WeatherCat > WeatherCat Integration
Weatherlink.com 2.0
jace:
Probably not of great interest for us Weather Catters who use the best software in the World for our stations, but found this link about a big update to Weatherlink.
Apologies if it has been posted previously.
http://www.weatherstations.co.uk/weatherlink-com-2-0.htm
JC
elagache:
Dear JC and WeatherCat industry observers,
--- Quote from: Jace on January 21, 2018, 05:16:38 PM ---Probably not of great interest for us Weather Catters who use the best software in the World for our stations, but found this link about a big update to Weatherlink.
--- End quote ---
This was worth looking up on the Davis website and is it a big surprise:
https://www.davisnet.com/weatherlink/
There is no more WeatherLink as we imagined it. Instead it is a "headless" piece of software that simply uploads data to Davis "cloud" servers. The WeatherLink software is simply a web application and of course as such, it can be viewed on any device: computer, smart-phone, or tablet.
However, there is one more big surprise. This isn't a one time purchase anymore. There is a free version but there is also a pro version which is a $4 a month. The free version is so stripped down as to be little more than annoying. So Davis has gone from substantial, but one time purchase, to asking us to fork out almost $50 a year to see our data.
If there are any poor Mac users still using WeatherLink, this is an invitation to switch to WeatherCat if there ever was one! [biggrin]
Cheers, Edouard [cheers1]
Weatheraardvark:
The choice of weather software is dependent on what you want to show others. If you want to show that you have the desire to develop a website then you have to make choices before you buy a weather data logger. If you are like me, and want to have the data sent independent of what I am doing on the computer, not to gobble up resources, the IP works. I leave sometime on extended trips in the summer and do not want my computer on as there is no need to air condition the house when gone. So I make sure my UPS is on, the modem and power to the IP loggers and switch. I then make one more USB download with WC and shut down and leave. When I get home, I can fire up the iMac and get the data on the logger. In the time interval gone, my web site is active and people can get current conditions.
The templates I use are Leuven 2.8 (a new one is coming out one day soon, I understand) and it has the capability of grabbing the data from my Davis VP2 Plus with FARS, my soil moisture station and various other sensors, putting them on my template and I am happy.
To call those of us who use WLink as "poor misguided (implied)" is wrong. WL 1.0 will be phased out and 2.0 will be in and that is sad, but yet everyone is out to make a buck it seems. It is how you use the data and can you exploit what you are using.
IF you do not have an IP logger, then keep what you have. IF on the other hand you have one, sure you can use it to move data to your desktop weather software. I have both.
I am a retired science teacher with a lot of free time on his hand, have had a Davis unit since 1993 and data back as far. So yeah. But I wouldn't put me into the "poor mac " user classification.
It is again, what do you want to do with your data and do you feel it is necessary to show it on the internet . One advantage I can see of using the Davis paid site is you do not have to register and preserve your domain name, you do not need a web hosting site. Both cost money. My web host is Hostmonster and my domain name is :www.desmoinesweather.org With Davis , they take the cost of all that. I can still send data to CWOP, WU, and Globe.gov.
Where WC has it in the bag, they are probably the only software for the mac that can pull data from many stations, depending on what type of weather set up your have (not bloomsky, yeah I have it for the sky cam and regard it as a toy, and two IP cameras. I also use security spy for my IP camera setup but I digress.)
I guess it all boils down to not what you say, but how you say it.
OH..WC will pull data from the Davis IP logger should you want that as well
This is my IP powered web site : http://www.desmoinesweather.org
Here are my data loggers, over Kill?????http://www.desmoinesweather.org/weatherlink/images/img_0388-790.jpg
wvdkuil:
--- Quote from: elagache on January 22, 2018, 12:19:19 AM ---Dear JC and WeatherCat industry observers,
--- Quote from: Jace on January 21, 2018, 05:16:38 PM ---Probably not of great interest for us Weather Catters who use the best software in the World for our stations, but found this link about a big update to Weatherlink.
--- End quote ---
This was worth looking up on the Davis website and is it a big surprise:
https://www.davisnet.com/weatherlink/
There is no more WeatherLink as we imagined it. Instead it is a "headless" piece of software that simply uploads data to Davis "cloud" servers. The WeatherLink software is simply a web application and of course as such, it can be viewed on any device: computer, smart-phone, or tablet.
However, there is one more big surprise. This isn't a one time purchase anymore. There is a free version but there is also a pro version which is a $4 a month. The free version is so stripped down as to be little more than annoying. So Davis has gone from substantial, but one time purchase, to asking us to fork out almost $50 a year to see our data.
If there are any poor Mac users still using WeatherLink, this is an invitation to switch to WeatherCat if there ever was one! [biggrin]
Cheers, Edouard [cheers1]
--- End quote ---
There seems to be some confusion.
The Weatherlink programs for Windows (WLfW) and Mac (WLfM)
* are updated to version 6.0.3,
* are still available and in the boxes with the Davis loggers. The only statement so far from Davis: The programs will be actively maintained but not "enhanced"
Weatherlink.com (WLC) is the website with three ways to view your data, the blue "MY Weather" dashboard a "Summery" page and a map to search all stations uploading to WLC version 1.
These pages , https://www.weatherlink.com/user/wvdkuil/index.php?view=main&headers=1, can
* be viewed by anybody if they know the link
* be used in an iframe on ones own websiteAlso there are other benefits
* the uploaded logger-data is kept 4 times as long as in the Davis logger but can only be downloaded by WLfW or WLfM
* All weather-values, current and high-lows, can be retrieved with a simple URL and the resulting xml data used in your own website scripts. You get the same set of "tags" as supplied by WLfW or WLfM without a PC/Mac running 24/7Saratoga-, Leuven- and Meteotemplate can use that data to update the website. Also multiple users are using WLC and the xml to populate their own website. They could have used a decent weather-program but in some rural areas the Davis IP logger with a small UPS has been a very good solution.
Weatherlink.com can do the uploads for your station to WeatherUnderground, CWOP and Globe.
Other weather-networks, example https://app.weathercloud.net/d1686817653#current , can retrieve stations data from WLC also. The station owners do not have to upload to gain a presence on these networks.
Weatherlink.com is mainly used by owners of the Davis IP logger which cost 120€ more compared to the USB version. Since a year or so? users of WLfW could also upload to WLCversion1 but they had to pay for the privilege to store their data at WLC and see the same screens as WLIP users do, but they have to run a PC 24/7 also. So nearly nobody had a clue why anyone wanted to do that.
Weatherlink.com version 2 drops the fee for WLfW and WLfM users to upload their data, sounds good?
Weatherlink.com version 2 drops the blue screen/summary pages, not so good, not nice
Weatherlink.com version 2 replaces those with a far more interesting page of your current data, for free, sounds good, but it only works if you are the sole person to "look at" that data.
Weatherlink.com version 2 drops acces to your data by a link, very bad
Maybe your relatives or neighbours got that link from you to view the local weather-data. Now, if someone wants to view your data, they have to register on the Weatherlink.com version 2 website first. They can not "look at" your nice graphs and other extras in version 2, they will need a paid account for that if you did so also.
Weatherlink.com version 2 drops the simple URL to get your data in an xml, ? but
Weatherlink.com version 2 now supplies JSON and XML versions of the data, sounds good, but
Weatherlink.com version 2 NEEDS an API-key in the links???
The "form" to request an API-key contains the following fields:
Company Name: Contact Name: Title: Phone Number (Office/Cell): Email Address: Office Mailing Address: Do you prefer XML or JSON:
Sounds that they forgot the large group of WLIP buyers who are private persons. As owner of a WLIP I have to hand out my address and telephone number to acces my own data? They already know where the logger is. Why do they need sensitive data?
Weatherlink.com version 2 free version is more or less the same as the Weatherlink.com version 1 but it is now free for all, although they did not lower the price of the WLIP logger at the same time.
Weatherlink.com version 2 paid version needs a yearly fee by credit card. You get nice graphs.
There is a free trial period to investigate all features, but you have to add your creditcard details AND not forget to cancel before the trial is ended.
Weatherlink.com version 2 and the API restricts acces to the data at every 15 minutes max, BAD
The WLIP uploads are every minute or every 5 minutes. But in version 2, we the owners of the device, are not allowed to get at our own data faster than 4 times / hour?
There is still a discussion on how to convert private websites, such as the @Weatheraardvark one.
I trust that when the dust settles, Davis understands
* that we are the customers,
* we paid a fair extra amount (120€) to get a WLIP to use the extra features
* and we want the same freedom of access to our own data as when we bought the WLIP. We certainly do not want to run an extra PC/Mac 24/7 after buying an expensive WLIP.
@DAVIS
DO NOT change the rules during the game.
Building a private website is a hobby, we do not get any money out of it.
Wim
xairbusdriver:
OK, now that we have a better understanding of the complexities of "The Mind of Davis"... maybe it's time for a bit of comparison with REAL weather apps! No personal, private, toy weather "experts" needed! No opinions requested!! You want snark? Here ya go!!!CARROT WeatherAnd now, for those who didn't know there was actually a useful app for the Apple Watch...CARROT Weather for Apple WatchI rest my case,
and I'm going into the
nitwit protection program!
cmu:-)
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