Real time local obs reporting page
Bob Hart
Adam Gaffin said...
>One long-term solution for this is to find a friendly Unix/Web programmer
>who can build you some scripts and a WAIS engine for a World-Wide Web page --
>and a provider willing to host a weather page (you might even talk to the
>meteorology departments at local universities about this). That way, people
>with reports could connect to the Web server and fill out a simple form. This
>would be immediately added to the database, which somebody else could then
>come in to browse or search (so people in Maine could limit their search to
>just Maine points, for example).
I'll volunteer to set up such a page... where internet users could access
the web page to either enter an observation or browse others' observations.
However, I would like some feedback from everyone on a few specifics...
* Why not have the page accessible to the whole nation, so that a person
from any state could enter an observation.
* The data could then be split into regional and state groups, so that
quick browsing of data in your region is possible.
* Types of data to be entered could be as follows:
- State, City, Time
- Temperature
- Wind direction and speed
- Pressure
- Sky
- Weather conditions (fog, precip, etc)
- Remarks (i.e., precip totals, visib, snowcover, etc)
Obviously, a user would enter only what he/she can enter.
Any additional conditions you would like to see included?
Any suggestions or comments?
How much support is there for such a page?
-Bob Hart
Penn State Meteo
reh...@psuvm.psu.edu
Dave Wheeler
> Adam Gaffin said...
This is an idea that I find _very_ interesting!
I would like to see something like this appear for this side of the
Atlantic as well. At the moment, because the UK Met Office releases
none of its data (unless you pay for it) it is easier for me to get a
weather observation from Antarctica than it is to get one from the UK
(other than my own <g>)!
Here in the British Isles we have a dedicated group of amateur
observers already exchanging weather data through the Climatological
Observers Link (their data is published in a monthly bulletin). The
'Net would be an ideal place to exchange this and real-time data.
There would be difficulties - 'quality' control for example.
Observations would be made by observers of varying experience. Some
might have no equipment, but still want to contribute, while others
might have a station fully equiped to professional standards. How
about a 'grading' system for observations?
Dave
--
Dave Wheeler e-mail Internet: dave.w...@zetnet.co.uk
Fair Isle, Shetland Compuserve: 70374,225
Scotland ZE2 9JU Voice: (+44) 0595-760-224 Fax: (+44) 0595-760-252
pkl...@laurel.ocs.mq.edu.au
>I'll volunteer to set up such a page... where internet users could access
>the web page to either enter an observation or browse others' observations.
.
> * Why not have the page accessible to the whole nation, so that a person
> from any state could enter an observation.
Why not the whole world?
> * The data could then be split into regional and state groups, so that
> quick browsing of data in your region is possible.
>
> * Types of data to be entered could be as follows:
> - State, City, Time
.
.
.
> Obviously, a user would enter only what he/she can enter.
> Any additional conditions you would like to see included?
>
>Any suggestions or comments?
Include links to Automatic Weather Stations that are already on the Web.
I have a list (of three) at:
http://atmos.es.mq.edu.au/weather/
(one of these is here, in Sydney: http://atmos.es.mq.edu.au:80/aws/)
Does anyone know of any more?
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Dr Peter Love Tel: +61 2 850 9677 (work - office)
School of Earth Sciences +61 2 850 8426 (work - Phys. Geog. Sec.)
Macquarie University Fax: +61 2 850 8428
North Ryde e-mail: pkl...@cic.mq.edu.au
AUSTRALIA 2109 http: http://atmos.es.mq.edu.au/~pklove
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