAAPort
- WAFS and SADIS
Benefits
- Direct satellite receive
- Faster imagery delivery
- Operation without internet
WxDist File distribution tool
Overview
WxDist is a high reliability file distribution tool designed to meet the needs of the US FAA. It ensures that files reach all local systems even when parts of the distribution chain experience downtime. Built‑in redundancy and data catch up mechanisms maintain continuity.
Benefits
- High reliability file transfer
- Automatic data catch up when systems return online
- Layered distribution chains
- Regular expression-based configuration
Weather data service overview
With MeteoStar, Kipp & Zonen now provides weather data services that support LEADS solutions, augment customer data, or deliver complete weather data packages. Services are designed for reliability, flexibility, and broad data format support.
Benefits
- 99.97 percent uptime reliability
- Multiple data transfer methods
- Support for multiple data formats
- Custom value-added products
- Full weather product catalog including:
- Alphanumeric
- Satellite
- Radar
- Lightning
- Models and model products
- NOTAMS
Connect with us
Ready to explore how Kipp & Zonen + MeteoStar supports your weather data and operational needs? Connect with our team.