Messages

1

Contributions / Re: 'WeatherScan' like app now in beta preview

« on: April 29, 2020, 08:29:53 AM »

Roly,

Thanks for reaching out.  You're right about it taking some time to load the content to mobile devices.  She's a pretty good size web app by the time it loads all of the assets.  It gets better as you start to have some cache'd content though.

I'm dismayed to hear about your ZIP code.  I thought we were past all of those issues.  Do you mind sharing your ZIP code with me?  I'd like to check it out.

Thanks!
Scott

2

Contributions / Re: 'WeatherScan' like app now in beta preview

« on: January 17, 2020, 04:55:23 PM »

Thanks again for the kind words, everyone.  Jonathon - you are right.  We've been able to incorporate a number of your suggestions into the app so far.  We're continuing to work on additional features and bug fixes.

Speaking of which we've just updated the beta.  Here are the changes:

• New threaded implementation of our real-time updates.  This helps cut down on the screen pausing or hiccuping when the app is getting new information (warnings, radar, sat, etc.).  Those updates now happen in their own thread and then appear in the app the moment they are issued.
• Added snow squall warnings to the 'EAS' mode where we read the warning and leave the radar up until the warning expires.  We now enter that mode for Tornado Warnings, Severe Thunderstorm Warnings, Flash Flood Warnings, and Snow Squall Warnings.
• Revamped the 'EAS' mode so that a new/updated storm warning coming in will only interrupt the one being read if it's more important.  For instance - if a severe thunderstorm warning is being read and a tornado warning comes in, it will interrupt.  It will read the tornado warning first, then go back and re-read the severe thunderstorm warning that it pre-empted.
• Changed wording on active alerts screens to show midnight and noon rather than 12:00 am and 12:00 pm.
• Added the temperature trend to the extended forecast.  For instance, if temperatures are expected to fall through the day you will see a down arrow next to the high temp for that day.

I sure appreciate all the kind words and hope everyone can continue to test the app for us and provide any feedback or suggestions.

Thanks!
Scott

3

Contributions / Re: 'WeatherScan' like app now in beta preview

« on: January 08, 2020, 02:40:49 PM »

luesjo12 - Thanks again for the report on your zip code and the missing city.  It helped me discover an inconsistency in the data for places and correct it.  You should see McAllen now.  It's also correcting / adding almost 600 other places.

I appreciate the heads up!

Take care!
Scott

4

Contributions / Re: 'WeatherScan' like app now in beta preview

« on: January 08, 2020, 08:04:30 AM »

Everblack and luesjo12 - I sure hope neither of you felt I was bothered by your feedback.  Just the opposite - I'm very happy to have it.  There have only been a few people who have seen the project so far and I'm anxious for additional opinions and suggestions.

luesjo12 - I'm concerned about what you mentioned with your zip code.  To be honest that sounds like a bug and I want to get it addressed.  I'll take a look and see what I can figure out.  McAllen certainly should be in there as a city.  I appreciate you letting me know.

Thanks again, guys!  I really do appreciate any feedback.  Even negative feedback is OK.  We really are committed to doing whatever we can to make this little app of ours as useful as possible.  In order to do that we need other opinions besides our own.  After staring at it for hundreds of hours over the course of a year you develop a type of tunnel vision that sometimes makes things hard to notice.

Scott

5

Contributions / Re: 'WeatherScan' like app now in beta preview

« on: January 07, 2020, 02:20:35 PM »

Thanks for the kind words, everyone!  I really appreciate you taking the time to check it out.  Here are my thoughts on a couple of things mentioned:

• We do use NWS data.  Fortunately, we have been able to build out the servers to ingest and store it so we are not very reliant on the NWS servers themselves which tend to have capacity issues during severe weather.
  
• The location choosing has been something we've gone back and forth on.  The reason it offers that second selection with all those locations is that in some areas of the country the zip code encompasses a *huge* area.  We're hoping to be more specific than that.  We want it to be local to you - whether you live in a tiny town or a big city.
  
• For those of you looking for Smooth Jazz - Once the app is up and running press the left arrow key on your keyboard or Fire TV remote.  It will open a menu.  You'll see an option there to change the music to smooth jazz.
  
• That ticker at the bottom has almost been the death of me.  We're using a video game engine to get the graphics to the point they are.  Getting that crawler running smoothly has caused us to evaluate half a dozen different engines.  You wouldn't think so but it turns out a smooth crawling ticker is incredibly difficult.  The one we have isn't perfect, but it's as close as we've been able to get.

I'll be sure to keep this group updated as we make changes and might even run a couple of polls asking for what we should be adding next.

Thanks again everyone for the kind words.  If you think of things we should add please don't hesitate to let me know.

Take care!
Scott

6

Contributions / 'WeatherScan' like app now in beta preview

« on: January 07, 2020, 10:07:04 AM »

Hello all!

I wanted to introduce myself and a project I've been working on that I think you all might be interested in.  I checked with the admin here before posting and in no way mean this as spam.  I'm hoping for your honest feedback.

I have been heartbroken to see what TWC has done with the LOT8s and the discontinuation of WeatherScan (for the most part) and wanted a replacement.  So two of us spent the last year working in our spare time on developing something similar without being an emulator.  It has the feel of WeatherScan but uses no copyrighted materials at all and adds some features they didn't have.

It's called ivuWeather (pronounced 'I View Weather') and it features:

• Current Conditions
• Local and Regional Radar
• Satellite
• Storm Prediction Center outlooks *
• 4 Periods of text forecasts
• Extended Forecast
• Almanac Data
• All Weather Alerts *
• Real time severe weather coverage *

* items with a star only show if active for your area.

I'd be very anxious to hear this group's thoughts on the project.  If you'd like instructions for how to test it on your FireTV device (we will be launching as an app there) please sign up at http://www.ivuweather.com and instructions will be sent right away.

If you'd rather just preview it on the web you can visit http://app.ivuweather.com/index.html and enter your zip code.

It's still somewhat a work in process but we feel we are nearing completion.  Please let us know what you think.  We're dedicated to making this a viable alternative for those of us who miss being able to see the weather in this format.

Thanks in advance!
Scott
ivuWeather