WXforum.net
Weather Software => Virtual Weather Station => Topic started by: Jester on February 13, 2017, 07:27:23 AM
-
When will Ambient/VWS Internet edition update their software/templates to reflect changes to WU? If VWS is not going to support changes/updates, then Ambient should stop selling the software! :evil:
-
Question, why do you think VWS has any obligation to send data to WU? There are plenty of other places more reputable to send your data to...
With all the ups and downs WU has had, I find it curious has to why people even bother with them, just to get their site recognized on WU?
Jim
-
For me, it was a quid pro quo situation. I was easily able to send them data. I get the almanac, regional temps, and use their radar images.
But with their recent outage dragging on, I'll have to consider alternatives soon. I'm not getting anything in return.
-
I stopped sending my data to WU because of the situation. I finally got an email from them saying my station wasn't reporting. I was happy to tell them that I shut it down due to the situation and that I encourage others to do so until Ambient or WU fix the situation :twisted:
Ambient should update their sofware since we paid for it and they continue to sell it even if it is not 100% working.
-
Ambient, like many of US, has just become fed-up with WU...
Once again, WU doesn't GAD whether PWS folks send to them or not. They'll just scrape data we send to other service, for example, our CWOP to Mesonet link up...
Quit fooling with 'em... they don't care. Neither should we spend any more energy, money, BW or forum time on them...
I personally would love to see Utah Edu, and other providers block 'em from scraping...
...and then ignore their inquiries etc. as we've been treated.
-
Yeah, this is getting a bit old. WU should have had some parts up and working. I'd settle for just my almanac data working again.
I may have to consider switching to Cumulus. Hopefully they don't rely on WU for anything.
-
Yeah, this is getting a bit old. WU should have had some parts up and working. I'd settle for just my almanac data working again.
I may have to consider switching to Cumulus. Hopefully they don't rely on WU for anything.
I have been thinking about other options too. I'm looking at possibly weather display...Don't know yet. I have been manually updating my forecast and almanac data for the time being. Nice website BTW.
-
Thanks. I like the KISS idea as far as websites go. But I think I'm going to try setting up a Saratoga script site with Cumulus next week. See how it goes. Fallback position to VWS.
I'm not a programmer and CSS and PHP is getting a bit out of my league. So templates may be the way I'm going.
-
Cumulus is certainly an easy way to try an excellent alternative, and does all the usual uploads. Cumulus MX is quite easy (for most people) but there are some things in the original Cumulus 1 that are not yet in MX so Cumulus 1.9.4 build 1099 http://sandaysoft.com/downloads might be the easiest to begin with. Once that is set up it is very easy to move to MX as the data is fully compatible. The Cumulus standard template are very easy to start with but certainly not display all that the Saratoga, Leuven or Meteotemplate do. However using those templates with Cumulus is again quite easy, and lots of support/help available.
Enjoy,
Paul
-
Are both MX and the original going to keep going side by side? Or is the plan to eventually retire the original version?
I was planning on starting with MX and see what it'll do. It'll probably come down to more of what Saratoga scripts will support with MX. As long as I can do the "live" data with MX, I'll probably still go that route.
-
The original Cumulus 1 is no longer being updated so MX is the new way. The data though is interchangeable. I only mentioned Cumulus 1 as there is a recent poster who has had some issues with MX but I think that is likely due to outdated version of the template he was using. Not aware of any other issues in using Saratoga with Cumulus MX. And MX allows for non-Windows use for those so inclined.
I install and temporarily run each update of MX to make sure I have it correct but still regularly use Cumulus 1 as Weather Diary which is used for snow index records is not yet added in MX.
Enjoy
Paul
-
Thanks. That's what I need to know for now. Not sure when/if I'll put the Saratoga script page up into actual production. But might as well start testing now in case VWS is going to die. Keep my options open. I'm taking some time off work next week anyway with not much planned. And the wife is out of the country that week. To much snow to go ride motorcycle. Might as well see how far I can get.
http://beta.bismarckweather.net/
-
weather display does have WU Alamanac data available and 5 day forecast data too , for selected station (there is a simple city search function)
(WD uses the WU API)
-
Well I just got my "eviction" notice from WU saying I haven't reported in for 48 hours....
Question for all of you PHP/JS/etc. programmers, what is WU looking for and is there a way other than VWS that WE could push the data to WU?
Since the AJAX scripts are already written to grab our data locally, all we would need to do is push up to WU in whatever new format they want/need....
Jim
-
VWS can still update WU
-
Weird. Both my VWS instance and my Bloomsky are not showing on Weather Underground. But if I click on another station, change to my station ID's, they are reporting. And those report in two totally different manners.
So WU failure continues and spreads...
-
Well I just got my "eviction" notice from WU saying I haven't reported in for 48 hours....
Question for all of you PHP/JS/etc. programmers, what is WU looking for and is there a way other than VWS that WE could push the data to WU?
Since the AJAX scripts are already written to grab our data locally, all we would need to do is push up to WU in whatever new format they want/need....
Jim
Jim,
I gave up on having VWS send data to WU years ago. I've been using VPLive to send my data to WU. I'm able to run VVP with VWS, Cumulus, and VPLive under it. VPLive is very reliable. If you can run VVP with your console, I'd recommend you take a look at VPLive.
Steve
-
The only issue right now is VWS data not being seen by WU.. I use VWS to archive all my 10 years of WX history and uses that data for some of my online data points. Looks like you have to run VPLive in lieu of VWS..
Jim
-
Jim,
I've used VWS for all my data collection and website reporting for nearly 13 years now. VWS has always had issues communication issues. I gave on it's FTP function years ago and started using Fling. When its WU updates became undependable, I moved that function to VPLive.
Steve
-
Thanks Steve. I guess my question is can I run both VWS and VPline to export data out to WU?
Jim
-
Jim,
If you have an older VP2 console (pre-green dot), you should be able to run VWS under VirtualVP along with VPLive with no problem.
Steve
-
I'm about done with VWS. I going ahead and making plans to change all of my code to WD. Right now I'm about half and half VWS/WD, but with all of the VWS issues going on, I just can't count on it. Right now I have the normal highs/lows not working but otherwise my data is showing up on WU
-
weather display does have WU Alamanac data available and 5 day forecast data too , for selected station (there is a simple city search function)
(WD uses the WU API)
Where do you find this in WD?
-
view, wunderground alamanac ;)
-
Right now I have the normal highs/lows not working but otherwise my data is showing up on WU
Did you get that fixed? Ken conjured up a spell using the WU API that I use for that. :grin:
-
Just got it working a minute ago. The WD tags weren't populating and I finally found out how to turn it on from waiukuweather. I've always loved WD but finding out where to set things and what they all do is truly a nightmare. :-)
-
Just got it working a minute ago. The WD tags weren't populating and I finally found out how to turn it on from waiukuweather. I've always loved WD but finding out where to set things and what they all do is truly a nightmare. :-)
Very nice web site Steve. I'm going to go to WD I think, I haven't made up my mind yet. I'm done with VWS!
Bill
-
Just got it working a minute ago. The WD tags weren't populating and I finally found out how to turn it on from waiukuweather. I've always loved WD but finding out where to set things and what they all do is truly a nightmare. :-)
Very nice web site Steve. I'm going to go to WD I think, I haven't made up my mind yet. I'm done with VWS!
Bill
Thanks Bill!
Yea, VWS worked fine for years but when it doesn't, you can never get any real help with problems. There is tons of support for WD but it's a steep learning curve. There are so many options and settings, it's difficult to get figured out.
-
And part of my problem is self-induced. If I would have just used a template instead of creating a site on my own, I wouldn't have so many issues. :-) The term masochist comes to mind... ;)
-
Right now I have the normal highs/lows not working but otherwise my data is showing up on WU
Did you get that fixed? Ken conjured up a spell using the WU API that I use for that. :grin:
So I have an API key but not sure how to get the json data populated into VMS's data store for reference throughout the day for almanac data. How are you doing that?
-
If you're just wanting to get the WU normal highs and lows into PHP variables to plug on your web page, you can get the info by using this:
<?php
$json_string = file_get_contents("http://api.wunderground.com/api/your-api-key-goes-here/conditions/q/pws:your-WU-station_goes_here.json");
$parsed_json = json_decode($json_string);
$airport = $parsed_json->{'almanac'}->{'airport_code'};
$norm_high = $parsed_json->{'almanac'}->{'temp_high'}->{'normal'}->{'F'};
$norm_low = $parsed_json->{'almanac'}->{'temp_low'}->{'normal'}->{'F'};
?>
Steve
-
If you're just wanting to get the WU normal highs and lows into PHP variables to plug on your web page, you can get the info by using this:
<?php
$json_string = file_get_contents("http://api.wunderground.com/api/your-api-key-goes-here/conditions/q/pws:your-WU-station_goes_here.json");
$parsed_json = json_decode($json_string);
$airport = $parsed_json->{'almanac'}->{'airport_code'};
$norm_high = $parsed_json->{'almanac'}->{'temp_high'}->{'normal'}->{'F'};
$norm_low = $parsed_json->{'almanac'}->{'temp_low'}->{'normal'}->{'F'};
?>
Steve
Ive been testing by pulling ".../almanac/q/Ct/hartford.json" And another URL for the warnings with the api. Are both almanac and warnings also under "conditions" as well? I'll have to try that.
I assume I can also pull the 'record' and 'record_year' for both as well but I was hoping to store this data in the climate section of my archives as well. How would I populate that using a php script? I was thinking I could run a chron job script at midnight, post the data to a csv file then somehow insert it into the standard VWS data file and then populate my table using the existing code. Maybe too difficult and easier to leave the data stand alone and read it from there? Guess I need to learn more about php and json first before I start hacking away at the template again.
Thanks
Brian
-
Brian,
First off, yes, you can retrieve the record and record_year info in the same manner.
I need some clarification on your other questions. What do you mean by "Are both almanac and warnings also under "conditions" as well?" What does this refer to?
As far as using this data, that's easy, but it depends on how you're presenting it. What's the URL to your website? And is the "climate section of your archives" the climate subfolder under the archives folder of your VWS directory?
Steve
-
Brian,
First off, yes, you can retrieve the record and record_year info in the same manner.
I need some clarification on your other questions. What do you mean by "Are both almanac and warnings also under "conditions" as well?" What does this refer to?
As far as using this data, that's easy, but it depends on how you're presenting it. What's the URL to your website? And is the "climate section of your archives" the climate subfolder under the archives folder of your VWS directory?
Steve
Steve - The API call you used in your example was calling the observations from my own PWS, I have been using the call to the almanac files for my area. And a another call to the warnings for my area. I pulled the "observations" but did not see the almanac highs and lows or records in that return json data.
I'm still using the modified VWS template that the climate settings from WU used to populate, they are blank these days in the wu menu section of VWS. So I shut off automatic scheduled updates, and have been pulling the data from the WU API then manually entering the settings in VWS on the climate form each day after midnight. I also update the five day manually by the same method using weatherforyou data.
I'm not sure in the VWS data files if there is a separate climate file, I think all the data from WU is in the main database.csv file in the vws/data folder.
The station is up at thelehans.com
Thanks
Brian
-
Brian,
Thanks for the clarification. I now have a better understanding of your question.
You have to use separate WU API calls depending on the specific information you want, ie., almanac, conditions, etc. You can see the various calls available here https://www.wunderground.com/weather/api/d/docs (https://www.wunderground.com/weather/api/d/docs). Keep in mind that only certain data is available via the free API.
If you're wanting to use some of the WU API data on your website, you could run a cron job after midnight to store data on your host, then add a little PHP code and HTML code to your site to build a table using that information. You can see how I've done this on about halfway down the right side of my homepage at www.tylertexasweather.com (http://www.tylertexasweather.com).
Since the data you're gathering from WU is historical data, I wouldn't be concerned with trying to integrate it into VWS data files.
Steve
-
Nice page Steve and thanks for the information but what I lack is the knowledge of how to store the results of the api calls I can make on my host.
To the best of your knowledge are there any cookie-cutter scripts or examples out there I can reference or use? I would like to store the json results in a simple csv file, but if need be in my rbase, or mysql or even access databases. I think the simple csv file is the best approach for what I want to do with the data - simple 24 hour display.
I'm in the process of moving the host to a newer version of Apache and PHP and think the new server will be better suited to run a php job at midnight then the current server is. PHP frequently stops running on the current box. I looked at the Saratoga site but didn't see anything that leaped out at me as a solution.
-
Brian,
PM me your email address.
Steve
-
In route to you.