Author Topic: Your opinions please  (Read 6973 times)

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Offline weathergirl

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Your opinions please
« on: January 09, 2011, 08:42:46 PM »
Hi Guys: I've just been contacted by a local resident, and wanted to know your opinions on what you all think. Here is his email-

Quote
Hi

I moved to Beamsville in July and discovered your site farily quickly after moving it.  its a great site.  There is SO much data.  I love it.

I was wondering what your policy for usage of the data is.  I am currently setting up a home monitoring and automation system and have just deployed an outside temperature sensor.

I was wondering if it would be ok if I pulled the clientraw.txt file every minute for about a week.  I want to use the temperature your weather station is reporting to help in calibrating my outdoor sensor.

I would only be pulling that text file (I'd be hitting it directly from a script running on my server) and won't be pulling any other part of the site (so there shouldn't be any extra load to your server).

None of this is a commerical venture, its all just for my personal use at home.

Incase your curious I have setup my system for outside access (http://home.chrisandtennille.com:8080).

Everything is run off wireless sensors that I can customize the firmware for.

Thanks again for providing such a great site.
Ann-Marie
Beamsville, Ontario, Canada

Offline Bushman

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2011, 12:01:37 AM »
And if it goes wrong YOU will be on  the hook.  I'd say no and ensure there are disclaimers all over the place.
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Offline PaulMy

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2011, 12:31:15 AM »
Ann-Marie,
I would be the kind to allow it and be neighbourly as he has asked, he is close, it is for personal and home use, you are already providing the data publicly, there is nothing different you have to do, and you have the disclaimer on your site.  But then I don't know anything about what and how he would be getting the data.  And you should be  :-) for his compliments about your site.

Paul

Offline SoMDWx

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2011, 08:07:42 AM »
Ann-Marie,
  I don't see anything wrong in doing this. I would setup a private directory that he could ONLY access and put the requested file in there. Make sure any other directories on your server are unavailable to users. Also, make it plain that data may be interrupted without any prior notification from you, thus protecting you from any so-called frivolous charges...

Jim

Offline mackbig

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2011, 08:11:46 AM »
Its on a public website in an unprotected form, I would say yes.  It was nice of him to ask.

Andrew

Andrew - Davis VP2+ 6163, serial weatherlink, wireless anemometer, running Weather Display.  Boltek PCI Stormtracker, Astrogenic Nexstorm, Strikestar - UNI, CWOP CW8618, GrLevel3, (Station 2 OS WMR968, VWS 13.01p09), Windows 7-64

Offline weathergirl

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2011, 09:15:39 AM »
Thanks for your help guys. Do you think pulling the clientraw.txt every minute for a week is alot? Also, since using a disclaimer was mentioned, would anyone have any examples I may use?
Ann-Marie
Beamsville, Ontario, Canada

Offline Bushman

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2011, 09:22:59 AM »
Weather Data Use Disclaimer
 
The user assumes the entire risk related to the use of this data.

Weathergirl is providing this data "as is", and Weathergirl disclaims any and all warranties, whether express or implied, including (without limitation) any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

In no event will Weathergirl be liable to you or to any third party for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special or exemplary damages or lost profit resulting from any use or misuse of this data."



Even with that I would ask them to confirm it via email.  Sadly, the state of the world today is that neighbours WILL sue neighbours. And insurers will sue ANYBODY
« Last Edit: January 10, 2011, 09:24:52 AM by Bushman »
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Offline weathergirl

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #7 on: January 10, 2011, 09:28:47 AM »
Thanks Bushman, that's why I'm inclined to say "no".
Ann-Marie
Beamsville, Ontario, Canada

Offline mackbig

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #8 on: January 10, 2011, 09:35:37 AM »
1440 pulls per day, clientraw is around 723 bytes, so less than 1MB per day.

Andrew

Thanks for your help guys. Do you think pulling the clientraw.txt every minute for a week is alot?

Andrew - Davis VP2+ 6163, serial weatherlink, wireless anemometer, running Weather Display.  Boltek PCI Stormtracker, Astrogenic Nexstorm, Strikestar - UNI, CWOP CW8618, GrLevel3, (Station 2 OS WMR968, VWS 13.01p09), Windows 7-64

Offline Bushman

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2011, 09:41:34 AM »
One other thing that I find interesting:  why would this other guy post all house activities on a public site?  Pretty easy to determine when they are home, eh?
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Offline George Richardson

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #10 on: January 10, 2011, 11:39:08 AM »
If I were asked such a question, I would say yes and be flattered that my info was being helpful. The fact he asked makes a big difference. I don't see that he could get any private data other than a little more frequent readings. If you're still concerned, at least point him to Wunderground where he con get the info every 5 minutes which should be enough anyway.

JMO

George

Offline Scalphunter

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #11 on: January 10, 2011, 11:49:12 AM »
 Or he could buy an certified thermometer and use it to caliberate his sensor as it would be reading his local temperature and  not  temps from another area  that can be different due to microclimes.

 me I would thank him for the comments and  say no to his request.


 John

Offline CNYWeather

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #12 on: January 10, 2011, 12:10:01 PM »
I'd say, let him keep track of HIS data for a week, then you send him YOUR data for the same week
and he can compare. Not really sure why he wants to do it the way he has suggested.
Tony




Offline Axelvold

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #13 on: January 10, 2011, 12:37:06 PM »
If he had asked me I would say yes.

Even with that I would ask them to confirm it via email.  Sadly, the state of the world today is that neighbours WILL sue neighbours. And insurers will sue ANYBODY

It's not that big risk to get sued here in Sweden.
Lars Magnusson
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55° 57' 41" N / 13° 6' 1" E
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Offline Bushman

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #14 on: January 10, 2011, 12:39:55 PM »
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Offline SoMDWx

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #15 on: January 10, 2011, 01:25:00 PM »
Difference here is that air traffic controllers ARE required to have the latest possible flight conditions.. We are not....

Offline up10ad N9RJH

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #16 on: January 10, 2011, 06:44:21 PM »
Ann-Marie,

I suspect that our data is already being posted and linked to many other palces and I see no problems 'letting' him pull your clientraw.  Heck, anyone can already do that with or without your permission.  I'd tell him that he is welcome to do so, but reiterate the standard disclaimer used by most PWS sites that often looks like: 'Never base important decisions on this or any weather information obtained from the Internet'.  If you are trying to run a PWS to get information to the local population it sounds a bit silly to consider witholding it when someone goes to the trouble to thank you for it and let you know how he is using it.  Just my .02.
Rick (N9RJH)
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Offline dasman

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #17 on: January 10, 2011, 07:33:40 PM »
I agree with above.  If we are providing the data to a website for public use then why would we deny the public from using it?  He could have just grabbed it without asking!
Dave Sommerfed
Peotone Illinois USA
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Offline SoMDWx

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #18 on: January 10, 2011, 10:11:39 PM »
I agree with above.  If we are providing the data to a website for public use then why would we deny the public from using it?  He could have just grabbed it without asking!

Curious... how?

Offline dasman

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #19 on: January 11, 2011, 12:28:35 AM »
I saw that she has the Historical Data script, which takes the numbers she uploads to weather underground every 5 minutes.  However I did not see that the script was modified to show the graphs only on her site!  The actual data is not shown.  However it is on the weather underground.
Dave Sommerfed
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Offline mackbig

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #20 on: January 11, 2011, 06:26:00 AM »
Jim,
clientraw.txt is a file on everyone's site that uses Ken's realtime WD templates.  It is typically in the root, so you just have to type the url and \clientraw.txt, some people have moved it bit, but not hard to find with a "view source" here or there.  but testtags and other pages in Ken's script need to find it, so it cant be too hidden.

Looks like this, just one big line of data.

12345 8.2 7.8 309 -7.6 83 1029.5 0.0 16.8 16.8 0.000 0.000 20.4 40 0.0 5 0.0 0 0 0.0 -13.3 255.0 -63.9 -64.4 -100.0 -100.0 -100 -100 -100 09 25 10 Mackweather-9:25:10_AM 0 20 10 1 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 -13.8 -11.5 -7.6 -12.9 5 cloudy/Dry 0.4 7 9 6 9 2 5 2 4 1 4 10 3 5 5 8 7 7 7 6 10 13.0 -9.9 984.2 1/10/2011 -11.5 -17.4 -9.9 -17.2 0.0 4 5 4 5 5 6 6 3 4 7 -8.9 -8.8 -8.7 -8.5 -8.3 -8.1 -7.9 -7.8 -7.7 -7.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 -7.6 -12.9 -7.6 8.5 0 --- --- 314 0 0 -100.0 -100.0 0 0 0 0 0 33.0 21.1 18.6 -11.7 1029.7 1025.3 13 8:43AM 8:43_AM -11.5 -17.4 -9.9 -14.5 12 2011 -25.0 1 -1 1 308 333 301 344 330 316 326 304 313 309 0.0 255.0 5.5 -8.2 43.87556 79.31278 0.0 95 82 0.0 6:25_AM !!C10.37Q!!

Its the same file that the regional weather networks use to periodically update the conditions from their members (using WD), other software like VWS uses a file similar to the one used in the signature sticker.

Andrew

Curious... how?

Andrew - Davis VP2+ 6163, serial weatherlink, wireless anemometer, running Weather Display.  Boltek PCI Stormtracker, Astrogenic Nexstorm, Strikestar - UNI, CWOP CW8618, GrLevel3, (Station 2 OS WMR968, VWS 13.01p09), Windows 7-64

Offline SoMDWx

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #21 on: January 11, 2011, 09:34:06 AM »
Sorry Andrew... It was more of a rhetorical statement. I guess I was leaning more toward the argument again of making directories and files hidden and non-viewable which allows users to diseminate what info they wish to release to the public and at t he same time preventing unwanted users from "robbing" files/data/etc. off the server...

Jim

Offline up10ad N9RJH

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #22 on: January 11, 2011, 01:16:11 PM »
Does it really matter whether he gets the data by grabbing clientraw or just surfing and making notes on paper daily?  Either way, he has gathered the weather data.  Why make it hard on him? 
Rick (N9RJH)
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Offline Bushman

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #23 on: January 11, 2011, 01:56:59 PM »
Does it really matter whether he gets the data by grabbing clientraw or just surfing and making notes on paper daily?  Either way, he has gathered the weather data.  Why make it hard on him? 

"Your Honor, my client had good reason to believe the data was valid and as a result of this bad data the house exploded".
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Offline SoMDWx

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Re: Your opinions please
« Reply #24 on: January 11, 2011, 02:36:33 PM »
LOL

 

anything