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Sneaky way to get a map of all WeatherCat weather?

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elagache:
Dear WeatherCat fans,

I'm all in favor off the new weather-related categories that Stu has added to the forum . . . . . except for one thing - do I really have to type in my weather conditions? - by hand . . . . 

Lazy?? me? . . . . .

Uh seriously, this reminds me of something fun that I wish we could have on this forum, but I don't know how to do it.  There is a nifty service that will create a map of your forum members.  Here is a map of the V-8 Buick members.  However, I'm greedy and would like something like a Weather Underground, AWEKAS, PWS weather, or WeatherBug map with only the weather stations powered by WeatherCat.

It is a little silly but it would be fun to be able to see the weather in all our respective corners on one map in real-time.

So the question: is this possible without getting one of these services to write new software?  Any sneaky schemers out there who have got an ideir on how to do this?

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

P.S. I have one other complaint about Stu's new weather categories: he forgot to include a category for requesting changes in the weather!!  [lol]  Or how about weather bartering?  I'll trade my hot drought weather for a week if you give me your wet drippy weather!!  [lol2]

HairyMcLeary:
I submit to this weather map,   http://www.localweather.net.nz/maps/meso/NZWN2.php which is based on Ken True of Saratoga Weather's Mesomap. I think it would be possible to have this on a world map.

The data is automatically submitted via the WL_stickertags.htx file as found in the NZWN or UKWN folder in Webtemplates in the WC download (slightly modified)

Tony

elagache:
Howdy Tony and WeatherCat fans,


--- Quote from: HairyMcLeary on May 29, 2012, 12:56:51 AM ---I submit to this weather map,   http://www.localweather.net.nz/maps/meso/NZWN2.php which is based on Ken True of Saratoga Weather's Mesomap. I think it would be possible to have this on a world map.
--- End quote ---

Ah ha!!  This is precisely what I was kinda hoping for!!  [bounce]

Do you know anything about how it works? May need to ask Ken about it.  I see on his website the following map of South San Francisco Bay area weather.  He describes is as: Mesonet display provided by Weather-Display WeatherMap Live, but the link that Ken provides doesn't seem to lead to anything other than Weather-Display itself.  If this is a Weather-Display product - I suspect they wouldn't be so keen on sharing it with Stu.


--- Quote from: HairyMcLeary on May 29, 2012, 12:56:51 AM ---The data is automatically submitted via the WL_stickertags.htx file as found in the NZWN or UKWN folder in Webtemplates in the WC download (slightly modified)

--- End quote ---

Certainly doesn't sound like much of an imposition from the user standpoint (at least for the data submission junkies.)  So the issue would be if this is some sort of freebee goodie out there or if someone owns it and wants for it.

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

HairyMcLeary:
I'll try and find out more details for you as to how it is set up and run. Though I think it would probably be quicker to contact ken directly, I do know that the data for each station is picked up from the members individual web servers as opposed to the data being sent directly such as the case with AWEKAS or UW etc

I do know that WeatherCat, WeatherLink, Cumulus & WD all contribute to the NZ map, it was probably initially set up with WD in mind, but I suspect all of Ken's templates were.

Tony

saratogaWX:
I thought I'd jump in and explain the two maps cited in the posts above.

The one Edouard spotted on my site for South San Francisco Bay area weather is a Flash product called WeatherMap Live, and is sold by the Weather-Display folks.  Data on the map is largely from Weather-Display owners (who have their realtime / clientraw.txt data picked up a central server in the UK and thus available to all licensees of WML)  See how it all works at http://www.weather-display.com/wmlhowworks.php

I don't think that WML itself would be a way to show maps only of WeatherCat stations :(

The map that Tony referred to is a mesonet map I'd created for regional weather networks (see the history), with the first network started in 2006 and now there are (with the new network in New Zealand) 36 of these regional networks worldwide and over 1450 stations.
The mesonet map uses some custom PHP programs run on a regional network hub website to collect data from member websites, and present it on a map.  There is also a global Google Map of members of the networks.

The issue with my regional mesomap software is that it is regional, so worldwide coverage using a single map (with the rotating conditions display) would be problematic from a visual standpoint.

There is a SMF forum mod that would allow a Google map to display locations for members (I use such a mod on WXForum.net) which might better meet your need of showing WeatherCat station locations (albiet less the actual conditions from the station).

Best regards,
Ken

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