Topic: New BloomSky

[Jáchym]

I filled in the form for getting one too, but I really doubt this is also for people outside US or Canada

[erikmm]

Jachym, lets see, I've applied too, but haven't heard anythng

[txweather.org]

@Jachym & @erikk,

Good luck guys I hope yall all get in!

[Jáchym]

Given the success of the Pilot, we’re thrilled to expand the program throughout the U.S. and Canada. Our goal is to work with our existing network of BloomSky users – such as yourselves – to support local weather reporters, organizations, nonprofits, and community leaders by providing them with free BloomSky stations.

[erikmm]

Jachym, seems thers a chanse then....

[Mapantz]

I remember seeing this advertised over two years ago, has it just been released?

PS: I don't understand the UV units it is supplying on the Wunderground sites, 1200+ of UV?

[Jáchym]

Jachym, seems thers a chanse then....

Well Im not sure, it says it was originally just in California and now they extended it to cover US and Canada (which is probably why the form also includes "country" field).

In the field for why I want this I said I would like this to be able to develop scripts for users of Meteotemplate, but we will see... it obviously is not a cheap thing and also the image I included of where the camera would be pointing is not something very attractive

[Jáchym]

OK, so together with Tom we created some scripts and we now have the images saved to his own server. The script saves the images with the current timestamp, which basically allows later on to filter through days, times of the day etc. Also, to save space, the script detects sunrise and sunset times and only saves the images starting 1h before sunrise and 1h after sunset and nothing is saved during night time. I also plan to add a feature of saving the daily timelapse videos.

Later this can be used to for example filter by days, or even get sunrise for each day and for example take all the images of certain month/year which would correspond to the sun rise time etc etc....

Lots of ideas, the images are now being saved already so it is now just a matter of waiting first to get some images to work with and test the new scripts, if several people then have this I could of course make this as a plugin for Meteotemplate.

[SpringHillWeather]

OK, so together with Tom we created some scripts and we now have the images saved to his own server. The script saves the images with the current timestamp, which basically allows later on to filter through days, times of the day etc.

Thanks for your help with this Jachym!
This is what I've been looking for since this came out.

If you are tracking which sites have a CAM can please add me to the list, thanks.

Cheers

[cjohlandt]

OK, so together with Tom we created some scripts and we now have the images saved to his own server. The script saves the images with the current timestamp, which basically allows later on to filter through days, times of the day etc.

Thanks for your help with this Jachym!
This is what I've been looking for since this came out.

If you are tracking which sites have a CAM can please add me to the list, thanks.

Cheers

Jachym,

Once again, you're doing great things for us Meteotemplate users.  BloomSky integration has been on my wish list and I was planning to send you a note about it.  I'm looking forward to this.

-Chris

[waysta]

I see there are some alternative solutions in the works, great fun!

I got approval to "re-use" the WU RAM disk version of the Bloom Sky Image for a different WU URL webcam.  It is now showing okay on my RainWise station and updating:

http://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KNYWHITE24

Blog entry at WU on how to add the WU RAM disk file under a different new URL webcam
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/waysta/comment.html?entrynum=5

How do you capture the http: //storage.googleapis.com/bloomsky-img/xxxxxxxxxxx with the number changing each time?

[SpringHillWeather]

I remember seeing this advertised over two years ago, has it just been released?

PS: I don't understand the UV units it is supplying on the Wunderground sites, 1200+ of UV?

EDIT

During the summer of 2014, we raised $128k through an extremely successful Kickstarter Campaign that was pivotal for meeting a supportive community of early adapters and weather enthusiasts, developing our prototypes, and securing early Venture Capital funding. Check out our Kickstarter video and Origin Story below.

In the spring of 2015 we concluded a successful Beta Test in the San Francisco Bay Area, where our early users were wowed by the timelapse videos, and real-time relevancy of the data. We have made significant product changes since then, and are excited to bring you the first market-ready BloomSky Personal Weather Station with Sky Camera in the spring of 2015, available NOW!
---------------------------------
Started as kickstarter and becoming more popular since linked to WUnderground as a Weather Station.

Not sure of the UV measurements or scale but here are my readings.

Date           Time         Temp       Humidity   UV          Pressure
02/01/2016   02:47PM   59.09°F   49%   1356 (md)   1014mb
02/01/2016   02:52PM   59.16°F   49%   1308 (md)   1014mb
02/01/2016   02:57PM   59.09°F   49%   1271 (lo)   1015mb
02/01/2016   03:02PM   59.05°F   49%   1262 (lo)   1015mb

[waysta]

PS: I don't understand the UV units it is supplying on the Wunderground sites, 1200+ of UV?

My dark UV numbers run about 1235 to 1237, with no offset calibration, it makes a terrible graph:

http://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KNYWHITE25

[SpringHillWeather]

[/quote]

I'm running the script (actually 2) and capturing images now from BOTH WU and BloomSky.
[/quote]

Unfortunately it looks like the Bloomsky link changes the filename when photo gets updated so back to the WU capture for now. 

[Mapantz]

PS: I don't understand the UV units it is supplying on the Wunderground sites, 1200+ of UV?

My dark UV numbers run about 1235 to 1237, with no offset calibration, it makes a terrible graph:

http://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KNYWHITE25

What I don't understand, is the units themselves. The standard in UV forecasts goes from 0 to 10 in this country (UK) - I should imagine it probably goes to perhaps 15 in some countries?! So if you have a UV reading of 1235, what is 1235? The only other thing I can think of, is wm/2 but even then, that value is far too high. 

[hankster]

PS: I don't understand the UV units it is supplying on the Wunderground sites, 1200+ of UV?

My dark UV numbers run about 1235 to 1237, with no offset calibration, it makes a terrible graph:

http://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KNYWHITE25

What I don't understand, is the units themselves. The standard in UV forecasts goes from 0 to 10 in this country (UK) - I should imagine it probably goes to perhaps 15 in some countries?! So if you have a UV reading of 1235, what is 1235? The only other thing I can think of, is wm/2 but even then, that value is far too high. 

Just a VERY wild guess.... low reading is 1235, his high reading is 1494 soooooo..... (1494-1235)/100 = 2.59 which could be a UV factor for New York this time of year. http://m.accuweather.com/en/us/new-york-ny/10007/ultraviolet-radiation/349727

[SpringHillWeather]

Here is what I found regarding the UV number.

---------------------------

1. We are working on a solution for widespread 'picture widget' distribution, currently each of those visual widgets are coded and maintained manually which requires a lot internal resources (see the answer to Snowman's question below for more).
2. Although UV does not have units associated to it, it's not an arbitrary scale; it's a standardized index of 1-11 index by the WHO. Find more info here: http://www.epa.gov/sunsafety/u...

3. The 'luminance property' is data coming from the light sensor which is positioned next to the camera lens (the left sensor if you're looking down at the lens). Note that this is different than the UV sensor, which sits on the other side of the camera lens. The luminance sensor collects and reports the amount of ambient light, and can be affected significantly by the angle at which it's pointing. The sensor collects the info however we're not using the data at the moment. Hopefully down the road we'll be able to utilize it for something.

[SpringHillWeather]

PS: I don't understand the UV units it is supplying on the Wunderground sites, 1200+ of UV?

My dark UV numbers run about 1235 to 1237, with no offset calibration, it makes a terrible graph:

http://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KNYWHITE25

What I don't understand, is the units themselves. The standard in UV forecasts goes from 0 to 10 in this country (UK) - I should imagine it probably goes to perhaps 15 in some countries?! So if you have a UV reading of 1235, what is 1235? The only other thing I can think of, is wm/2 but even then, that value is far too high. 

Here is snapshot comparing the 2 stations.

 Ambient on Top (Solar / UV)
 BloomSky on Botom  (UV)

[ocala]

Just a question about the rain bucket, or what ever they are using for precipitation.
Where is it?

[nincehelser]

Just a question about the rain bucket, or what ever they are using for precipitation.
Where is it?

It doesn't measure rainfall accumulation.  It does, however, have an array of copper dots on the top surface that sense when it is raining.

[ocala]

Just a question about the rain bucket, or what ever they are using for precipitation.
Where is it?

It doesn't measure rainfall accumulation.  It does, however, have an array of copper dots on the top surface that sense when it is raining.

Thankyou.

[SpringHillWeather]

Just a question about the rain bucket, or what ever they are using for precipitation.
Where is it?

It doesn't measure rainfall accumulation.  It does, however, have an array of copper dots on the top surface that sense when it is raining.

I setup an IFTTT and I received 4 alerts yesterday saying "its raining in Unknown" with an image link.
It works and I think its pretty cool.

As for the "unknown city" I opened a ticket with BloomSky they said it has to be fixed on their backend.



It is raining in unknown , check the pic http://ift.tt/1S5ihJd
IFTTT

Put the internet to work for you.

Turn off or edit this Recipe

[SpringHillWeather]

If using the Solar Panel on the Spike I originally had the excess power cable from the solar panel tied in a bundle.   After almost crimping the cable inserting and removing the Bloomsky I was able to feed the excess cable into the back of the Solar Panel which makes it easier to remove the Bloomsky without damaging the cable. 

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[VaJim]

If using the Solar Panel on the Spike I originally had the excess power cable from the solar panel tied in a bundle.   After almost crimping the cable inserting and removing the Bloomsky I was able to feed the excess cable into the back of the Solar Panel which makes it easier to remove the Bloomsky without damaging the cable. 

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Nice.  Certainly addresses the issue about exposed wire.  I'm a little concerned about shoving that cable there not knowing what's on the other side...?

[SpringHillWeather]

Nice.  Certainly addresses the issue about exposed wire.  I'm a little concerned about shoving that cable there not knowing what's on the other side...?

I peeked inside.  It's just the back of the solar panel with the cable coming out.  There is something in the middle, silicone or double-side tape that prevents the back from coming off.  Other from that its just empty space.

You may need a something small to help gently push the cable into the back.  The cable is quite long and it took a little finesse going from side to side to get it all in there.