Topic: New Weather Software

[Josiah]

Dean,
Do you have Solar Radiation and UV sensors connected to the weather Station?
What type of Weather Station is it?

[dean.martin]

Dean,
Do you have Solar Radiation and UV sensors connected to the weather Station?
What type of Weather Station is it?

Yes. It is a Vantage Pro 2 plus, and I have also Vantage Pro 2 that has Leaf Moisture sensor.

[dean.martin]

Jos,

Sorry for that, Davis Vantage Pro 2 has no UV and Solar Sensor. I forgot to enable the UV and Solar Senor in the station setup under Options. You should include Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus with UV and Solar sensors included as default enabled sensors in your Model options and include additional sensors for Leaf and Soil Moisture sensors.

I tried running WL and your program at the same time and they are updating alternately.
See attached image. I notice that UV index was showing wrong values but Solar Radiation is correct.

[Josiah]

Dean,
Thanks for the Correction and the Side-by-Side screen shot of the 2 programs.
The UV index on my software is 75 compared to on the WL Software its 7.5. That's simple, I missed a "Divide the Solar radiation by 10" operation.

I appreciate you finding these things..

You should include Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus with UV and Solar sensors included as default enabled sensors in your Model options and include additional sensors for Leaf and Soil Moisture sensors.

I'll do that..

I tried running WL and your program at the same time and they are updating alternately.

Are they connected via TCP/IP or Serial?

[dean.martin]

Jos,


You're welcome. For now, All of my stations are connected via TCP/IP connection.

Jos, I'm just curious. How did you come-up with a Sky Conditions?

[Josiah]

Dean,
TCP/IP... OK

Jos, I'm just curious. How did you come-up with a Sky Conditions?

Believe it or not, I came across someones work that they had done when I was looking for a Cloud Base formula.
The funny part about it is the fact that what My software does to figure it, could easily be done in your head. Its just a few "If..ElseIf" statements.
Which reminds me, one of the things it uses is an "Average Barometric Pressure", which right now is a number that's hard-coded in. I need to have My Software figure that out and then the Sky Conditions should be more accurate.

[dean.martin]

Dean,
TCP/IP... OK

Jos, I'm just curious. How did you come-up with a Sky Conditions?

Believe it or not, I came across someones work that they had done when I was looking for a Cloud Base formula.
The funny part about it is the fact that what My software does to figure it, could easily be done in your head. Its just a few "If..ElseIf" statements.
Which reminds me, one of the things it uses is an "Average Barometric Pressure", which right now is a number that's hard-coded in. I need to have My Software figure that out and then the Sky Conditions should be more accurate.

That's great! you should include also forecasting like Fog forecasting later if your interested. I think things like that will be an advantage to any other weather station program as of this time.

[Josiah]

Dean,

Actually.....
I've been planning on adding a likelihood of precip. to the software. It would be something like "Rain likely later today" or "Precip. Imminent soon".

My original plan was to have it percent based, but quickly came to the conclusion that doing it that way would:
1: Be very very very difficult to get anywhere near accurate without having access to multiple databases of Weather Data from around the local region. Not to mention the fact that if the local weather forecast channel can't get it accurate with the database access and advanced computer algorithms that they have access to, I'm almost guaranteed too fail.
and:
2: If people want to get a percentage based hourly forecast, there's plenty of web sites out there like Wunderground.
Which brings me to:
3: Instead of spending my time trying to Reinvent-the-wheel on something that I will probably fail at, I think my time would be better spent on adding another Idea I've had, and that's to add (as a plugin) the ability to get the Local Weather Radar and a Weather forecast from a site like Wunderground.


Fog Forecasting... Hmm...
That might not be hard to do either. If I already know what conditions are required to detect fog, then all I should need to figure out is how is far from those conditions it is now...

Another one added to my TODO list.
Dean, Your giving me too many ideas. LOL My TODO list is expanding faster than I can implement stuff. LOL At this point maybe I should start calling it my "Dream On" List. LOL

[dean.martin]

Jos,

You're right. That is impossible to do alone without having access to any database of weather data.

3: Instead of spending my time trying to Reinvent-the-wheel on something that I will probably fail at, I think my time would be better spent on adding another Idea I've had, and that's to add (as a plugin) the ability to get the Local Weather Radar and a Weather forecast from a site like Wunderground.

This is the best thing to do. This would be great. I hope WUnderground has a quantitative forecast for rainfall amount just like that on MeteoGroup not just Percentage of rain chance. If you have this plugin to get forecast from WU, maybe you can base on that then fog forecasting will be easy. There's this software called BUFKIT, it can forecast fog and they have a complete tutorial on how to use their software and how does it work. Fog forecasting is very useful to airports and Highway roads. But for me Bufkit is very complicated to use for a simple station user.

Another one added to my TODO list.
Dean, Your giving me too many ideas. LOL My TODO list is expanding faster than I can implement stuff. LOL At this point maybe I should start calling it my "Dream On" List. LOL

Sorry for my bad English. LOL. So far, Your software improves a lot from your first version and it is very comfy to use, not so complicated. plugin is a good idea. I am very excited to your next program version update. You should make a list of plugins you're working-in and plugins your planning to make. And a your "Dream On" list to attract other users here.LOL

[Josiah]

BUFKIT...
I took a Quick glance over it and it does appear to be able to do a lot of stuff. But as you said its to complex for a simple weather station user.
The Fog prediction I had in mind was more of a general amount (ie really heavy to no fog).

You should make a list of plugins you're working-in and plugins your planning to make. And a your "Dream On" list to attract other users here.LOL

Maybe I should post a list. Hmm... Right now my software can't do a whole lot, but I do have quite a list of things I would like to add. Granted, most of those things are smaller items, but still other people might be interested in what I've got tentatively planned. I'll have to cleanup the list a bit, But I might post it as a "Here's some of the things I would like to do with it in the future, but they aren't guaranteed to be added".

Once I get Plugin support going, other people could start expanding the software on their own. Thinking of which, are there any programers out there that would be interested in creating plugins for my software?
The way-in-which the plugins are implemented (ie what is accessible to the plugins) will probably change as Plugins are created, just to make it even simpler and easier to create even more.
I think I'm like most people out there, I want it to be as simple and easy as possible to be able to do what I would like to do, And that's one of the reasons that I planning on creating Plugins Myself. If it becomes difficult for me (the very person who created the software and the one who knows how the program works internally) to create a plugin, then I would know that it would be very difficult for someone else.
So Yeah, if your reading this and you would like to create a plugin, let me know. I would like to work with you to get My software setup to make it even easier for you to work with it.

[Josiah]

Well, the overhaul of my program has turned into a complete rewrite. Fortunately, the last time I rewrote it I split things into separate classes based on functionality so it should be easier this time.

So-far I've got very basic Plugin support working and will expand/revise it as needed. I've been designing it in such a way that makes just about everything a plugin (UI elements and WX Station types included). This will allow for the most flexibility when it comes to users being able add to it later.

I'm not planning on releasing it until I've gotten it to the point where the previous version was as-far-as features, WX Station support and reliability. I will let you guys know when i get it to that point. Depending on available time, Hopefully that will be by this weekend or early next week. hopefully...

I've decided on AD-InWx for a name, so that's what it will be called starting with the next release.

And since I'm talking about the "going to be" new AD-inWx software, here's a list of Plugins that are tentatively planned. Some of these may not get created, but they're here anyway. Also, others may be added later.

Tentatively planned Plugins: (These are in no particular order)
   SQL DataBase Connectivity for Data Logging / Graphing
   WUnderground Radar and Forecast
   Fully Customizable Display
   USB / TCP/IP Webcam Support
   Ocean Tide Forecasts
   Re-hosting of Weather Stations over TCP/IP (ie. if you have a Serial Connection to the WX Station, then this would allow TCP/IP Connections to be made to the Station)
   Virtual Serial Port Emulation
   Weather Alarms
   Extended Calculations (These could be almost anything from CloudBase to MoonPhase.) "The Sky's the limit!" well.... maybe it isn't... 
       Fog prediction would probably windup in the Extended Calculations plugin if I can't get an "Official" forecast from somewhere like the NWS or WUnderground.

[Josiah]

Hey guys,

Development has been delayed again... arrrrgh
I've been working on it when I get time and will continue to do so, however at this point I'm not sure when I'll have the next release ready.

Sorry guys.

[Josiah]

Hey guys,

It occurred to me that since I'm rewriting a good portion of my software, I should take this opportunity to make it capable of running not only on Windows but Linux and MAC osX as-well. So I'm researching that now.

It looks like I may need to switch my Development IDE to a program called MonoDevelop in-order to do this.

[Josiah]

Well, the Good news is:
I've had some time to look into Developing my AD-InWX software using MonoDevelop/Xamarin Studio and it looks fairly strait-forward. Thank goodness...

However the Bad news is:
I'm going to need to rethink how the Plugins are Implemented. In fact, the whole Plugin Idea may not be a good idea if i go with the Cross-Platform compatibility route. In order to create the program so it runs on Windows, Linux and MAC OS X I'll have to follow certain guidelines which would potentially make it harder for others to create their own Plugins.

So its beginning to look like it's either Plugin Support or Cross-Platform compatibility. bummer... I was hoping that I could do both. Maybe later on down the road i could do both, but for now I'm tossing around which one to drop. If I go with adding support for Plugins now, it would be harder to do the Cross-Platform compatibility later-on because I would have to completely redo the Plugin system. On the other hand, I really haven't had many requests for MAC or Linux compatibility plus I've already got a list of Plugins to create. So I'm not sure if I should even go with the Cross-Platform capability in the first place. And If I did add MAC/Linux support it would mean I wouldn't be able to utilize all of the capabilities that are available to normal "Windows Only" programs.

hmm....

So, Windows OSes only + Plugins, or Windows, Mac and Linux but no Plugins.
I'm kinda Leaning towards the Windows OSes only + Plugins Option since that was my original plan.

[Josiah]

Ah,
Just Discovered WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation). It looks like a more up-to-date version of the standard Windows Forms that I was using earlier.
It supports more advanced things like graphics effects and playing animations. The big thing that WPF allows for is Hardware Acceleration, meaning that I could even play videos (an example case would be playing back a recording from a Weather Cam).

I'm pretty excited about how it would allow me to do some of the things that I've wanted to do and the new possibilities that it would give me. 

[dean.martin]

Can't wait to try the next update. Just Windows OSes only + Plugins 

[Josiah]

Hey Guys,

Since its been awhile since my last post I've decided to show you what I've been up-to in regards to Add-InWx.
If you liked the previous version then I think you will like what the new software looks like.


I'm still trying to figure out how to do a couple of things in WPF, so that's why the text is the same in across the 4 data boxes.

Just remember, this is an early alpha version screenshot so some of it may change.


Check this out:

[drew]

Wow! That looks great! I can't wait to try it out.

[dean.martin]

Jos,

Good to see the display, that's great. It might be good to add a summary (as to what station has the highest/lowest temp, wind speed, highest temp, etc) of the weather stations' reading. I assume you already had this feature/plugin 

ahhhm, regarding on the plugin, Please consider also creating a plugin that can integrate add-Inwx to this weather map (http://earth.nullschool.net). This is the most promising weather map for me. It features overlay of wind,temp,RH,Total precitable water,total cloud water,mean sea level pressure, and the Misery Index (Heat index) as well as forecast (+3hrs and +24hrs) within 4days of the said parameters. The best part is, you can also adjust the elevation from sea surface up to 10Hpa. Try it, and see if it would be more useful than WUmap. Just saying 

[Josiah]

dean,
The Multi-Station Summary was on my list, Thanks for mentioning it though.  You've given me a few ideas on the layout. 

ahhhm, regarding on the plugin, Please consider also creating a plugin that can integrate add-Inwx to this weather map (http://earth.nullschool.net).

Now that's a neat map
I will need to look into it, but at first glance it looks like its written in Java so I'm not sure how thats going to work. For now I'll put it on my ToDo list and look deeper into later.

Thanks for the Suggestion.


Since I'm creating a post anyway,
I've been talking with Forum Member kaymann (aka Randall Kayfes, Some of you may know him by the amazing weather Photos he takes), and he has given me the go-ahead on using a couple of his photos as backdrops for Add-InWx.  Now i just need to decide which ones i want to use, LOL He's got so many good ones that its going to be hard narrowing them down.

In the process of talking with him another Idea for a feature has arisen: Changing the backdrop based on the local weather conditions e.g. if its Raining, Snowing, Thunderstorms, High Temp or Wind speeds, maybe cloud cover, barometric pressure, etc. I could also have it pick different ones based on the current Season as well. So say for example its Fall and its Raining, Add-InWx would pick a Photo from a set that's been marked as being Fall Season photos then from there it would pick one that's marked as a Rain photo.

As a side note, I've also figured-out how to add Scrolling Text, so that's going to be interesting.

Anyway... Thats what I've been Up-to over the weekend. 

[Josiah]

Hey Guys,

I'm Getting close to another release.
Here's where I'm at right now:
I've got the Weather Station Types Plugin system going and I've figured out what I needed to do in WPF to get the Display updating. I'm working on the Configuration of each Weather Station, the Saving/Loading of Settings and the Davis Weather Station Plugin.

I'm planning on creating a Second Plugin system for stuff like uploading to websites, Database Access, retrieving WUnderground Forecasts, etc. So I haven't started working on making it upload to WU or CWOP yet.

It's getting very close... 

It's funny...
While I've been working on this, one of the things I do is run it every once in a while to make sure that things are functioning properly, So I'm beginning to get used to seeing the new version. I've still got my older version (1.3) running on my weather PC and every time I look at it I find myself thinking "Wow... That's sooo ugly...". 

[Josiah]

So I bit the bullet and ordered a Wireless Davis VP2 Plus with Solar Radiation and UV sensors.
With it I will be able extend the Davis plugin to to support downloading stored data from the logger and configuring the console from Add-InWx. These won't be in the initial release, but they will be added...
I also purchased a USB datalogger for it so I can add support for that as well. I may be ordering a TCP datalogger in the near future just to optimize that type of connection.

I'm having problems getting the Davis Plugin to connect to a station (again...), so thats waiting on the VP2 to arrive.
Looking at the UPS tracking, it should be arriving this weekend or early next week.

[dean.martin]

To remotely configure the console using Add-InWx? Wow!. that is great. I no longer need weatherlink software then.

[Josiah]

To remotely configure the console using Add-InWx? Wow!. that is great. I no longer need weatherlink software then.

That's the Idea..
Ok, I'll say it now... I've had this Idea for awhile now, What I want to do eventually is remove the need for Davis' WeatherLink software. Reading through forum posts here, I've noticed that the only things people seem to keep Davis' software around for is 1.) to configure the Station and 2.) the Graphing that it can do.

While I've been Studying the Communication Docs for the Dataloggers, I was noticing that all the Console settings can be changed from a Software Program. The thing is, Nobody has taken advantage of that capability. The only things that's keeping Davis' program from becoming obsolete is those two, Which anybody can implement into their software.

Over all, I'm pretty excited about having the ability to push a Weather Station Manufacture's Software into becoming completely obsolete. 

[George Richardson]

"Over all, I'm pretty excited about having the ability to push a Weather Station Manufacture's Software into becoming completely obsolete."

If this is your goal, I think your software will need to read, and import data from WeatherLink.

George