A Non Web–Based Rainfall Information System for South Western Nigeria

doi:10.4236/ijcns.2011.48065

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Int. J. Communications, Network and System Sciences, 2011, 4, 544-548

doi:10.4236/ijcns.2011.48065 Published Online August 2011 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ijcns)

A Non Web-Based Rainfall Information System for South

Western Nigeria

Taofik O. Dauda1, Vincent A. Adeyemi2, Nurain A. Akintoye1, Bose O. Lawal1

1Institute of Agricultural Research and Training, Obafemi Awolowo University,

Ibadan, Nigeria

2Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, Ibadan, Nigeria

E-mail: [email protected]

Received February 9, 2011; revised April 6, 2011; accepted June 30, 2011

Abstract

A non web-based rainfall data base of the South Western Nigeria was designed with the objective of provid-

ing user friendly source of data for the region. The study used the rainfall data obtained from the Institute of

Agricultural Research and Training, Ibadan and it covers from year 1985 to 2007. The study uses Microsoft

Access (2003) for data base creation as well as Visual Basic 6.0 (VB 6.0) for interface creation. The program

developed could dynamically accommodate regular and new user of the data and could be upgraded for

regular update of the data. The results of the programme evaluation showed that the data obtained from the

database and the manual ones are the same.

Keywords: Database, Interface, Information System, Query, Rainfall

1. Introduction

Water is a precious commodity to agriculture in south

western Nigeria. Its availability to plant through rainfall

have been unstable in terms of distribution. Rainfall dis-

tribution model’s prediction is thus challenging and re-

quires data collected over a long period of time. Rainfall

data for South Western Nigeria exist but not in an easily

accessible form. Many organizations have extensively

collected daily rainfall data prior to this study and are

usually stored/recorded in sheets or log books. The

shortcoming of this form of database is that it is prone to

destruction by rain, fire and other disaster. Meanwhile

back up c opy are not easy t o com e by. Datab ase is defi ned

as a program that stores body of information in a form that

makes its query management and design by different

users as easy as possible [1] and [2]. It is an integrated

collection of logically related records or files consolidated

into a common pool that provides data for one or more

multiple uses. Its use arises from the need to assess data

prompt ly and i n a ret rie va ble way . Dat aba se keep s d ata in

a window friendly environment and allows visitors to

carry out some restricted use of the data. A Database

Management System (DBMS) is a set of computer pro-

grams that controls the creation, maintenance, and the use

of the database with computer as a platform or of an or-

ganization and its end users [3]. According to [4], data-

base, often abbrev iated DB as a collection of information

organized in such a way that a computer program can

quickly select desired pieces of data. Database can be

thought as an electronic filing system. There exist arrays

of works on database and include, [5-7] and [2,8]. These

works notwithstanding, rainfall data of the South western

Nigeria were known to exist in white and black and little

or no work on database of this region of the country is

known to be available. This work is therefore justified

from the need to create a database for the rainfall data of

the selected areas. It is important in the provision of

prompt and easy access to the data. It also provides a

query platform for point or interval/ranged data. Infor-

mation system therefore replaces the old paper work on

rainfall data which makes data query, retrieval and man-

agement cumbersome. Rainfall data collection is a con-

tinuum which consequently prompts frequent updating of

the data base. This is easily accomplished in an informa-

tion system process. Rainfall database have been chosen

in preference to other weather indices because it repre-

sents the major determinants of several other indices. Also,

rainfall data of all the study areas are complete for the

period un der study. The objec tive of this work is t herefore

to develop/ create a non web-b ased rainfal l dat abase of the

South west Nigeria and to evaluate the created database

T. O. DAUDA ET AL.545

for efficiency.

2. Materials and Methods

Data for this project was obtained from the data bank of

the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training,

Ibadan. These data include, rainfall, minimum and maxi-

mum temperature, dry and wet bulb thermometer reading,

earth temperature (at 10 cm, 20 cm and 30 cm) for

Ibadan and rainfall for all other outstations (Ilora, Ikenne,

Balla and Orin Ekiti). These areas cut across different

vegetation gradient of the South west (Figure 1). Mi-

crosoft access (version 2003) was used for data storage

while V-Basic was used to create the information system

interface. Also included in the program is the computa-

tion of some selected descriptive statistics (like mean and

variance). Mean and variance were given as,

n

 and











 respectively.

The program was evaluated through some selected

query and outputs were compared with ordinary/raw

data.

3. Results

Information system with the following components was

evolved.

3.1. Splash Screen

This is the first window of the interface program. It con-

sists of a screen showing the pictu r e of th e Institu te at th e

background (Figure 2). It consists of two arrows in op-

posite direction: forward direction indicates movement to

the next stage while the backward direction is for the

premature quitting of the application.

3.2. Welcome Interface

Following the forward direction arrow on the splash

screen leads to the Welcome page. This interface con-

tains welcome information and few backgrounds about

the information system as well as various actions the user

might want to perform (Figure 3).

Four options are available here: the user can choose to

Figure 1. Map of South Western Nigeria showing the outstation of the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training,

badan. I

T. O. DAUDA ET AL.

546

Figure 2. Splash screen of the information system.

Figure 3. Welcome interface of the information system.

cancel the current step. The fourth option enables a user

to be removed from the list of the database users.

3.3. Registration Interface

Here, a new user is allowed to register to enable him/her

query the database (Figure 4). The data required for reg-

istration are the username and password. Users, after

registration, can only query the database; he/she is not

permitted to alter the content of the database. This is the

main criterion for the use of information system.

3.4. Login Interface

A user that has been registered would have to log in to

the system with his/her username and password, which

are case sensitive (Figure 5). When a user logged in, the

program keeps track of his/her activities and allows the

user timeless use of the database.

3.5. Main Menu

When a user is successfu lly logg ed in, he/she is led to the

Main Menu of the information system (Figure 6). The

options on this interface are weather database, longitude

Figure 4. Registration interface of the information system.

Figure 5. Login interface of the information system.

Figure 6. Main menu of the information system.

and latitude and location of outstations. Each of these

menus links to the list of outstations. Weather database

option is the platform which provides access to the rain-

fall data of all stations. The Latitude and latitude option

gives the geographical position of the Institute’s outsta-

tions on satellite.

Query regarding this option is executed by dynami-

cally scouring the database to give the longitude and

latitude of the inquired outstation. The last option, loca-

tion of outstations, provides access to the map of south

western Nigeria as well as other outstations of the Insti-

tute. This is done via an interface containing standard

T. O. DAUDA ET AL.547

elements such as buttons adapted to display the maps on

the screen with options to print, copy or save the images

into any location.

3.6. Rainfall Query Interface

On the rainfall query interface (Figure 7), users can

query the database fo r rainfall record of an outstation for

a particular day or several consecutive days (range of

records). For a range of records, users could choose to

perform required calculations, such as the mean and va-

riance, only (Figure 8) or to display the records as well

as the mean and variance (Figure 9).

4. Discussion and Conclusion

A new technique for the data base of the South west Ni-

geria have been developed with the goal of providing a

good source of weather data for the region. The data base

evolved composed of rainfall data from stations which

cut across different regions or state of the South west

Nig er i a . The database is a non web-based unlike in the [1]

due to the challenges of web hosting but similar to [2]

and [9] for Idah, in USAE. Also, the program can peri-

odically be updated for efficiency as well as be backed

up for safe keep. The program can serve as source of

data for various degree of weather and weather related

studies. Verification results showed that the data base

Figure 7. Rainfall query interface.

Figure 8. Query result showing the number of records,

mean and variance.

Figure 9. Query result showing a range of records.

T. O. DAUDA ET AL.

548

record is the same with the records on paper showing

that the database as a source of data is reliable and can be

used for any purposes with the observation of research

ethics.

5. References

[1] Wikipedia Database.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Databaseaccessedon19-07-2

010

[2] C. L. Hanson, “Long-Term Precipitation Database, Rey-

nolds Creek Experimental Watershed, Idaho, United

States,” Water Resources Research, Vol. 37, No. 11,

2001, pp. 2831-2834. doi:10.1029/2001WR000415

[3] J. Galindo, A. Urrutia and M. Piattini, “Fuzzy Databases:

Modeling, Design and Implementation (FSQL Guide),”

Idea Group Publishing, Hershey, 2006, p. 458.

[4] Webopodia Database, 2010

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/D/database.html

[5] T. Connolly and B. Carolyn, “Database Systems,” Har-

low, New York, 2002, p. 356.

[6] M. Hermann and R. Bruno, Available Data at the Arctic

Precipitation Data Archive APDA, 2010,

http://gpcc.dwd.de

[7] D. D. Bosch, J. M. Sheridan and L. K. Marshall, “Pre-

cipitation, Soil Moisture, and Climate Database, Little

River Experimental Watershed, Georgia, United States,”

Water Resource Research, Vol. 43, , 2007, p. 56.

[8] W. Zucchini, N. Oleg and G. Kratz, “A Web-Based

Rainfall Atlas for Southern Africa,” 20

http://134.76.173.220/rainfall/index.html

[9] P. Beynon-Davies, “Database Systems,” 3rd Edition,

Palgrave, Houndmills, Basingstoke, 2004, p. 578.