Topic: Meteotemplate - new free website template

[Bashy]

Meteotemplate does not use clientraw and majority of users dont even have it Bashy. And I do not think you can correctly deduce weather condition just based on station data, regardless of solar sensor availability. How are you going to differentiate between rain, snow, thunderstorm, partly/mostly cloudy, hail, fog....

That's just it, wd does all the work, the other templates base the clientraw number on an icon the template uses, the current conditions icon numbers could be added to the api, your template does not have to work anything out, it just needs to show the icon that corresponds to the current conditions number that would come from the api if Brian would add them.
MT does not need to work out anything, it's all done in wd, it would be the same for other weatherr software to if it shows a conditions icon in the console.

[Bashy]

I just checked other MT sites with regards to the menu and I have the same issue on those too, for some reason it does not like the Note 3,could be cause of its size?? Baffled....

[Jáchym]

Menu - yes it could, I have no way to test this, it works for me, but I dont have a smartphone

Weather Conditions - as I told you, majority of users (including me!) does not have solar sensor and yet another majority does not use WD (MT supports many other SW like Meteobridge, WeeWx, NetAtmo, Wanet, WU, WeatherLink, Cumulus, Meteohub, WeatherCat, you name it...) and so your solution would not work.

I agree that you could show wet/dry, but that would only be based on the current rain rate and still might not be 100% accurate, not to mention that it would be useless because anyone can just look at the rain and see if it is raining or not (and it could be snowing etc.).

[Bashy]

Just as a side note, to me, a solar sensor is one of the most important sensors, I don't care about how many w/m2 it's only  for one thing and that's the current sky conditions and same with the night cloud

Just seen your reply, I take it there is no point in asking  the users what they would like?

I mean no disrespect, MT is great for data look up and comparing etc, i will use it as a tool for just that, but sadly I cannot put it into main stream because my visitors and more importantly me,  cannot see at a glance what the current conditions are like.

The rain idea wouldn't work if the rain was very light, unless I somehow told them to look at my leaf wetness gauge.

You've have done a great job with it, it is a cracking template, thank you.

[Jáchym]

Im not saying solar sensor is not an important sensor (though it is not ideal because it is not really measuring sun light, but rather global radiation and can be biased by cloud reflection), but my station does not have it, does not support it and likewise I dont have WD.

Obviously this is not your problem, but unfortunately it will affect you given you use a template that Im developing.

[Jáchym]

Just as a side note, to me, a solar sensor is one of the most important sensors, I don't care about how many w/m2 it's only  for one thing and that's the current sky conditions and same with the night cloud

Just seen your reply, I take it there is no point in asking  the users what they would like?

I mean no disrespect, MT is great for data look up and comparing etc, i will use it as a tool for just that, but sadly I cannot put it into main stream because my visitors and more importantly me,  cannot see at a glance what the current conditions are like.

The rain idea wouldn't work if the rain was very light, unless I somehow told them to look at my leaf wetness gauge.

You've have done a great job with it, it is a cracking template, thank you.

If you think the automatic algorithm from WD works fine for you (which might also be due to your particular location and conditions, because I have seen countless times a sitaution where it was not showing the current conditions correctly and my opnion is that it is better to show nothing rather than show nonsense), then you are absolutely free to create a block for it, use the "blank" block as a template and parse the data from WD and choose icons you like. It should not be that difficult.

[wvdkuil]

Meteotemplate does not use clientraw and majority of users dont even have it Bashy. And I do not think you can correctly deduce weather condition just based on station data, regardless of solar sensor availability. How are you going to differentiate between rain, snow, thunderstorm, partly/mostly cloudy, hail, fog....

That's just it, wd does all the work, the other templates base (Italics/bold by wvdkuil) the clientraw number on an icon the template uses, the current conditions icon numbers could be added to the api, your template does not have to work anything out, it just needs to show the icon that corresponds to the current conditions number that would come from the api if Brian would add them.
MT does not need to work out anything, it's all done in wd, it would be the same for other weatherr software to if it shows a conditions icon in the console.

Some minor explanation as you mention other templates:
If it is night, no template or weather-program as I am aware of, calculate current conditions based on the stations sensors.
They all use METAR (or Yahoo which uses Metar) for that. As does WD which only uses its own calculations in day-time AND only if there is a solar sensor attached.

So the easiest, most proven solution, is getting a METAR of a close-by airport and use that.

Wim

[Bashy]

I use the Davis one and a home made solar in a jar, well, it's actually a light bulb, do you have or can you add an extra temp sensor to your station, if so, you would have a solar sensor, you would be pleasantly surprised as to how good they really do work with regards to the current sky conditions, rain, fog, snow, storm (not thunder as I do t have a lightning detector) and haze/dust etc are all worked out by the weather software.

I do understand your predicament, ya could have just said that in the beginning

How about a poll, hear me out,

For people with a solar sensor, would you like to have the current conditions icon, if so, would you be will to donate to help me with it.


For people with a solar sensor, I don't want the icon

If it is important to enough people and help you at the same time, it would be a win win.

It's just an idea is all, but I would be willing to put up a couple of quid to help

Hi Wim, just caught your reply, actually, WD does calculate night cloud conditions, I have been using it for a while now and I am sure your template even follows this too, it certainly shows the correct conditions at night time, but, granted, not many have made a night cloud sensor, only a small group has, but even Brian himself has one

[Jáchym]

Thanks Wim!

And that also explains a lot because I was wondering too how WD does it, especially at night.

And so this brings another problem - I did use METAR previously to get station conditions, but I got many complains it is not showing accurate things. And that is understandable given how many METAR stations there are and how local precipitation and cloudiness can be.

The way I look at it is this:
- station data on its own is unusable to correctly determine current conditions.
- external data is usually accurate, but not accurate for your location given how local these things can be and unless you live just behind the airport...

And it is IMHO better not to show anything than to show something that is potentially misleading.

[Jáchym]

I use the Davis one and a home made solar in a jar, well, it's actually a light bulb, do you have or can you add an extra temp sensor to your station, if so, you would have a solar sensor, you would be pleasantly surprised as to how good they really do work with regards to the current sky conditions, rain, fog, snow, storm (not thunder as I do t have a lightning detector) and haze/dust etc are all worked out by the weather software.

I do understand your predicament, ya could have just said that in the beginning

How about a poll, hear me out,

For people with a solar sensor, would you like to have the current conditions icon, if so, would you be will to donate to help me with it.


For people with a solar sensor, I don't want the icon

If it is important to enough people and help you at the same time, it would be a win win.

It's just an idea is all, but I would be willing to put up a couple of quid to help

Hi Wim, just caught your reply, actually, WD does calculate night cloud conditions, I have been using it for a while now and I am sure your template even follows this too, it certainly shows the correct conditions at night time, but, granted, not many have made a night cloud sensor, only a small group has, but even Brian himself has one

Hi,
no, my station does not support any additional sensors, not even the wind direction sensor is working anymore.

Let´s just disregard the fact I still think you cannot accurately do this (especially at night), when taling about night cloud sensor, I think you are talking about maybe 1% of all users. As I mentioned to you already, feel absolutely free to use the "blank" block as a template and create a block tailor-made for your setup that works for you and does what you want it to do. But releasing a block, which I personally think (might be subjective opinion of course) is misleading, and which will not work for 99% of users because they either dont have night-cloud sensor, solar sensor, dont use WD, live in different location and climate where things might be more difficult to predict etc., is not a good idea.

[Bashy]

I just wrote a large reply and the page didn't respond, I did say that night cloud users including Brian himself is a small minority, I also said that my station accurately states the current conditions day and night, sun's just gone in, check out www.suffolkweather.info

A block or icon in the current conditions block itself would not be misleading, because only uses of a solar sensor would use said block, no point non solar users using it cause it wouldn't work. Disregard or even forget about night time too cause with a solar block, the icon number would come from the software, if wd, it already has the nighttime icon numbers in there too, it's an all in one package so to speak.

[Bashy]

I am not trying to tell you what to do, it's just an idea is all, if you don't want to do it,  that is 100% ok, it's your template.

I have only been replying replying  because your info on solar sensors is inaccurate is all.  We can just leave it here, again, that is fine by me..

PS, battery on me note is about dead anyway lol 

[Jáchym]

Yes, I get your point. We are talking about users with solar sensor + WD. Which like it or not is a minority and most imporatnaly is something I cannot test myself. All Meteotemplate code is open-source and I have never said you cannot modify the blocks, in fact it is always nice to see when people implement their own ideas, so feel absolutely free to use the WD icon number in the current block if it works for you, I never said Bashy you cant do that.

btw.... talking about accurately detecting weather conditions... once people get this it is a different matter We use these on our stations at work

http://www.vaisala.com/en/products/presentweathersensors/Pages/PWD2252.aspx

[Jáchym]

I am not trying to tell you what to do, it's just an idea is all, if you don't want to do it,  that is 100% ok, it's your template.

I have only been replying replying  because your info on solar sensors is inaccurate is all.  We can just leave it here, again, that is fine by me..

PS, battery on me note is about dead anyway lol

One thing I want to make absolutely clear - dont get me wrong, I think solar sensor is extremely useful, especially in combination with the UV. No doubt about that. Thats why I even made an exception and tried to do a plugin just for solar sensor, even though on my page it is useless because it shows 0 all the time.

[Bashy]

Ha ha Vaisala is a whole new kettle of fish, what are they +/- 0.5C.?

But hey, I thought the Davis would be more accurate than my old OS WMR 968 but they are about spot on temp wise, wind is lower reading, smaller cups, humidity is about the same but does reach 100% where as the Davis tops out at 96, when I 1st got the Davis setup, I did think to myself, whey did I just blow nearly Ł2000

[Bashy]

Yes, I get your point. We are talking about users with solar sensor + WD. Which like it or not is a minority and most imporatnaly is something I cannot test myself. All Meteotemplate code is open-source and I have never said you cannot modify the blocks, in fact it is always nice to see when people implement their own ideas, so feel absolutely free to use the WD icon number in the current block if it works for you, I never said Bashy you cant do that.

I think you would be surprised at how many really do have a solar sensor, I will have a look at creating so thing, but I'm more of a bodger...

[Jáchym]

Yes, I get your point. We are talking about users with solar sensor + WD. Which like it or not is a minority and most imporatnaly is something I cannot test myself. All Meteotemplate code is open-source and I have never said you cannot modify the blocks, in fact it is always nice to see when people implement their own ideas, so feel absolutely free to use the WD icon number in the current block if it works for you, I never said Bashy you cant do that.

I think you would be surprised at how many really do have a solar sensor, I will have a look at creating so thing, but I'm more of a bodger...

Usually only people with Davis have solar sensor. I would say maybe half. But not all those use WD, only a minority given how many other possible options there are for updating the db. There is probably also a difference in the proportion of people who have it based on a particular country simply because of the cost of Davis Pro2.

[Jáchym]

Plugin Update – User Map 5.0

Hi guys,

in this new version there are some new features as well as improvements.

- new “country table” – open/close it by clicking the table icon below the map. It shows the number of users from each country as well as some statistics such as number of users per million inhabitants or surface area of the country
- added tooltips to the flags
- flag shape based on Main settings
- other minor tweaks

DEMO: http://www.meteotemplate.com/template/plugins/userMap/index.php

Enjoy

[Bashy]

Usually only people with Davis have solar sensor. I would say maybe half. But not all those use WD, only a minority given how many other possible options there are for updating the db. There is probably also a difference in the proportion of people who have it based on a particular country simply because of the cost of Davis Pro2.

I think you maybe forgetting about the OS stations with UV, WD can calculate solar form that
Also there are quite a few that have the solar in a jar and any station can have that if it can take an extra temp sensor, as long as the software they use has the solar in a jar built in, i think you will find there are quite a lot of WD users have a solar in a jar, you can even do it with a davis extra temp sensor

I will let you carry on with ya postings cause its interfering with it and ya posts may get missed.....

[Jáchym]

No thats fine, feel free to post The important posts from me are in the Blog anyway

I will just repeat myself - I totally agree solar sensor is great no matter if it is a DYI one or a bought one, Im not saying no-one has it, lot of people do and so if WD provides what you want and like, feel absolutely free to modify any of my scripts.

[nineback]

I agree with Bashy on the Solar Sensor.  WD lets you set the thresholds at which it reports Sunny, Partly Cloudy, etc.  I am not sure why you do not want to allow the program to take advantage of stations that have greater capabilities than others.  There should be an easy way to toggle if a solar sensor is available and if so then other options come into play.  Like was mentioned before WD uses Metars at night.  I think you should allow Meter data to be used at the operator's option.  In my opinion Metars are better than nothing and if someone doesn't like them then allow a way to toggle Metars off.

Tom

[Jáchym]

Tom did I ever say you cant insert it? Feel absolutely free to do so and I also emphasized that solar sensor is a great thing to have. I only said it will be unusable for majority - not all and those who want to add it, feel free to do so, Im always interested in seeing how people modify things.

[gdreelin]

Kept up the great work and more will join!!!   

Hi guys,

unbelievable how quickly our “Meteotemplate community” grows. And I dare to say it now spread worldwide as I have just added a user from the 50th country today 🙂 Although it might not be so clear, I probably benefit from all this at least as you do because I meet people all over the world, learn new things during the development process, learn to communicate and provide support and last but not least, it feels great to be creating something others find useful and like.

Once again thanks all for your support

http://meteotemplate.com/blog/?p=2582

Enjoy

[gdreelin]

I am not sure I am following this correctly but in the US Current Conditions is pulls from the Metar so you get the sunny/dry etc. I see there is a block similar to the US for the rest so my viewers get the most current condition for the area from that block. Now yes it is not on my station but I have no way to evaluate sky conditions. My solar sensor just does Sun and UV only.

I changed the image to a blank image and it still does not show the logo

If you look in the clientraw, you will see the current conditions, e.g. Whether it's Sunny/dry , partly cloudy/dry,  mostly cloudy/dry,  overcast/dry,  my solar sensor does correlate to the cloud cover brilliantly, as does my night cloud sensor.

For folks without a solar, it would just say dry or raining, for folks with a solar it would say the current sky conditions

See here www.suffolkweather.info

Like I said, the conditions are already there in the clientraw file, it works well on the saratoga and Leuven
It deffo does not look like nonsense and no, sorry, I can't agree on this one... it could be done say if a person choose a no solar then it shows nothing like it does now, showing the current conditions to me is one of the more important items I like to see and have showing for the visitors that want to know what it's like at the time of visits, ie, could be planning to set of and know what it's like over here etc

It works the same way as it does in the WD console.

On my note three, if I choose a menu where the items have gone past the bottom of the screen, when I try to slide the screen to the item I want the menu closes

[Jáchym]

This might seem like a trivial thing, but it is actually not so easy. The problem is also the fact that many people now use MT without generating clientraw at all. And the API does not support any parameter for sky conditions. So first I would have to talk to Brian and agree on some way of doing this, then I would have to add this to the API documentation, then Brian would have to add it to WD, then - most importantly - change in the api.php can only be done during version update, so this is not possible to do earlier than in v15 and only then I could actually try to add it to the block, but that would probably be the easiest bit..