Author Topic: alternative to WeatherUnderground push  (Read 4911 times)

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Offline boss281

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alternative to WeatherUnderground push
« on: April 07, 2017, 11:56:59 AM »
I've had my Ambient Weather WS-1001-WIFI OBSERVER Solar Powered Wireless WiFi Remote Monitoring Weather Station for a couple of years now (KMDNEWWI3), and have slowly watched the demise of WeatherUnderground, which I use to display my current location and contribute to the information for the area here in Maryland.

What alternatives are there, and how would I push this information out to the weather community?

Thanks...
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Offline Jáchym

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Re: alternative to WeatherUnderground push
« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2017, 12:32:01 PM »
Hi,
there are other networks such as weathercloud.net, or, imho the best option is to use your own server to store data since you are not dependent on anyone.

The question is whether your station is capable of sending data elsewhere.

Offline boss281

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Re: alternative to WeatherUnderground push
« Reply #2 on: April 07, 2017, 12:38:18 PM »
Jachym, while it would certainly suffice to watch my own weather, I enjoy comparing my station's current data with those of others, which made choosing this model weather station and it's integration with WU appealing.  Since WU seems to be undergoing a slow flush down the toilet and is plagued with frequent problems, I thought there were perhaps other networks that would either integrate with my weather station directly or via software.  My historical information is usually of no value.  For example, very high winds were apparent in my area last night, while the media based forecasts predicted light to moderate winds.  I enjoy comparing my on the spot information with other nearby stations, as I think some of my weather is somewhat influenced by terrain (I'm on the south side of a ridge, perhaps a 150 below the peak)...

I will look into weathercloud.net.

John
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Offline Jáchym

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Re: alternative to WeatherUnderground push
« Reply #3 on: April 07, 2017, 12:45:07 PM »
Hi John,
I see your point, then have a look at weathercloud.net. I completely agree with you about WU, my opinion is probably even worse than yours (and in fact the reliability and attitude of WU made me develop my own site originally), but the truth is that based on number of users, you wont find anything close to WU. Unfortunately, the quality of data, reliability of service etc. etc. is a different matter. But given its popularity, most manufacturers often only support this one.

Offline Bashy

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Re: alternative to WeatherUnderground push
« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2017, 12:53:18 PM »
There is CWOP, theres not a lot of fancy stuff on there like WU but you can compare data in graphs with local stations
and that includes PWS and METARS, just an idea....
Kind regards
Bashy

Offline boss281

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Re: alternative to WeatherUnderground push
« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2017, 01:03:40 PM »
There is CWOP, theres not a lot of fancy stuff on there like WU but you can compare data in graphs with local stations
and that includes PWS and METARS, just an idea....

Bashy, how does the outside weather hardware communicate with that network?
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Offline Bashy

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Re: alternative to WeatherUnderground push
« Reply #6 on: April 07, 2017, 01:07:19 PM »
Ah, yeah, good point, my bad, I am using Weather Display to collect my data and send it to where i want it to go, at the minute its sending it to WU, uk met office WOW, AWEKAS and CWOP, there are many more to send to in there mind.....
Kind regards
Bashy

Offline waiukuweather

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Re: alternative to WeatherUnderground push
« Reply #7 on: April 07, 2017, 02:26:43 PM »
the  Ambient Weather WS-1001-WIFI OBSERVER can be set to send data to the Weather Display Software

Offline ocala

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Re: alternative to WeatherUnderground push
« Reply #8 on: April 07, 2017, 05:48:15 PM »
Try this if your software supports it.
https://www.pwsweather.com/
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Offline gregaber

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Re: alternative to WeatherUnderground push
« Reply #9 on: April 15, 2017, 10:33:44 AM »
I too have a WS-1001. You CAN push to other weather websites but you need to purchase the Observer IP module and a Meteobridge.

The Observer IP can coexist with the tablet display that came with your WS-1001, just leave the "Weather Network" settings blank in the Observer IP. My strategy is to use the WS-1001 tablet to continue to report to wunderground.com, but use the Observer IP solely for the third party weather websites.

The Observer IP can only plug into your LAN via ethernet so it has to be near your router.

The Meteobridge has to be configured via ethernet but once you activate the wifi you can place it anywhere there's an electrical outlet for power. Then you can complete the remaining configuration via wifi. It has only ~ 1 foot power cord on it but you can replace it with a longer mini USB (not micro) cable.

The Meteobridge has a drop down menu with multiple third party weather networks, including Meteotemplate, which in tandem with PC software such as Weather Display, will allow you to create your own weather website. Of course you need to purchase a domain name to do this.

I've gotten as far as completing configuration of the Observer IP and Meteobridge, now I just need to sign up for accounts to other weather websites to push to them. My end goal is go have my own weather website so I still need to investigate Weather Display and Meteotemplate. The good news is the developers of these two have worked together to make it fairly easy for Meteotemplate to work with Weather Display.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2017, 11:05:06 AM by gregaber »

Offline Jáchym

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Re: alternative to WeatherUnderground push
« Reply #10 on: April 15, 2017, 11:02:25 AM »
Yes :)

P.S. Just sent you the key Greg

Offline boss281

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Re: alternative to WeatherUnderground push
« Reply #11 on: April 15, 2017, 02:06:45 PM »
I too have a WS-1001. You CAN push to other weather websites but you need to purchase the Observer IP module and a Meteobridge.

The Observer IP can coexist with the tablet display that came with your WS-1001, just leave the "Weather Network" settings blank in the Observer IP. My strategy is to use the WS-1001 tablet to continue to report to wunderground.com, but use the Observer IP solely for the third party weather websites.

The Observer IP can only plug into your LAN via ethernet so it has to be near your router.

The Meteobridge has to be configured via ethernet but once you activate the wifi you can place it anywhere there's an electrical outlet for power. Then you can complete the remaining configuration via wifi. It has only ~ 1 foot power cord on it but you can replace it with a longer mini USB (not micro) cable.

The Meteobridge has a drop down menu with multiple third party weather networks, including Meteotemplate, which in tandem with PC software such as Weather Display, will allow you to create your own weather website. Of course you need to purchase a domain name to do this.

I've gotten as far as completing configuration of the Observer IP and Meteobridge, now I just need to sign up for accounts to other weather websites to push to them. My end goal is go have my own weather website so I still need to investigate Weather Display and Meteotemplate. The good news is the developers of these two have worked together to make it fairly easy for Meteotemplate to work with Weather Display.
A-ha!  Now I get it, I really thought I was out of luck and needed to buy a completely different set of sensors and hardware.  Thanks for the input, I've printed your note for later reference...
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Offline gregaber

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Re: alternative to WeatherUnderground push
« Reply #12 on: April 15, 2017, 03:18:29 PM »
I too have a WS-1001. You CAN push to other weather websites but you need to purchase the Observer IP module and a Meteobridge.

The Observer IP can coexist with the tablet display that came with your WS-1001, just leave the "Weather Network" settings blank in the Observer IP. My strategy is to use the WS-1001 tablet to continue to report to wunderground.com, but use the Observer IP solely for the third party weather websites.

The Observer IP can only plug into your LAN via ethernet so it has to be near your router.

The Meteobridge has to be configured via ethernet but once you activate the wifi you can place it anywhere there's an electrical outlet for power. Then you can complete the remaining configuration via wifi. It has only ~ 1 foot power cord on it but you can replace it with a longer mini USB (not micro) cable.

The Meteobridge has a drop down menu with multiple third party weather networks, including Meteotemplate, which in tandem with PC software such as Weather Display, will allow you to create your own weather website. Of course you need to purchase a domain name to do this.

I've gotten as far as completing configuration of the Observer IP and Meteobridge, now I just need to sign up for accounts to other weather websites to push to them. My end goal is go have my own weather website so I still need to investigate Weather Display and Meteotemplate. The good news is the developers of these two have worked together to make it fairly easy for Meteotemplate to work with Weather Display.
A-ha!  Now I get it, I really thought I was out of luck and needed to buy a completely different set of sensors and hardware.  Thanks for the input, I've printed your note for later reference...

So just to be clear;

- The WS-1001 tablet can only grab data from the sensor array and upload to wunderground. It offers no way for other devices to intercept the data stream.

- The Observer IP grabs data from the sensor array and with it's web-based GUI can only upload to wunderground. However, it makes the data available to other hardware that is compatible.

- The Meteobridge is a compatible hardware device. It has its own web-based GUI, and one of the tabs is to define what weather station you have. The Ambient Observer IP is one of the choices. You just have to input the LAN IP address of the Observer IP.

- The Meteobridge web-based GUI has another tab where you define which weather services/websites you want to publish to. It's a drop down menu. So you have to go to each website, create an account, get some type of weather station identity from each, and then fill out the Meteobridge form specific to each weather website. From then on, it sends out the data stream to each service that you configured.

- The Meteobridge is really an inexpensive (~$30-40 US) TP-Link router (I forget which model but I was easily able to search for it) that has had the firmware replaced with the Meteobridge firmware (~$60 I think).    OR... you can take the easy way out and buy the Weatherbridge from Ambient Weather for ~$220. Basically you're paying them for the exact same hardware/firmware I just described and they perform the firmware upgrade service for you.

And yes, if it was more clear to me when I first bought the WS-1001 I would have gladly spent less for the WS-1400 and instead spent the difference on the Weatherbridge and not have the WS-1001's tablet.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2017, 03:27:10 PM by gregaber »

 

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