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
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,
1
1n
i
i
x
x
n
 and

2
2
1
1
1
n
i
i

x
x
n



 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.
register as a new user, log in (if already registered) or
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-
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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-
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[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
10
[9] P. Beynon-Davies, “Database Systems,” 3rd Edition,
Palgrave, Houndmills, Basingstoke, 2004, p. 578.