Author Topic: Weather Underground Stickers  (Read 8517 times)

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Offline Jim's Wx Sta

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Weather Underground Stickers
« on: March 16, 2008, 05:52:47 PM »
Has anyone else who uses WU stickers noticed the data is incorrect?  --Or is it just in my zip code?  I sent them an email on this Saturday morning ... so they may not get to it until Monday morning.

Jim
Jim
Winchester, Va 
"Winchester Weather"

Offline msdawg911

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Re: Weather Underground Stickers
« Reply #1 on: March 16, 2008, 09:35:06 PM »
I just did a quick check and I didn't see any major errors, both with PWS and normal WU stickers. What type of error are you experiencing?
Jake Hughes
Mississippi State University
Professional Meteorology Student

GR2Analyst, WXSIM
Former user of: Weather-Display, WS2310, 1-wire station, WUHU, CoCoRaHS, Saratoga-Weather's and Carter Lake's numerous PHP/AJAX scripts

Offline Jim's Wx Sta

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Re: Weather Underground Stickers
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2008, 10:43:42 AM »
   If you check the airport readings here:
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=22601       
and then look at the stickers here: http://www.wunderground.com/geo/BannerPromo/US/VA/Winchester.html
the data is inconsistent.

   I removed the sticker from my page because the information is incorrect.

Jim
Jim
Winchester, Va 
"Winchester Weather"

Offline weatherforyou

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Re: Weather Underground Stickers
« Reply #3 on: March 17, 2008, 01:51:00 PM »
There's always the "Weather Snapshots" at http://www.weatherforyou.com/snapshots/  ;)

And if someone reported an error here we'd see it and fix it.
Joe Torsitano


Offline Jim's Wx Sta

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Re: Weather Underground Stickers
« Reply #4 on: March 17, 2008, 03:12:19 PM »
I know Joe.  WFY is what I'm using now.  However, can you figure out why the data will change when I refer back to it?  IE... If I hit my page the sticker will show 2:40 data and then if I go back to it, it will show 2:20.  If I hit refresh, it will show 2:40 and refresh again, it'll show 2:20.  One time yesterday, it actually backed up several hours?

Jim
Jim
Winchester, Va 
"Winchester Weather"

Offline weatherforyou

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Re: Weather Underground Stickers
« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2008, 04:29:40 PM »
I'm assuming you're referring to images that display personal weather station data, not METAR data since METAR data is only updated by the NOAA once an hour.

An image that was several hours old would have to have come from a cache somewhere after our servers, as all dynamic images are automatically deleted at set intervals throughout the hour.  And any data that is over two hours old is automatically purged from the entire system.  Although the images are sent with instructions they are not to be cached some ISPs don't always pay attention.

Images are cached on our servers for a short time.  It is possible you first hit a server that just updated an image with information you just uploaded.  On the refresh you may hit a server that still has a cached image from your last update.  That would account for an image going back a short period of time.  But hours ago would have had to happen else where as the image and raw data would be gone.

It also depends if you're using the images at http://www.weatherforyou.com/snapshots/ or http://www.weatherforyou.com/pwstools/ as their caching is handled differently since METAR data is only updated by the NOAA once an hour.  If you're trying to show your data in the Snapshots you'll get unpredictable results.

Joe Torsitano


Offline Jim's Wx Sta

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Re: Weather Underground Stickers
« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2008, 07:51:36 PM »
Thanks Joe.  I always apprectiate your rapid response.  I'm using:

http://www.weatherforyou.net/fcgi-bin/hw3/hw3.cgi?config=png&forecast=hourly&alt=hwihourly&place=winchester&state=va&country=us&hwvbg=white&hwvtc=black&hwvdisplay=Winchester+Airport

This is from Winchester airport which reports at :00 :20 & :40 & I got this from "snapshot."  So you think I should try the same thing from "pwstools" and this may prevent the caching back to an earlier time?

Also, have you developed a module for WeatherLink to add WFY to the upload profile?

Jim
Jim
Winchester, Va 
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Offline Jim's Wx Sta

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Re: Weather Underground Stickers
« Reply #7 on: March 17, 2008, 09:55:31 PM »
It looks like WU is using the data from the first listed PWS for the entered zip code in the weather stickers.  Formerly they would use the data from the official source, ie the airport, etc.

This is a problem, as some of their pws reports are from neglected stations with unreliable data.  There is no way to alter the sticker's source data except by zip code/city,state.  Generally, we like to use the stickers to add an official or alternate source to our own data on our web pages.

I don't know if this is a change in procedure or a pgm error.

Jim
« Last Edit: March 18, 2008, 09:36:33 AM by Jim's Wx Sta »
Jim
Winchester, Va 
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Offline weatherforyou

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Re: Weather Underground Stickers
« Reply #8 on: March 18, 2008, 01:21:04 PM »
Thanks Joe.  I always apprectiate your rapid response.  I'm using:

http://www.weatherforyou.net/fcgi-bin/hw3/hw3.cgi?config=png&forecast=hourly&alt=hwihourly&place=winchester&state=va&country=us&hwvbg=white&hwvtc=black&hwvdisplay=Winchester+Airport

This is from Winchester airport which reports at :00 :20 & :40 & I got this from "snapshot."  So you think I should try the same thing from "pwstools" and this may prevent the caching back to an earlier time?
I'll have to say I wasn't aware there were any stations reporting with this frequency.  Stay with the current Snapshot image and I'll look at adjusting caching and cleaning times.  :)

Also, have you developed a module for WeatherLink to add WFY to the upload profile?
Not yet.  This is a difficult issue for me.  Davis originally developed a WU module in WL years ago.  After a couple years they removed it and gave it to WU to distribute and told the rest of us we had to do it ourselves.  Now they're saying they may not add weatherforyou.com to WeatherLinkIP because, according to their Customer Support Manager, NO one has ever asked for weatherforyou.com.  I know this is not true, as I've been cc'd on NUMEROUS e-mails to Davis asking for it, most of which never received a reply.  Just a couple weeks ago someone sent an e-mail which wasn't answered, which I then told the person to send to the Manager who actually did reply.  But he said he couldn't say when or if (emphasis added) weatherforyou.com would be supported.  If they're going to continue to refuse to allow weatherforyou.com to serve their users why should we promote them?

There are now seven software packages and three devices that have added weatherforyou.com/HAMweather at no charge.  We don't have any C++ programmers in our circle of expertise so we'd have to pay someone to do it.  Is it fair to pay to support Davis when the other authors are only receiving promotion by us?  Effectively we'd be paying to add support to a product that is competing with the other software.

To start with we're doing a MAJOR remodel of the current Personal Weather Station program.  We're improving the user interface and providing pages that display the personal weather station in a more complete and visually appealing way.  I contracted with some excellent programmers to do this.  The investment was pretty significant but it will benefit those who contribute to our program and the software that already supports us.  I have the beta version of most of the new layout running right now, and (schedule permitting) plan on releasing it by the end of the month.

After the above is completed I'll revisit the WeatherLink issue.  I really would like to serve WeatherLink users and it's really unfair to them what is happening.  But I really have to think investing in supporting the software that has supported us for over seven years is better than that which claims they've never heard of us.  Some of that software is free so the burden on the end user is minimal.

My other hope was a smart C++ programmer that uses WeatherLink would write a module we can distribute.  ;)  WU has MANY applications which have been written for it.  There are very, VERY few applications that take advantage of our services which was originally designed to be "open" for creative development.   :???:
Joe Torsitano


Offline Jim's Wx Sta

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Re: Weather Underground Stickers
« Reply #9 on: March 19, 2008, 05:20:50 PM »
Thanks Joe,

In regards to this, when I hit this page a few minutes ago, your sticker above read 12:00p and when a hit refresh seconds later, it read 2:00p.

In regards to WL I agree 100% with what you're saying. 

You've always been great to work with. (I remember when you corrected your pgm to not read "rain" when the forecast was saying higher "terrain" -- others did not make that correction and their forecast icons will show rain when the verbage reads clear).  Anyway, since I only use WL, I'll keep a watch on any developments that may change the situation.

Jim
Jim
Winchester, Va 
"Winchester Weather"

Offline Zorm

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Re: Weather Underground Stickers
« Reply #10 on: March 20, 2008, 03:07:55 AM »
My other hope was a smart C++ programmer that uses WeatherLink would write a module we can distribute.  ;)  WU has MANY applications which have been written for it.  There are very, VERY few applications that take advantage of our services which was originally designed to be "open" for creative development.   :???:

I'm not familiar with any of the software actually used here but if you want to point me in the right direction I'd be happy to see what I can do for you.

Offline weatherforyou

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Re: Weather Underground Stickers
« Reply #11 on: March 20, 2008, 10:56:55 AM »
Thanks so much!  I'll drop you an e-mail with some info.  :)
Joe Torsitano


 

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