WXforum.net
Weather Related Organizations => WeatherUnderground => Topic started by: Mabcmb on October 07, 2021, 10:34:08 AM
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From the article " Weather Underground will discontinue the webcam hosting service effective October 21, 2021 in order to better focus on the core products that make Weather Underground one of the best destinations for weather enthusiasts. Webcam data will be deleted from our servers on or after this date." ......
Full update here : https://support.weather.com/s/article/Webcam-hosting-service-is-discontinued-effective-October-21-2021?language=en_US
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At least it's official. My cam has been FUBAR for nearly a year. The big question...what's next to be yanked?
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Could easily see this coming.
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My webcams(2) not working with WU for a long long time...so :lol: #-o
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It's been unusable for several years now so no surprise. I think they were allowing a few cams but now they are going. What it really comes down to is their lack of willingness to spend for the extra bandwidth needed to host cameras.
Rapidfire will be the next to go I've already seen issues actually had 2- long-time stations just disappear along with the account. No explanation, nothing, and what's weird is they used these stations for the area observations on android phones instead of the airport. I waited for over a week and nothing came back online so signed back up with new stations. Couldn't sign in to the old account it was also gone. I think it had to do with both were using rapid-fire but not sure like I said no explanation. I now upload data every minute and still occasionally get the Brutus screen server issues so I know their bandwidth is suffering.
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Nice to see you posting Randy.
Don't be a stranger.
So far my rapid fire has been rock solid.
No issues at all.
Knock on wood. :twisted:
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I was hoping to get into weather cams but with WU withdrawing, is there any other equivalent service out there?
I see discussions about Rapidfire - what is that?
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Rapid fire is a free service offered by WU that updates data from your PWS every 3 seconds.
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Rapid fire is a free service offered by WU that updates data from your PWS every 3 seconds.
Ah, hence the expectation that its going next!
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It would be nice if WU just worked properly and 100% of the time. For those that want Rapidfire or webcams—just charge those users a fair fee for such service and leave everybody else alone.
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Wondered why my webcam stopped late July of this year, worked great up till then
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I was hoping to get into weather cams but with WU withdrawing, is there any other equivalent service out there?
I post my webcam to Windy.com. Not equivalent, but a place to post and share your weather webcam.
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I guess I'll go ahead and stop my cron job tonight. Tsk, what a shame.
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thinking about discontinuing WU attachment all together. I know some have.
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I think that all disgusted WU users, webcam or not disgusted, should disconnect from WU on October 21. I'm sure IBM has already calculated the possible data loss into their decision, but actually seeing and experiencing it, especially if it is a large data loss, might make them at least regret their decision somewhat.
The excuse that "cameras are so different" is so weak as to be laughable. A jpg is a jpg no matter what camera produces it. The size are already very limited, so where's that problem coming from? Just more mealy mouthed excuses from IBM. Why can't they openly admit it's all about squeezing every last dollar out of the data they receive for free other than the inherent overhead of collecting and collating it.
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My signature and website (dupreezwx.com) says it all since about 3 years ago.
Icon, courtesy of Cutty Sark Sailor.
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This station is disconnecting from WU on Oct 12. The reduction of services, access and recognition of its contributors have led me to this decision. Thank you for your support.
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I spent a few minutes writing a Bash script to download my WU webcam time lapse videos. Here it is; sorry in advance for it being somewhat unreadable and probably fragile. Edit the all-caps variables at the top of the script with your values. The script iterates through each day between START_DATE and END_DATE and downloads a video if one exists, failing silently if it doesn't. The video URLs look like this:
https://icons.wunderground.com/webcamarchive/j/a/jamyles/1/2018/05/20180513.mp4
You'll probably want to check a few URLs manually with a web browser to make sure you have everything right (your ID, your camera ID, etc.) before running the script. No guarantees that running this won't get you banned from WU or something.
#!/bin/bash
URL_STUB="https://icons.wunderground.com/webcamarchive/j/a/jamyles/1"
START_DATE=$(date -d "2017-11-27" +%s)
END_DATE=$(date -d "2021-08-01" +%s)
OUT_DIR="/tmp/webcamarchive"
mkdir -p "$OUT_DIR"
date=$START_DATE
while [ $date -le $END_DATE ]
do
IFS=':' read -a a <<< $(date -d "@$date" +%Y:%m:%-d:%d)
url="${URL_STUB}/${a[0]}/${a[1]}/${a[0]}${a[1]}${a[2]}.mp4"
echo $url
curl -sf -o "${OUT_DIR}/${a[0]}-${a[1]}-${a[3]}.mp4" "$url"
sleep 1
date=$((date+86400))
done
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Can't blame anyone for leaving the unfortunate consequence is many members here are consciences with instrument placement using professional stations giving accurate data and it's Weather Undergrounds loss.
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I spent a few minutes writing a Bash script to download my WU webcam time lapse videos. Here it is; sorry in advance for it being somewhat unreadable and probably fragile. Edit the all-caps variables at the top of the script with your values. The script iterates through each day between START_DATE and END_DATE and downloads a video if one exists, failing silently if it doesn't. The video URLs look like this:
https://icons.wunderground.com/webcamarchive/j/a/jamyles/1/2018/05/20180513.mp4
You'll probably want to check a few URLs manually with a web browser to make sure you have everything right (your ID, your camera ID, etc.) before running the script. No guarantees that running this won't get you banned from WU or something.
#!/bin/sh
URL_STUB="https://icons.wunderground.com/webcamarchive/j/a/jamyles/1"
START_DATE=$(date -d "2017-11-27" +%s)
END_DATE=$(date -d "2021-08-01" +%s)
OUT_DIR="/tmp/webcamarchive"
date=$START_DATE
while [ $date -lt $END_DATE ]
do
IFS=':' read -a a <<< $(date -d "@$date" +%Y:%m:%-d:%d)
url="${URL_STUB}/${a[0]}/${a[1]}/${a[0]}${a[1]}${a[2]}.mp4"
echo $url
curl -sf -o "${OUT_DIR}/${a[0]}-${a[1]}-${a[3]}.mp4" "$url"
sleep 1
date=$((date+86400))
done
Pretty cool, [tup]
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I was able to download 1189 days of my videos (nearly 1 GB total), so it seems to work fine. I did fix a small bug in the script (-lt should have been -le), so if you try it copy it from my original (edited) post.
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I'm pulling the plug on October 21. I have an AccuRite, AccuWrong, weather station so I'll be using their Backyard Weather app for my own monitoring. Maybe I'll replace it with an EcoWitt when the funds become available which might be a while the way the economy is going.
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@jdoff,
Thanks for posting and sharing.
However I am not quite understanding how to actually run or use it, and what I need to change in the script for my videos. My cameras ID are PaulMyCAM1 and PaulMyCAM4.
I started to send images to WU webcams around 2010 and there were a number of long periods when it wasn't working, but at the moment it still is for me. I also have the Bloomsky and that was sending images as well from 2016 but that hasn't worked for months now.
Appreciate any specific help on How To :oops:
Enjoy,
Paul
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@jdoff,
Thanks for posting and sharing.
However I am not quite understanding how to actually run or use it, and what I need to change in the script for my videos. My cameras ID are PaulMyCAM1 and PaulMyCAM4.
I could have provided a bit more context. You'd need a Linux (or other Unix environment, maybe MacOS) computer to run this script. Based on the IDs you mentioned, your direct video URLs would look something like this:
https://icons.wunderground.com/webcamarchive/p/a/PaulMy/1/2021/10/2021108.mp4
https://icons.wunderground.com/webcamarchive/p/a/PaulMy/4/2021/10/2021108.mp4
So your script variables would look like this:
URL_STUB="https://icons.wunderground.com/webcamarchive/p/a/PaulMy/1"
START_DATE=$(date -d "2010-01-01" +%s)
END_DATE=$(date -d "2021-10-08" +%s)
OUT_DIR="/tmp/webcamarchive/PaulMyCAM1"
That said, I'd be happy to run this and download your camera timelapse videos since they're publicly accessible anyway. If you want me to do this, would it work for you if I put them all in a big zip file on Google Drive?
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@jdoff,
Wow, that first link works \:D/
I am good at cut and paste, trial and error, but lost outside of Windows...
I'd be happy to run this and download your camera timelapse videos since they're publicly accessible anyway. If you want me to do this, would it work for you if I put them all in a big zip file on Google Drive?
Yes I think that could work though I am not familiar with Google Drive, but in another life maintaining our local hockey team website I've received batches of images from Komoka Kings Game Photos - Google Photos (https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMVqTKY-30PBIlkzT66XosRwZjXbkX6WxGuIhywYR3eXu_wqa2qdROC5UkSg6vkcw?pli=1&key=RExGLTdJUkFMNVJ2S0p1MHB3TU1uVUxUaUI5TnV3) and that works well for me to download.
Thank you,
Paul
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From the article " Weather Underground will discontinue the webcam hosting service effective October 21, 2021 in order to better focus on the core products that make Weather Underground one of the best destinations for weather enthusiasts. Webcam data will be deleted from our servers on or after this date." ......
So they're going to make it one of the best destinations by removing features... (sigh)
Didn't WU threaten this once before and then back down? I suspect they mean it this time.
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I'd be happy to run this and download your camera timelapse videos since they're publicly accessible anyway. If you want me to do this, would it work for you if I put them all in a big zip file on Google Drive?
Paul, my script downloaded 2307 videos for PauMyCAM1 and 337 for PaulMyCAM4 from between 2010-01-01 and yesterday. I'll PM you the links to download the two giant zip files containing everything the script downloaded.
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The W.U. article info was already posted earlier in the week https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=40935.0 (https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=40935.0) ;)
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Hi, and thank you so much. I did get the files and unzipped. Quite easy when someone else has the know how and does all the leg work =D> \:D/
Nice to preserve these.
CAM4 is the Bloomsky and I know was very sparse until it stopped altogether.
CAM1 was originally Logitech 9000 with Yawcam and now a Logitech C920s Pro and IPtimelapse. The new camera quality is fine but haven't been able to get IPTimelapse settings to get good quality images. Initially the WU videos were pretty good throughout the day, but later huge periods when there were no images/video or very few images in a video. I do remember that there was a time that all past images were removed/lost by WU and that looks like it was in January 2012 therefor no videos before then.Interesting to go back and see snow storm images/video and even a lightning strike. Also interesting is that in some videos there is an added image from someone else - a couple are of some major highway. certainly not from my webcam.Again thank you and very much appreciated.Paul
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Ha, bizarre to see random videos in there! Looks like something weird was going on at WU. I just double-checked and that is what they have for your webcam on that day:
https://icons.wunderground.com/webcamarchive/p/a/PaulMy/1/2021/07/20210710.mp4
Thanks for sharing your experience with weather cams and WU. I didn't think I would care too much about my own time lapses until I started looking through, and now I'm hoping to have time to implement my own system to replace what WU was doing.
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Webcams can be added to Windy. Windy: Webcams - Kenai: Webcam de - USA (https://www.windy.com/-Webcams/United-States/Alaska/Kenai/Webcam-de-USA/webcams/1605270763?60.542,-152.869,8)
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Actually, the videos are mostly with correct images for those days, just a few added unrelated images within the video. On that screen capture the highlighted video was all from somewhere else, but in some videos that I just happen to open the unrelated image is somewhere within the valid images in the video. The majority of videos are fine and have no unrelated images.
Enjoy,
Paul
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I've been unhappy with the way WU has deteriorated for the last 7 years. They drop one thing after another. My free access constantly requires a new login on my portable devices. The quality is gone.
I know I'm just one data contributor (over a decade) but I don't want to contribute my WX information to the backstabbers. I want to send my (excellent) data to someone who appreciates my investment.
Is there another site that does what WU used to do? (I already send to MADIS, CWOP, and WeatherLink)
Thanks.
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Some are somewhat similar but not quite what WU has offered to post pws data and webcam images/video...
Common:
PWS Weather http://www.pwsweather.com/obs/KOMOKA.html
AWEKAS http://www.awekas.at/en/instrument.php?id=6890 which does show a current image
WOW https://wow.metoffice.gov.uk/observations/details?site_id=37595665
Weathercloud https://app.weathercloud.net/home
Not so common:
Windy https://www.windy.com/station?42.923,-81.445,12,i:pressure and also show a recent image
Open Weather Map https://openweathermap.org/city/5993934
Windguru https://www.windguru.cz/1002635
And there are various sites that will post webcams.
Enjoy,
Paul
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@jdoff,
Thanks for posting and sharing.
However I am not quite understanding how to actually run or use it, and what I need to change in the script for my videos. My cameras ID are PaulMyCAM1 and PaulMyCAM4.
I could have provided a bit more context. You'd need a Linux (or other Unix environment, maybe MacOS) computer to run this script. Based on the IDs you mentioned, your direct video URLs would look something like this:
https://icons.wunderground.com/webcamarchive/p/a/PaulMy/1/2021/10/2021108.mp4
https://icons.wunderground.com/webcamarchive/p/a/PaulMy/4/2021/10/2021108.mp4
So your script variables would look like this:
URL_STUB="https://icons.wunderground.com/webcamarchive/p/a/PaulMy/1"
START_DATE=$(date -d "2010-01-01" +%s)
END_DATE=$(date -d "2021-10-08" +%s)
OUT_DIR="/tmp/webcamarchive/PaulMyCAM1"
That said, I'd be happy to run this and download your camera timelapse videos since they're publicly accessible anyway. If you want me to do this, would it work for you if I put them all in a big zip file on Google Drive?
Thanks for providing this - I'm downloading now from 2016 forward and I see just under 1 GB per year downloaded. I needed to change the #!/bin/sh to #!/bin/bash to handle a '<<<' redirection error.
EDIT: Total downloaded was 1,507 files from 12/2015 forward for a total of 1.9 GB.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2462317/bash-syntax-error-redirection-unexpected (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2462317/bash-syntax-error-redirection-unexpected)
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Hey Folks! [tup] There ARE other services you can send your WX cam images to. Here are the links for mine. Windy - https://on.windy.com/5mju5 (https://on.windy.com/5mju5)
Ambient Weather - https://ambientweather.net/dashboard/573b7e5ce84573fbb8b5d0230908dbe8 (https://ambientweather.net/dashboard/573b7e5ce84573fbb8b5d0230908dbe8) (need an account) info here. https://help.ambientweather.net/product/ambientweather-net/ (https://help.ambientweather.net/product/ambientweather-net/)
And finally AWEKAS - https://www.awekas.at/en/instrument.php?id=15330&tempeh=f
JH
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I'm uploading weather data and web cam to Windy, AWEKAS, Ambient Weather and Weather Underground. My webcam to WU quit working several years ago and nothing I have done has been able to get it back running. I have been getting more and more fed up with WU and all their "improvements" making the site worse. IBM has also screwed up all the other sites they have bought. I think I will join the crowd and pull the plug on the info going to WU on the 21st.
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Same here, they have screwed up a good thing. EMBARGO WU! :grin:
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I go to WU to assess weather and forecasts. Not really clear that webcams ever really help me do that. If you have one, I guess it's nice to have it online, but in the interest of weather reportage, it isn't really doing much good. Most are pointed at yards, or at the side of a house. I was always a little puzzled about why WU decided to host them. No question that the service of WU has been declining, but with respect to service of weather reportage, it's no great loss.
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Is there another site that does what WU used to do? (I already send to MADIS, CWOP, and WeatherLink)
Please, my poor ears... I would go with PWS Weather, it's what WU would be if it wasn't run by some two-bit outfit like IBM who don't seem to know much about working with computers. I'm not a big fan of their meatball graph style, but apart from that they're fine.
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Thanks for providing this - I'm downloading now from 2016 forward and I see just under 1 GB per year downloaded. I needed to change the #!/bin/sh to #!/bin/bash to handle a '<<<' redirection error.
EDIT: Total downloaded was 1,507 files from 12/2015 forward for a total of 1.9 GB.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2462317/bash-syntax-error-redirection-unexpected (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2462317/bash-syntax-error-redirection-unexpected)
My thanks to jdoff for providing the script [tup] A couple of observations:
You can run the script in Windows 10 if you enable WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)
I also modified the line as above as I got the same redirection error, I arrived at the change via google as well :-)
I also got a Curl command not found error, downloading and installing the Curl component sorted that.
I also changed the output directory line to OUT_DIR="/mnt/d/archive" as it didn't seem to download anything until I did.
I'm downloading a year at a time and so far have 2018-2021 8-)
Thanks again for posting the script [tup]
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My thanks to jdoff for providing the script
Cool, glad it worked for you and good to hear that it runs in WSL. I added a mkdir line to my original post to automatically create OUT_DIR, as well as the /bin/bash fix:
https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=42803.msg436820#msg436820
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I've been sending my data to WU since 2008 but will be deleting my station on Oct 21 with no regrets.
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I'm not deleting my station on WU, it still works fine and I still use the App on my phone.
Unfortunate they have dropped webcams, but I already upload to other places that don't have a webcam facility WOW, PWSweather, CWOP, so no real difference, my own website still has the webcam.
Just downloading my webcam archive while I can, thought I may never use it.
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AWEAKS also has camera hosting. As a side note, I do not know what improvements WU has made. I haven't seen any improvements to the dashboard page, e.g. light and dark modes, or combination of units or anything else on our end. I still loose my "gold star" every once in a while. I know that I have a potato for a weather station but all my data on other weather services I send data to passes QC. As soon as I get my camera up and running I plan to disconnect from WU. I will say that the Android app is okay.
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I'm downloading a year at a time and so far have 2018-2021 8-)
Finished downloading, 2015->2021 1167files. There's a couple of months missing from when camera's failed but other than that they are all there [tup]
AWEAKS also has camera hosting.
Cheers for that, I'll have a look, although I suspect I would have to change from Cumulus 1 to CumulusMX to be able to upload my station data to it. Not sure I can be bothered, Cumulus1 has been trouble free and 100% reliable since I started using it in 2012 and does everything I want at present :-)
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Cheers for that, I'll have a look, although I suspect I would have to change from Cumulus 1 to CumulusMX to be able to upload my station data to it.
There is a script for using Cumulus1 data for AWEKAS. For this method AWEKAS needs to be set to use Cumulus in the Report Mode. Some information here Tutorial for uploading to AWEKAS - Page 4 - Cumulus Support (hosiene.co.uk) (https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1015&p=8176&hilit=awEkas#p8176)
Of course, with CumulusMX it is just some simple settings.
Enjoy,
Paul
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There is a script for using Cumulus1 data for AWEKAS. For this method AWEKAS needs to be set to use Cumulus in the Report Mode. Some information here Tutorial for uploading to AWEKAS - Page 4 - Cumulus Support (hosiene.co.uk) (https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1015&p=8176&hilit=awEkas#p8176)
Of course, with CumulusMX it is just some simple settings.
Enjoy,
Paul
Thanks for that Paul sounds like it's just what I need, I'll have a read [tup]
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I've switched my webcam to a service called webcam.io. It's been serving me well it's free if you can put up with the watermark they add to it. I am paying for the service so I don't get the watermark embedded in my feeds. It would be nice if WU would allow us to post the link to our cam sites on the WUNDERGROUND page. I have a request in for that feature update but have not received any feedback from them regarding the request.
https://webcam.io/webcams/XMXxKM
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I've switched my webcam to a service called webcam.io. It's been serving me well it's free if you can put up with the watermark they add to it. I am paying for the service so I don't get the watermark embedded in my feeds. It would be nice if WU would allow us to post the link to our cam sites on the WUNDERGROUND page. I have a request in for that feature update but have not received any feedback from them regarding the request.
https://webcam.io/webcams/XMXxKM
From IBM’s standpoint, why would they want to facilitate you or any other user by allowing a link to a webcam? Why not a link to the Yankees or Cubs webpage or whatever? They would have to initially and periodically test web links to ensure they don’t go to inappropriate content. Doesn’t make sense.
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There is a script for using Cumulus1 data for AWEKAS. For this method AWEKAS needs to be set to use Cumulus in the Report Mode. Some information here Tutorial for uploading to AWEKAS - Page 4 - Cumulus Support (hosiene.co.uk) (https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1015&p=8176&hilit=awEkas#p8176)
Of course, with CumulusMX it is just some simple settings.
Enjoy,
Paul
Thanks for that Paul sounds like it's just what I need, I'll have a read [tup]
Pretty straightforward and quick to get it up and running with Cumulus1, station + cam working fine.
https://www.awekas.at/en/instrument.php?id=20487 (https://www.awekas.at/en/instrument.php?id=20487)
The guide you linked to was very useful, thanks again 8-)
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I've switched my webcam to a service called webcam.io. It's been serving me well it's free if you can put up with the watermark they add to it. I am paying for the service so I don't get the watermark embedded in my feeds. It would be nice if WU would allow us to post the link to our cam sites on the WUNDERGROUND page. I have a request in for that feature update but have not received any feedback from them regarding the request.
https://webcam.io/webcams/XMXxKM
From IBM’s standpoint, why would they want to facilitate you or any other user by allowing a link to a webcam? Why not a link to the Yankees or Cubs webpage or whatever? They would have to initially and periodically test web links to ensure they don’t go to inappropriate content. Doesn’t make sense.
Everyone else who hosts web cams vets your submission before publishing so it can't be that hard.
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I pulled the plug on the 21st. It won't make a real difference to their ingestion, but will go a long way for my indigestion. Good riddance WU.
I think that all disgusted WU users, webcam or not disgusted, should disconnect from WU on October 21. I'm sure IBM has already calculated the possible data loss into their decision, but actually seeing and experiencing it, especially if it is a large data loss, might make them at least regret their decision somewhat.
The excuse that "cameras are so different" is so weak as to be laughable. A jpg is a jpg no matter what camera produces it. The size are already very limited, so where's that problem coming from? Just more mealy mouthed excuses from IBM. Why can't they openly admit it's all about squeezing every last dollar out of the data they receive for free other than the inherent overhead of collecting and collating it.
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Alive and kicking 8-)
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Alive and kicking 8-)
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I considered shutting it down. Unless it were en-mass..... :arrow:.....a couple disconnects will not teach andbody anything.
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I considered shutting it down. Unless it were en-mass..... :arrow:.....a couple disconnects will not teach andbody anything.
Indeed, they claim their PWS Network has 250,000+ Weather Stations, even if a few thousand quit at the same time (and what's the chances of that ?) it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference to them.
It costs me nothing to share my data with anyone who wants it via WU ( and many other sites) and I'd rather share it than sit on it 8-)