Author Topic: Free Webcam FTP Upload (after WeatherUnderground shuts down)  (Read 10073 times)

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Offline radilly

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Re: Free Webcam FTP Upload (after WeatherUnderground shuts down)
« Reply #50 on: January 10, 2018, 10:01:13 PM »
https://app.weathercloud.net/d0208473809#profile seems to be up and running, including a webcam image (from a URL)...

Thanks!

Offline webcams.travel

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Re: Free Webcam FTP Upload (after WeatherUnderground shuts down)
« Reply #51 on: January 11, 2018, 02:10:56 AM »
I finally got Cumulous 1 set up to upload to Weathercloud after struggling for a couple days.  It worked pretty well for a while, but now it is pretty much worthless.  I don't have the time or patience to figure out what is going on.

Here are two graphs for the same time frame.  One is from CWOP, which was set up almost fifteen years ago and have never had to trouble shoot a thing.  It is hard to see, but there are no gaps in data to CWOP.  The other is from Weathercloud which was set up in December.  The data gaps are all too obvious.

I realize WU is having some problems right now, which is why I did not attach a graph from them,  but Weathercloud is not a replacement for me.

Mark

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Hi Mark

Thank you very much for sharing this valuable insight!

Speaking of intervals/gaps. Do you know the interval of WU when you go further back, for example a week in 2010. Do you still have data available for every minute in 2010?
And do you need this small interval for using the data? Or is every 15min enough for the archived data to browse through?
« Last Edit: January 11, 2018, 02:15:28 AM by webcams.travel »

Offline webcams.travel

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Re: Free Webcam FTP Upload (after WeatherUnderground shuts down)
« Reply #52 on: January 11, 2018, 02:17:41 AM »
I've stopped Weather Underground uploads until they pull their heads out which may be never. 
Even rapid fire has turned into a joke. 
I don't want hour old or even 15 minute old data out there. If not current within few minutes I see no reason to send.

This is very interesting! Do you need data this frequent (for example every minute) just for the past few days, or for all your archived data way back to previous years?
And why?

Offline webcams.travel

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Re: Free Webcam FTP Upload (after WeatherUnderground shuts down)
« Reply #53 on: January 11, 2018, 02:21:51 AM »
https://app.weathercloud.net/d0208473809#profile seems to be up and running, including a webcam image (from a URL)...

Thanks!

You are welcome :)
Great! So are you happy with it so far? I read in the FAQ of https://weathercloud.net/site/faq#faq-uploadfreq that the upload frequency is 10 minutes. Is that OK for you?

Offline webcams.travel

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Re: Free Webcam FTP Upload (after WeatherUnderground shuts down)
« Reply #54 on: January 11, 2018, 02:24:46 AM »
I guess one of things for me that makes WU nice is I'm able to tell my friends about WU and they can go check our weather compared to what is in their neck of the woods. Now I tried your webcams but there's no way I could find to find a particular webcam. You're just posting everyone's photo or stream with no way to find one. So I can't tell my friends to go to webcam.io and find my photo showing a swimming pool in South Texas when they are in 12° weather in Nebraska.

Speaking of comparing different weather stations with each other. Is that currently an easy thing to do on WU or could this be improved? For example by having and comparing the data of different stations in the same graph?

Offline captgadget

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Re: Free Webcam FTP Upload (after WeatherUnderground shuts down)
« Reply #55 on: January 11, 2018, 06:38:11 AM »
I guess one of things for me that makes WU nice is I'm able to tell my friends about WU and they can go check our weather compared to what is in their neck of the woods. Now I tried your webcams but there's no way I could find to find a particular webcam. You're just posting everyone's photo or stream with no way to find one. So I can't tell my friends to go to webcam.io and find my photo showing a swimming pool in South Texas when they are in 12° weather in Nebraska.

Speaking of comparing different weather stations with each other. Is that currently an easy thing to do on WU or could this be improved? For example by having and comparing the data of different stations in the same graph?

When WU is running properly I think it's pretty easy to compare weather stations. I set up my favorites and you click and go and check the weather conditions and forecast for that area. That's when it's up and running properly. There are some other options but to me not as user-friendly. There's weatherforyou.com, and weathercloud.net.

Offline webcams.travel

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Re: Free Webcam FTP Upload (after WeatherUnderground shuts down)
« Reply #56 on: January 11, 2018, 06:51:30 AM »
When WU is running properly I think it's pretty easy to compare weather stations. I set up my favorites and you click and go and check the weather conditions and forecast for that area. That's when it's up and running properly. There are some other options but to me not as user-friendly. There's weatherforyou.com, and weathercloud.net.

OK, I see. So you can navigate through your favorites list. And it is enough for you to look at each station seperately, you don't need to see them all together at once to compare?
Do you look more often at your own station or at others?

Offline zackdog

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Re: Free Webcam FTP Upload (after WeatherUnderground shuts down)
« Reply #57 on: January 11, 2018, 09:02:03 AM »

Hi Mark

Thank you very much for sharing this valuable insight!

Speaking of intervals/gaps. Do you know the interval of WU when you go further back, for example a week in 2010. Do you still have data available for every minute in 2010?
And do you need this small interval for using the data? Or is every 15min enough for the archived data to browse through?

In 2010 I was not able to use the Rapid Fire upload to WU due to the software I was using and low internet speed.  In 2014 I got a VP2+ and began using Cumulous for uploading to WU with Rapid Fire.  I have always archived my data on 15-minute intervals.  This is a screenshot of my archived data from Oct. 3, 2015. 

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Prior to sometime between Sept. 3 and Oct. 3, 2015, WU also archived my data on 15-minute intervals, even though I was uploading data via Rapid Fire.  As you can see from this screenshot, they started archiving the Rapid Fire data on 5-minute intervals.  This was nice, but I am okay with 15-minute intervals for historical data.  The reason I like Rapid Fire from WU,  when you check your weather on their app, it is usually only seconds old.  I don't want to know the weather 15 minutes or an hour ago, I want to know what it is now.

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I am hopeful that WU gets their act back together.  The webcams are nice, but I care more about the weather.  By the way, you have one of my webcams on your site.

Mark
« Last Edit: January 11, 2018, 09:03:35 AM by zackdog »
"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." - Dylan

Vantage Pro2 Plus w/ 24 hr FARS and (2) VantageVues

VP2 uploading via Vue console to CWOP, WU, PWS, and Weathercloud.


Offline radilly

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Re: Free Webcam FTP Upload (after WeatherUnderground shuts down)
« Reply #58 on: January 11, 2018, 09:29:14 AM »
When WU is running properly I think it's pretty easy to compare weather stations. I set up my favorites and you click and go and check the weather conditions and forecast for that area. That's when it's up and running properly. There are some other options but to me not as user-friendly. There's weatherforyou.com, and weathercloud.net.

OK, I see. So you can navigate through your favorites list. And it is enough for you to look at each station seperately, you don't need to see them all together at once to compare?
Do you look more often at your own station or at others?

I also periodically quickly compare the current observation of my PWS with several others nearby to make sure something isn't radically wrong.  That's map-based, quick, and informal. I hadn't thought about a tool.   It might be interesting to see how stations in a small area "track" over some period of time.

That said, at the moment I have temps from 2 devices about 50' apart which differ by about 4°F.  Typically the difference is only 1°.  In my younger days I spent a lot of time on a motorcycle.  One striking thing to me while riding on back road with twists and turns and over hill and dale is how abruptly the temperature could change.  So such comparisons between nearby PWSs may not, in fact, be all that illuminating?

Offline webcams.travel

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Re: Free Webcam FTP Upload (after WeatherUnderground shuts down)
« Reply #59 on: January 11, 2018, 09:31:19 AM »
Prior to sometime between Sept. 3 and Oct. 3, 2015, WU also archived my data on 15-minute intervals, even though I was uploading data via Rapid Fire.  As you can see from this screenshot, they started archiving the Rapid Fire data on 5-minute intervals.  This was nice, but I am okay with 15-minute intervals for historical data.  The reason I like Rapid Fire from WU,  when you check your weather on their app, it is usually only seconds old.  I don't want to know the weather 15 minutes or an hour ago, I want to know what it is now.

Thank you very much, Mark. It is interesting that a 15min archive would be OK for you, but that you like the rapid fire update for the current conditions. I wonder if others see it the same way.

Yes, maybe WU will solve all their problems, who knows. However, we will soon launch a survey about a WU alternative. If enough people are on board, we will launch a (properly working) WU alternative, tailored for all the weather enthusiasts out here ;)

Offline radilly

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Re: Free Webcam FTP Upload (after WeatherUnderground shuts down)
« Reply #60 on: January 11, 2018, 10:03:22 AM »
https://app.weathercloud.net/d0208473809#profile seems to be up and running, including a webcam image (from a URL)...

Thanks!

You are welcome :)
Great! So are you happy with it so far? I read in the FAQ of https://weathercloud.net/site/faq#faq-uploadfreq that the upload frequency is 10 minutes. Is that OK for you?

I'm fine with 10 minutes.  I have my own site which I can update more often.  I did notice a few small gaps in the data, several where only some parameters appear to have been skipped.  In one case my log says "The Task was canceled" when an entire record seemed missing.  3 other cases of partial data over about 18 hours are evident.

Note: There have been a few occasions when pressure or temperature have changed abruptly since I've been monitoring.  Those are interesting phenomena - but are rare.  I do have more granular local data I can refer to if I wish.

Offline webcams.travel

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Re: Free Webcam FTP Upload (after WeatherUnderground shuts down)
« Reply #61 on: January 11, 2018, 10:24:41 AM »
I'm fine with 10 minutes.  I have my own site which I can update more often.  I did notice a few small gaps in the data, several where only some parameters appear to have been skipped.  In one case my log says "The Task was canceled" when an entire record seemed missing.  3 other cases of partial data over about 18 hours are evident.

Note: There have been a few occasions when pressure or temperature have changed abruptly since I've been monitoring.  Those are interesting phenomena - but are rare.  I do have more granular local data I can refer to if I wish.

Thank you for your feedback.
So, for the archive, an update frequency of 10 minutes is perfectly OK, while for the current weather data, rapid fire (live) weather data would be appreciated - does this sound like a good product fit?

Offline radilly

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Re: Free Webcam FTP Upload (after WeatherUnderground shuts down)
« Reply #62 on: January 11, 2018, 12:45:19 PM »
Thank you for your feedback.
So, for the archive, an update frequency of 10 minutes is perfectly OK, while for the current weather data, rapid fire (live) weather data would be appreciated - does this sound like a good product fit?

Sure.  For my part, I have been uploading to WU once / minute.  My inexpensive PWS only gets a transmission from the sensor array every 48 sec (according to the specs).  The barometer doesn't rely on RF so it could update more frequently, but once per minute for outdoor data is around the same order of magnitude as the RF transmissions.  (Rapid fire doesn't add much over that in my case.)

Offline webcams.travel

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Re: Free Webcam FTP Upload (after WeatherUnderground shuts down)
« Reply #63 on: January 22, 2018, 08:30:57 AM »
As promised, here is the survey about a WU alternative. Please let us know here whether you are currently satisfied with WU and if you would like us to build an improved alternative - or not:
https://goo.gl/cZ5DNs

Here are some screenshots of how the new service might look like:

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