Trixology

WeatherCat => WeatherCat Integration => Topic started by: wurzelmac on May 02, 2014, 06:01:31 PM

Title: Weathercloud
Post by: wurzelmac on May 02, 2014, 06:01:31 PM
Hi everybody,
just for interest. Anybody else out there who received this email:
Quote
Dear weather observer,

We are pleased to announce you that we recently launched Weathercloud, a new weather network where users of automatic weather stations can manage and share their data in real time. Many observers from around the world have already joined the network and we would be happy to count on your participation too.

Weathercloud is free and was created with the aim of becoming a source of very localized weather information from around the world. At the moment the network supports all stations from Davis Instruments and we will add compatibility with more brands soon.

The site also offers additional features such as managing your own weather database, plotting interactive graphs from historical records and much more. You will find further information in our FAQ section.

Please feel free to visit our page: http://weathercloud.net

Hoping that the new network will be to your liking, we remain at your disposal for any questions you may have.

Best regards,

--
The Weathercloud team
Cheers,
Reinhard
Title: Interesting, but in a crowded field (Re: Weathercloud)
Post by: elagache on May 02, 2014, 09:48:19 PM
Hi Reinhard and WeatherCat data upload junkies,

 ;) . . . . . Another upload service!!!  How do I upload, how, how, how, how!!!!  [lol2]

Hmm, kind of an odd strategy these folks have right now.  They must have some sort of a deal with Davis, because they have a plug-in that already works with WeatherLink (the software I assume and probably only the Windoze version at that.)

I just cruised around their web site and there isn't any so much as hint of an upload API so that anyone else could upload to their service.  So even if WeatherCat upload junkies wanted to, we are blocked for the moment.  I suppose we could contact them directly, but they seem a little raw.  It might be a good idea to allow them to mature a little.  Given how crowded the field has become, one has to be concerned about "survival of da' fittest."

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: asherah on October 16, 2014, 04:46:26 AM
It seems they matured and it is now possible to upload data as other apps do already. I like their site and think it is visually pleasing. Could you consider to add them for data upload?
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: The Grand Poohbah on October 16, 2014, 06:43:55 PM
Quote
It seems they matured and it is now possible to upload data as other apps do already.

Do WeatherCat users have any way to upload without an update to WeatherCat?
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Felix on October 16, 2014, 07:48:23 PM
I just typed "weathercloud" in my search box and clicked on the first Google return. Up popped Road Weather Intelligence (http://weathercloud.co) which obviously wasn't what was being discussed in this thread but an interesting idea nevertheless.

And now back on topic, I see "NoseyNick" asked about the site's API docs and received an answer.

http://blog.weathercloud.net/?p=446
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: WCDev on October 18, 2014, 09:02:44 AM
I spoke to them yesterday - should have something available shortly.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Felix on October 18, 2014, 01:15:05 PM
That's good to hear.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: WCDev on October 18, 2014, 08:28:17 PM
And we're up :)

http://app.weathercloud.net/d0171690042

This is our test feed.

I'll leave it running for a bit and if it looks OK I'll post the plug-in for people to test to the development forum (very small download for the plug-in, WeatherCat 2 required).

Title: Contibuting to an addiction! (Re: Weathercloud)
Post by: elagache on October 18, 2014, 09:48:48 PM
Howdy Stu, Felix, and WeatherCat data submission . . . . junkies!!

I'll leave it running for a bit and if it looks OK I'll post the plug-in for people to test to the development forum (very small download for the plug-in, WeatherCat 2 required).

 ;) . . . . . I dunno' Stu, you are definitely making our addiction to uploading weather data . . . . just a little bit worse!! . . .  :o

 [lol2]

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: WCDev on October 18, 2014, 11:59:15 PM
Seems to be running fine - I'll leave it overnight to be sure. One interesting thing about WeatherCloud is you can auto-tweet from it. I have no idea what the tweets look like, but interesting nonetheless.

Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: wurzelmac on October 19, 2014, 07:14:16 AM
Looks very good, Stu! The localization on their Site is much better than the one on WeatherUnderground. I will be happy to test the plugin.

Cheers,
Reinhard
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: WCDev on October 19, 2014, 09:30:13 AM
Available now, see http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=1432.0 for more info.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: asherah on October 19, 2014, 05:31:55 PM
Wow, this is fast! I just downloaded it. Thanks a lot!!
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on October 27, 2014, 01:57:41 PM
Weathercloud updated their website over the weekend and made some very nice improvements. I quite like the newest iteration. Thanks for incorporating Weathercloud into WeatherCat, Stu.

FYI, when I checked out Weathercloud's new thermal comfort index I got a good laugh. It is a measure of the comfort level inside your home based on temperature and humidity. My internal index is about 5% of optimal so apparently we like it cold and dry in our mountain home. Screenshot attached.

Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: wurzelmac on October 28, 2014, 08:17:27 AM
Hi Blick,

seems like it is too hot and too dry in the room where your weather device is taking the data. Mine isn't too hot, but also too dry.  :)

Cheers,
Reinhard
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Felix on October 28, 2014, 11:24:04 AM
I'm reading inside humidity as 40% and temp as 71.4?F although the Davis console reading runs 2? degrees warmer than the average house reading measured via a calibrated thermometer.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/Felix01/ThermalComfortIndx.png)
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on October 28, 2014, 03:19:24 PM
Felix:

My Davis console was also reading about 3˚ F warmer than it actually is inside. I entered a calibration adjustment on my console of -3˚ F (you could also enter the adjustment in WeatherCat but I prefer to have the console and the 'Cat match up).

It appears that whoever's comfort index was used as the standard for Weathercloud would not be comfortable whilst visiting someone else.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: wurzelmac on October 28, 2014, 03:39:06 PM
Hello Felix and Blick,

is it possible that WeatherCloud calculates the Comfort Index in ?C ? If it would calculate with lets say 70?C instead of 70?F - then I would understand that this is not comfortable...  ;D

Cheers,
Reinhard
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on October 28, 2014, 08:59:19 PM
Ha ha Reinhard, you are probably correct.

Jace, I love the name of your company on Weathercloud.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Felix on October 30, 2014, 11:10:31 AM
A 'fix' to the Thermal Comfort Index is in the queue...Weathercloud has acknowledged there was a calculation: (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/Felix01/Bug.png).
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on October 30, 2014, 11:23:07 PM
Yes indeed Felix; they fixed it today.

Kudos to Reinhard. You were correct; Weathercloud thermal comfort index was calculating only in Celsius. They have now repaired it for those of us living in Fahrenheitland. Now I am 50% comfortable, as compared to 5%. Progress.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Bull Winkus on October 31, 2014, 04:22:04 AM
If you turn on the backlight in the Davis console, the inside temperature will be off by around +3? F, as it puts out heat inside the case near enough to the probe to affect it.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on October 31, 2014, 06:00:55 AM
Thanks for the insight Herb. I didn't know that. I don't have mine on long enough or often enough for that to be the reason mine reads high, but now I know if I turn that light on and leave it on, I could be getting readings that are 6˚ high.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Bull Winkus on October 31, 2014, 09:15:58 PM
Yeah, I found that one out the hard way. It was a little dark where the console was positioned, so I turned on the light and just left it on for convenience. I kept noticing after that, that it seemed too high. It was still new, so I suspected the calibration. I used my Fluke 87 to measure the temperature at the same location over a period of time and found it to be consistently 3? F lower on the Fluke. I then entered the bias into the console to match the Fluke and went on about my business. It wasn't long before circumstance had me turning off the light for some reason, and soon thereafter the temperature was showing 3? too low.

One might think that Davis could do a better job in the design, but in reality this is old school technology. If it was up to date with current technology, the console would be no bigger than its display, or even better, an iPhone.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Steve on October 31, 2014, 11:00:29 PM
My console reads high. I have it on the back edge of my desk, and behind/below it are several wall warts, power supply bricks, external hard drives, a printer, etc., all putting off heat. I just ignore the internal temperature.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Bull Winkus on November 01, 2014, 12:35:45 AM
It is difficult to find a spot close to the computer that will give an accurate representation of inside temperature. It's a good thing that inside temperature doesn't matter as much.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: WCDev on November 08, 2014, 10:25:39 AM
WeatherCat is now available as a link type at WeatherCloud.

Note, it isn't possible to edit the link type of your current device. To use the WeatherCat link type you'll need to create a new device, which will have a new id and key that'll you'll need to enter into your WeatherCloud settings within WeatherCat. This also means all your old WeatherCloud data, followers etc. will be lost (as it is associated with the old device).

Currently there is no difference between the old link type of WeatherLink and the new WeatherCat link type - this may change in the future, so if you're planning to update the link type (highly recommended), it's probably best to do it now.

Our new test account is at http://app.weathercloud.net/d1566279514, which seems to be working fine.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Felix on November 08, 2014, 11:58:39 AM
Good to see they've got WeatherCat on the FAQ page in the compatible devices matrix.

I guess I'll take Stu's suggestion and create a new device to preclude possible problems in the future.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: wurzelmac on November 08, 2014, 05:20:51 PM
Just updated to the new link type with no problems.

 :)

Cheers,
Reinhard
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on November 08, 2014, 05:45:16 PM
I just created a new device with the WeatherCat link. One item to note is that Weathercloud has changed the name of the password field from Password to Key. So what Weathercloud calls a key is called the WeatherCloud Password in the WeatherCat preference window. Might be helpful to conform this Stu.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: WCDev on November 08, 2014, 06:26:17 PM
Thanks, I'll check the manual to clarify that - the code is now frozen for release.


Title: Weathercloud all "WeatherCatted" . . . (Re: Weathercloud)
Post by: elagache on November 08, 2014, 09:42:39 PM
Howdy Stu and WeatherCat data upload junkies . . . .

Okay, I've purged my Weathercloud connection of that WeatherLink stuff and . . .  ;)  the air is so much fresher and food tastes so much better!! . . .  [biggrin]

All sarcasm aside,  everything working perfectly well!  [bounce]

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on November 10, 2014, 04:09:00 PM
After I added my new device and deleted my old one, I am uploading data every 10 minutes but only current readings are showing. There is no historical information in the database. I contacted Weathercloud. They replied that they have shut down several features for the past few days to code in some performance improvements. They assured me the data is being properly stored and will appear in the database soon.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on November 10, 2014, 04:14:56 PM
Too late for some of us, but apparently, they are willing to change your link type for you, without you having to lose the data you uploaded using the Weatherlink type. I just received this email from Weathercloud:

Hello Blicj11,

If you know any other WeatherCat user willing to change his Link type, please tell him to contact us as we can change it without him having to create a new device.

Regards,

--
The Weathercloud team


If you haven't deleted your old device yet, contact them rather than do what I did.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: wurzelmac on November 10, 2014, 04:41:53 PM
Hello Blick,
I done the change on Sat 8th - so it is too late for me.  :) I am not unhappy, I lost only a few days of data for this new service. WeatherCloud is in an early Beta I think (at the moment they are on Beta 3 V0.3.2.6), so many things can happen till they escape Beta mode. But thanks for letting us know the feedback from your request!
Cheers,
Reinhard
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: nowait on November 10, 2014, 11:20:40 PM
I emailed their support a couple of days ago and asked them to change mine.  Today, I got an email saying they changed my link type to WeatherCat.

Nice.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Steve on November 11, 2014, 04:01:37 PM
Thanks, I just sent a request to have my device changed to WeatherCat.

Steve
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on November 17, 2014, 04:33:08 AM
I'm now running the newly released WeatherCat Build 39. One item to note is that the Weathercloud tool does not retain your Weathercloud Key with this build. You have to re-enter your key and click start to resume uploads. This only applies the first time you start the new build. Subsequent reboots of the 'Cat function normally with Weathercloud uploads resuming automatically.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: nowait on November 17, 2014, 12:27:48 PM
I did not see this problem when I upgraded.  I just unpacked the archive and pointed my "start at login" to the new version and rebooted.

NoWait
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Felix on November 17, 2014, 01:44:40 PM
I did not see this problem when I upgraded.  I just unpacked the archive and pointed my "start at login" to the new version and rebooted.

NoWait

I don't recall having to re-enter the key either. I just "Quit" the Build 37 version and started Build 39. Other than taking a bit of time to do a database "Save," 39 started right up and I've had no problems other than the Version 2.xx DST issues highlighted in another thread.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: WCDev on November 17, 2014, 05:08:23 PM
I've had no problems other than the Version 2.xx DST issues highlighted in another thread.

Please raise it as a bug in the bugs forum along with any screenshots you have  [tup]
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: WCDev on November 17, 2014, 05:09:27 PM
I'm now running the newly released WeatherCat Build 39. One item to note is that the Weathercloud tool does not retain your Weathercloud Key with this build. You have to re-enter your key and click start to resume uploads. This only applies the first time you start the new build. Subsequent reboots of the 'Cat function normally with Weathercloud uploads resuming automatically.

Was this on a clean install of the OS? If so, check your other passwords - the majority are stored in your login keychain, so if it's brand new, they won't be there.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on November 17, 2014, 07:09:22 PM
Was this on a clean install of the OS? If so, check your other passwords - the majority are stored in your login keychain, so if it's brand new, they won't be there.

No, it was on my wife's iMac after moving WeatherCat from my iMac until I can get it properly sorted after wiping the partition and reinstalling the OS clean. I know that Weathercloud was running after I moved WeatherCat. It ran for a couple of days before I upgraded to Build 39.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Felix on November 18, 2014, 09:33:28 AM
I've had no problems other than the Version 2.xx DST issues highlighted in another thread.

Please raise it as a bug in the bugs forum along with any screenshots you have  [tup]

I'm pretty sure you have it on your list of bugs to be squashed, Stu, at least you told me it was when I sent some notes and screen shots earlier during the development. I was just trying to get a feel for when the DST bug might make the way to the top of the list (http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=1479.0) since some of the recent builds were squashing 'nits' and this is a bit more important for folks who use the data beyond hobby purposes. Anyway, as a memory jogger ref the shots below, according to the WC Data Viewer yesterday was a 25-hour day...it started at 2305 hours (actually the day prior) and ended at 2359 hours.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/Felix01/11-17-14-start.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/Felix01/11-17-14-end-1.jpg)

I'm not a programmer but I assume you internally use GMT time because once the date passes to the next GMT date, the data gets magically sorted out again. Unfortunately, that doesn't help folks several time zones away who use the data in real time.

And as I noted in the thread referenced above, this also affects the Query feature outputs...but not always and I haven't been able to sort out the common parameter.

I'll also move this over to the bug sub-forum per your request.
Title: THW-Index
Post by: wurzelmac on December 01, 2014, 03:20:49 PM
Hello all,
a question about THW-Index: WeatherCloud shows this Index always as shown in the attached screenshot, but WeatherCat reports valid values in the Live Data section. Is it possible that this values were not uploaded to WeatherCloud? Thanks for any help in this one.
Cheers,
Reinhard
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: WCDev on December 01, 2014, 04:53:49 PM
Correct, this data is not uploaded (WeatherCat doesn't have it). Maybe they are going to calculate it sometime in the future?
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on December 01, 2014, 05:42:21 PM
Reinhard,

You probably already know this, but you can turn off the THW Index in Weathercloud settings, but rather than not displaying the Index, it is simply grayed out, which is easier for coding but not great for visual effect.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: wurzelmac on December 02, 2014, 11:53:55 AM
Thanks, Chaps.

I was irritated because my Live Data do show THW - but this one is made by a synthetic channel by myself  :-[

And yes, Blick, I usually greyed out THW in WeatherCloud. I was just curious if there is a possibility to upload the data from the synth channel.

Maybe they are going to calculate it sometime in the future?
It is possible to show the THSW index on the VP2 Console (but only with added solar sensor on the ISS): Press 2nd and HEAT you get the Heat Index, press another time 2nd and HEAT then it shows the THSW Index. Isn't THW and THSW the same? So those of us who own a solar sensor THSW is calculated - we only need to read out this data within WeatherCat.

Cheers,
Reinhard
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: wurzelmac on December 02, 2014, 12:06:25 PM
See page 21 in the (english) manual of Vantage Pro2!

Cheers,
Reinhard
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on December 02, 2014, 03:23:20 PM
When I first opened my Weathercloud account, I looked at the Vantage manual and saw that THSW was calculated and available on the console. I assumed that WeatherCat was uploading that to Weathercloud. I didn't realize that was not the case until I read Stu's comment.

Isn't THW and THSW the same? So those of us who own a solar sensor THSW is calculated - we only need to read out this data within WeatherCat.

THW is calculated by using temperature, humidity and wind, which is apparently what they have in mind at Weathercloud. Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus units calculate the THSW using temperature, humidity, sun and wind, which is slightly different than THW as it takes into account the effect of sunshine on the index.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Steve on December 02, 2014, 03:34:44 PM
Also, from previous discussions, the calculated THSW on the console is not included in the data sent out to the computer, so WeatherCat never receives anything to display.

Steve
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: wurzelmac on December 02, 2014, 05:08:40 PM
Also, from previous discussions, the calculated THSW on the console is not included in the data sent out to the computer, so WeatherCat never receives anything to display.

OK, I didn't know this, sorry for any confusion I caused.  :-[

THW is calculated by using temperature, humidity and wind, which is apparently what they have in mind at Weathercloud. Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus units calculate the THSW using temperature, humidity, sun and wind, which is slightly different than THW as it takes into account the effect of sunshine on the index.

Thanks for clarifying things.  :)

Cheers,
Reinhard
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on December 02, 2014, 05:11:32 PM
Also, from previous discussions, the calculated THSW on the console is not included in the data sent out to the computer, so WeatherCat never receives anything to display.

Steve, did this post turn out to be incorrect? http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=14684.msg145883#msg145883
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Steve on December 02, 2014, 05:56:56 PM
I don't know. Here was our previous feature request on adding THSW as a tag. http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=46.0

It is interspersed with some non-related debate about the need for said request, so feel free to skip all that. At the time, common knowledge was that the console didn't send the data. Your linked post was only a month later, but I don't remember reading it. If Stu is interested in adding THSW, he might look to see whether there is indeed data included as described on Loop2.

Quote
Quote from: smorris on February 16, 2012, 07:14:23 PM
The Davis VP2 console calculates it if you have the solar sensor (which I do) but does not include it in the packet feed to weather software.

Actually it does in the so called LOOP2 packet (actually a REV B, type 2 packet). Support for that packet type is very limited though as Davis has yet to update their serial documentation with the specs for this packet.

Steve
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: xairbusdriver on April 16, 2015, 12:22:02 AM
Quote
Weathercloud has changed the name of the password field from Password to Key
One of my 'Pet Peeves'. If I had a nickel for every different label for "password"... or 'username', 'ID', etc. [banghead]

Onward to less irritating concerns: What was the amount of time between signing up for WeatherCloud and being 'approved' for you guys? I understand they are not exactly a million $/?/?/? company (if they are even organized as one) yet. "Volunteers" often take a bit more time for this kind of thing. I signed up Monday afternoon, probably well after 'office hours' there. Just wondering...
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on April 16, 2015, 05:11:13 AM
XAir:

I can't remember exactly, but it seemed like I was up and running within a couple of days. Weathercloud made a lot of improvements quickly when they first went live, but they haven't done anything since then. Parts of their site haven't ever worked. They have kind of a different look and feel and I like what they started. They just haven't done anything with it since then. Be patient and eventually they will read their email.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: wurzelmac on April 16, 2015, 12:20:44 PM
They announced Beta 4 via Twitter two weeks ago.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: xairbusdriver on April 16, 2015, 03:24:46 PM
I'm not a "Twit"! Not sure how any Month Python fan could ever be...  [roll] [spin]

I'll just try to be patient!!! [bounce] [banghead] [goofy]

"rounded corners"?! What's the point?!! :o
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: wurzelmac on April 21, 2015, 05:20:14 PM
OK, they are out with Beta 4 (http://blog.weathercloud.net/?p=1320) - some nice improvements.

Cheers,
Reinhard
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on April 21, 2015, 06:26:14 PM
Beta 4 is a very nice package of improvements. They finally have all the features in the database working. It is nice to see they are still working on this. I like their graphics; everything is clean and simple.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: xairbusdriver on April 21, 2015, 08:39:17 PM
Still nothing from WeatherCloud, they must really be busy with the improvements. I do have several requests from a few "ladies" wanting to contact me, and some really enticing offers for some interesting drugs and clothes...
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: wurzelmac on May 12, 2015, 03:08:17 PM
http://blog.weathercloud.net/?p=1554

 :)
Cheers,
Reinhard
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on May 12, 2015, 03:22:29 PM
Still nothing from WeatherCloud, they must really be busy with the improvements.

If you never heard back from them, email them. They responded to every email I ever sent them. Their latest release is pretty darn good and I like their graphics better than AWEKAS.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: xairbusdriver on May 12, 2015, 09:36:15 PM
OK, they just may not like mine: donotspam at ... it's just so easy for people to understand on the phone! [rolleyes2] [lol] I have an entry in 1Password, so I know exactly when I signed up.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: xairbusdriver on May 13, 2015, 11:49:59 PM
Yesterday, I sent them a message about not hearing from them. Got a reply this AM that "We inform you that we have activated your account manually." Despite that, I could not sign IN. I used the "forgot password?" function and have not seen a response in the six hours after that. I also used the sign UP page and was told that both my username and email address were already in use... I kinda knew that.

Exactly what is it that the offer that is compelling? ??? They have very few sites in my State or even the surrounding ones, so I think I might be offering something useful. OTOH, I think they provide METAR data from any airport offering that, so there are many within a couple hundred miles of me. [rolleyes2]
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on May 14, 2015, 02:02:22 PM
It usually takes up to 24 hours after activation before you can see it and get into it. After that, send them another email.

I like their graphics. The design is neat, simple and very clean. My thinking on uploading to all the weather sites is: I have the data and am willing to share it if it helps someone who uses that service and wants to know what the weather is doing in someplace other than the airport. Therefore, I upload to all of them.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: xairbusdriver on May 14, 2015, 04:08:41 PM
They sent me a simple password that worked. They claim the Comcast is blocking the address they are send the 'acceptance' email to. Of course, it's exactly the same email that they are using to 'explain' the problem. :o At any rate, I used the new p/w and logged in. Immediately went to the Change P/W area and changed it; "Your password change has not been saved." OK, I went back and noticed that my "Profile" was basically empty, so I completed that and it was saved... progress. :)

Went back and successfully changed the p/w. 1Password saved it, also. Logged out. Closed the page/tab. Counted to 16 in hexadecimal. Typed in 'weathercloud.net' and clicked the Sign in button. Allowed 1Password to insert the info (and automatically press the enter button). "You must be some thief! Don't try to fake our system with incorrect usernames and passwords!" The text may have been a bit different, but that was the jist of the red lettered warning.

Knowing that my simple username was correctly entered (I could see that, even without my glasses!), I astutely decided the password (hidden by the dots, of course) was the problem. The whole point of a password manager is to remember, store, and enter these increasingly long and absurdly impossible to remember things for us, so my first solution was to simply copy the p/w from 1Password and paste it into the sign in box. It worked, and why not? [banghead]

1Password as an option to simply insert the info but not virtually click the OK/Enter/Sign in/etc. button. That sometimes has to be done for some sites. Tried that; no change.

Second solution was to pause all blocking done by Ghostery. Some sites like to collect data from all sorts of data aggregators and advertisers always want an eyeball count. It's so nice to feel needed... alas, that didn't help.

The only way I can sign in, which will be only very rarely, I hope, is to copy and paste the password.

I also changed my contact email address to a non-Comcast domain, hopefully, the WeatherCloud can use Apple's system. ::)

I agree that their presentation is nice, if quite large. I suppose everyone but me uses their browsers at full screen... I think Windows tends to do that automatically for all apps, for some reason, never made sense to me. Oh well, enough ranting, and complaining.

Oh, yeah, my data was displayed as close to immediately as possible after entering the WeatherCloud info in WeatherCat! Seems the only thing that you complained about as a minor annoyance has been corrected! [cheer] I think they must be listening to you! ;D And, to be fair, once I 'reminded' them I was trying to share with them, they were quick to respond. I'm just upset about other things, today!! I'll be better after another cup of coffee, I promise! [blush] [coffee]

BTW, I think this will bring up the data for my station: <HLT Station (http://app.weathercloud.net/d1856591708#profile)>
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on May 14, 2015, 04:37:04 PM
Counted to 16 in hexadecimal.

Best line of the day. ⬆️

I use LastPass and it too requires one to copy and paste passwords on a few sites. It's not the end of the world, as we know it (with apologies to R.E.M.).

Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: xairbusdriver on May 15, 2015, 05:41:03 PM
Quote
It's not the end of the world, as we know it
I guess I can take comfort in that. What this is is called poor UX design, how will the User eXperience your site? It's not the same as UI, the site is pleasing enough and neat. Passwords are a part of our lives, failing to make it as convenient as possible is simply a failure to know what happens to your users when they visit. Making things "secure" is not an excuse for poor planning and design criteria. Fortunately, I will rarely, if ever, again, be needing to 'log in'.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: xairbusdriver on May 25, 2015, 12:17:33 AM
Has anyone added weathercloud info to your web site? The Leuven template has a "Partnership" section that lists over a dozen places we can share weather data. Most have descriptions. weathercloud doesn't. Nor does Anything Weather or United States Weather Group. Since I'm now sharing at weathercloud, I'd like to add a description of them. I have a link to their "About us" page, but I don't want to duplicate (plagiarize?) that. I'm just wondering if anyone here has created any description.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on May 25, 2015, 01:22:59 AM
This is what I have on my page:

Weathercloud is a real-time weather social network formed by more than 4,500 weather observers from around the world. It is based in the European Union, is available in 10 languages, including English, and has very nice graphics. This data is updated every 10 minutes.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: xairbusdriver on May 25, 2015, 02:04:01 AM
 Consice, useful, look for it soon on a site near you! :D
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: xairbusdriver on May 30, 2015, 01:59:16 AM
I hadn't checked email for several hours this afternoon, and when I did, I noticed a message from WU (4:20pm) saying my data was now back online. OK. Then I noticed I had an earlier message from them (3:20pm) saying they had not received any data for two hours! Really?! :o Visiting my data on their site, I can see no break in the history, at least no flat lines or breaks in the graphed lines. ???

As best I can tell from looking at the 5_WeatherCatData.cat file, there is a constant stream of data from, I assume, the Console/ISS.

I think this may be a buffer problem at WU. They seem to have finally collected the data and computed the graphs with something! [rolleyes2] Maybe even a 'notification' glitch? Just "wundering". :P
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on May 30, 2015, 08:28:42 AM
To my knowledge, WU is the only service that uploads your historical data after re-establishing a connection. Hence, you see no break in the data.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: WCDev on May 30, 2015, 10:51:23 AM
Yes, if WeatherCat can't contact the WU server (for whatever reason), it will upload the missing data when it re-establishes contact. Similar operation for when WeatherCat starts up - it'll upload data to fill the hole for the period it wasn't running.

There's a checkbox in the Wunderground preferences (upload historical data).

Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: xairbusdriver on May 30, 2015, 03:26:50 PM
I shoulda known Stu already had this covered [cheer] for those lazy coders at WU. [rolleyes2] OK, they aren't as lazy as me. [blush] And they probably have more to do than worry about missing data that might very well be a problem at the sharers end.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on June 19, 2015, 04:02:15 PM
Weathercloud has just added a couple of nice improvements in their latest iteration.

http://blog.weathercloud.net/?p=1731
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: awilltx on June 19, 2015, 07:03:48 PM
I'm starting to like Weathercloud more and more. They are certainly more reliable than WU and the interface is not to bad to boot.

Good for them AND us!

Alan
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: wurzelmac on June 19, 2015, 07:19:03 PM
Thanks Blick,

I got an email from them, too. I like those improvements, and I like the way they display our weather data.  :)

Cheers,
Reinhard
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on June 19, 2015, 11:56:51 PM
Reinhard, I agree. Version 1.0 wasn't much to shout about, but they are becoming one of my favourites. They have a really simple, but elegant interface.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: xairbusdriver on June 28, 2016, 07:53:07 PM
Got another email from WeatherCloud touting it's ?eta 6 build. All I could see was no data from my uploads, a confusing "Report" showing weird temps, and a non-operational "Plots" that ran for over 30 minutes without ever showing anything. A "work in progress" alright. ;)
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: Blicj11 on July 01, 2016, 02:59:27 PM
Except for the fact that Weathercloud does not automatically support plotting in Safari, I am really impressed with their site. In just two years, they have picked up more than 7,000 personal weather stations, have continually improved their graphics and now they have made a nice improvement to their server speed. Their graphics are clean and simple and much improved over their first version.

Unfortunately, if you use Safari, you have to make a manual change to the date range when you want to display a plot. Their default date ranges use a dash for the separator and Safari requires a slash. For example, if you manually change the date from 2016-07-01 to 2017/07/01, the plot displays properly in Safari. They are trying to find a way to fix this without undoing how they support PC users.

I congratulate them on their efforts to improve their service.
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: xairbusdriver on July 01, 2016, 05:44:04 PM
Nice graphics, faster servers, more stations are all nice, but unless the site is functional it will never be complete nor successful.
Quote
if you use Safari, you have to make a manual change to the date range when you want to display a plot.
Yes, that does work. But it should be a matter for their server to figure out, not something the user must modify. Not sure how they can blame Safari, it's just one browser that uses the WebKit engine. That's just a very important function of designing the user interface! [removed link to the now castly photobucket.com site] No matter what he back end language, user inputs should be able to consider any 'normal' format. And it's even more unjustifiable when you provide a 'placeholder' showing a format hat doesn't work!

One "help" might be to put that "clue" on the Plots page! At a minimum, the acceptable formats should be displayed on the page! ("YYYY/MM/DD", "YYYY-MM-DD", " :)/ 8)/ ;D",etc.) There are probably only about two dozen REGEX scripts already available for any language running on the server and certainly on the client machine via javascript. [banghead] This is just part of what Edouad has been talking about.

How did you find out about that? Don't tell me you found it in the "manual"! [rolleyes2]
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: wurzelmac on July 02, 2016, 11:54:21 AM
I can't complain about Weathercloud, in the contrary I am impressed about them! Not one single item on their site that does not work as it should, at least here on my side.

 [tup]
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: xairbusdriver on July 02, 2016, 04:27:43 PM
So you don't need to reformat the dates to get a plot to work with Safari? Or Firefox? ;D

Here are some details I've found. The date fields all have html form code similar to this:
Code: [Select]
<input id="plot-select-date-start" type="date"
min='2016-02-01' max='2016-07-02' value="2016-07-02"
style="width:98%;"></input>
What appears in the field when you first open the page is the "value" attribute. It is obviously created, probably on the server (likely php) as the current date. Granted, there is a tremendous amount of javascript and it could be done that way. The point is, the 'format' is displayed with "-" as the 'correct/appropriate/approved' separator for the year, month and day of the month. This html is what is sent to every browser (although I can't currently see the source in an iPhone). There is even this in the <head> area:
Code: [Select]
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">That implies, to me, that WeatherCloud does not need/use a separate "mobile site" (because it doesn't need to, all css is likely built for small screens first, so it can easily scale to any size window/hardware).

However, there is still some "browser sniffing" because Opera changes the display of the date input "value" as seen in the browser. I don't see any user settings in that app, so I can only assume that one of the dozens of javascripts does this only in Opera (or other browser I haven't checked).
In Opera (which now also uses Web Kit) the date is formatted with "/" instead of "-".

My point is, proper coding should be used to protect the site from code injection to help prevent the site from being hacked. I will assume Weather Cloud does that. There are already methods, in every coding language I've ever heard of, that provide that code. This tangentially protects the user/viewer from visiting a 'dangerous' (phishing, malware downloading, etc.) site.

But "proper" coding also checks for properly formatted data. Phone numbers may need to allow non-USA numbers. Is it allows to have the area code surrounded by "(" and ")"? Are the numbers allowed to use "." or only "-" to separate the area code, prefix and last four numbers? Etc., etc., etc. Additionally, "allowing" different input of the data, doesn't mean that its "stored" format has to be the same.

The least a site can do, if only one format is allowed, is to display that format so it can be seen even as the user is entering the data. Another way is to select the part of the data that the user wants to edit. In this case, Opera automatically highlights the year, month or day when the user clicks in any of those areas. FF and Safari just place the cursor where the user clicks. I suspect this is simply different levels of support for HTML5. Opera also provides a mini-calendar to select the entire date; that's a function of the new possible capabilities of HTML5.

I'm not knocking WeatherCloud's improvements, I just think they seem to be more concerned about "look" than "feel". Apparently others have figured out how to 'make' the plots to work, despite no visible info from WeatherCloud. Frankly, blaming the problem on "PC-centric coding" is disingenuous and misleading. :)
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: wurzelmac on July 02, 2016, 05:21:58 PM
Hello xairbusdriver,

I am afraid I cannot follow . . .

When I open my station within Weathercloud I do have nothing to reformat or similar actions (tested with Safari, Chrome, Firefox): Sign in, choose my station, let me show all my data how I want it to be presented to me.

You talk about plotting, do you mean what I do have attached as screenshot?

Cheers,
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: xairbusdriver on July 03, 2016, 04:04:58 AM
I'm not referring to how Weather Cloud displays your regularly reported data.

Here's the "Plot" icon that is only available after you have logged in.
[removed link to the now castly photobucket.com site]
I made the window vary narrow so you can see the whole nav/menu bar.
When the window is wider, the icons also have text labels next to them.

This is what I see in Safari and Firefox:
[removed link to the now castly photobucket.com site]
If one does not edit the date formatting, the site simply enters an endless loop. [banghead]
If the formatting is changed (each "-" is replaced with "/") the plot proceeds normally. [removed link to the now castly photobucket.com site]
Opera, however, automagically displays the dates with "/" so no editing is required. [cheer]

That's why I'm saying this is a browser problem not a hardware (PC vs Mac) problem. In my humble opinion, it is a web coding problem. But I know what my opinion is worth...  [lol]
Hope that helps. BTW, if anyone has a 'trick' or a setting in Safari that fixes this, please post it here. I hav bin rong mor then wonce thiz yeer! [blush]
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: wurzelmac on July 04, 2016, 06:24:39 PM
Ok, xair - I think I can follow now...  ;)

You are right, in Safari there is something wrong. But it works good for me in Chrome (my main Browser) as it does in Firefox, too. Because of this little things that are not working in Safari I changed to Chrome a few months ago. There were too much websites that worked flawless with Chrome but not with Safari. ???
Title: Re: Weathercloud
Post by: xairbusdriver on July 04, 2016, 10:39:02 PM
Quote
You are right
If you don't mind, I'm printing that quotation on a large banner! [cheer] I'll hang it in front of where she uses her computer. Don't worry, I won't give her your location or even your screen name! [lol]

I agree it's frustrating keeping up with which browser can do what. I was attempting to watch a NASA site this morning about Juno (the space craft). There was a nice video that could allow one to click and drag your cursor to see different views... as long as you were using FF or Chrome, but not Safari. Plus, there was audio from somewhere else on the page. The only volume control I could see was on the video. But even after stopping the vid, I could still hear the audio. I did discover, in Safari, I could control-click the tab label and get a "Mute this Tab" option. Unfortunately, as soon as I started the vid, both sound sources started up! Even with two ears, I had trouble understanding both 'conversations'! [banghead]