ThirdAveWind, NEWS!
[May 18, 2015] The weather instrument went offline on May 5. I believe this is due to the changing of our host form EFI
to Gilead. We had been using a wireless broadband router with a Verizon data plan, so it isn't the internet that was lost
but, probably, that someone physically disconnected the console and server from power without informing us. That is very
unfortunate but easily remedied as long as they didn't destroy or remove our equipment. I'll be returning the new webcam
to Gilead soon and should be able to find out what happened to the weather console and server then, and hopefully get
the weather service up and running again.
[August 14, 2013] Someone asked me the other day what time scale is on the hourly history for ThirdAveWind. He was
convinced that the scale is UTC. I said I'd check. In fact, the scale in the data is simply 'hourly', and there are
24 data points for speed, direction, and temperature (etc., but not graphed in the app). So hour 0 is the present and
hour 24 is 24 hours ago. Now, the question might still be asked as to what 'now' refers to. 'Now' would not really
matter what time zone or time convention is used, since 'now' is still 'now'. The way time and date are displayed
could be (and would be) impacted by the timezone, but the graph histories are not.
The good news is that ThirdAveWind has been rewritten to support iOS 6 and the iPad, and some features have been
added. I'll try to get the fixed/new version up to the App Store as soon as possible.
ThirdAveWind, Current Version is 5.7
ThirdAveWind is an iPhone application that is dedicated to monitoring the Third Avenue kiteboarding and
sailboarding weather instrument mounted on top of the Electronics for Imaging (soon to be Gilead Sciences) building
in Foster City, CA.
The weather instrument being used is a Davis Vantage Pro2, and the weather information is served using a
Meteohub weather server. The data is collected every 15 seconds (or so) and posted in Weather Display Live format
to the Arbor-Studios website. The data is acquired on the same schedule by the iPhone application.
ThirdAveWind displays different background images and audio based on wind speed and direction.
The default setting for audio is OFF as a consideration to those who might be checking conditions at 3rd during
meetings.
The information screen shows some more of the data that is available through the Davis Vantage Pro2. More may
be added in the future.
Release History
5.3
- Updated tide string calculations to accommodate NOAAs new reporting using world time zones (LST) rather that PST/PDT.
- Fixed discrepancy between iPad and iPhone where iPad showed the current pressure and humidity values on meters and iPhone did not.
- Other minor graphical fixes.
5.2
- Changed how audio works so that it quits when leaving the application.
- Other minor graphical fixes.
5.0
- Ported into 4.2 sdk/iOS 5.0 with support for storyboarding and arc/rce.
- Added support for iPad.
- Achieved support for orientation changes.
- Other minor graphical fixes.
4.8
- Changed mechanism for navigation controllers.
- Added support for magnifying glass in history views.
- Other minor graphical fixes.
4.1
- Fixed a problem in tide data acquisition that was stuck on 2010 data.
- Updated precipitation graphics to new (test tube) format.
- Other minor fixes, graphical.
4.0
- Upgraded to support iOS 4.0.
- Updated dial graphics to look more 3 dimensional.
- Updated the wind history to include wind direction.
- Eliminated the gust display and gust history tab.
- Replace the gust display with a meter display that shows a barometric pressure meter and a humidity meter.
- Replaced the gust history display with a gauge that shows a precipitation gauge, a cloudbase gauge, and a tide gauge.
3.3
- Changed the wind speed display to use instantaneous (gust) speed rather than average speed.
- Reduced the animation duration from 5 to 3 seconds and changed to using a constant.
- Changed the wind history legend to say current and average rather than speed and gusts.
- Changed the URL to point to the tutorial rather than the A-S main page.
3.2
- Resolved issues with tide value parsing.
- Changed history views to use relative Y scales rather than absolute scales.
- Changed the history view line widths and colors to be consistent throughout.
- Changed the algorithm for selecting moon phase icons.
- Augmented the algorithm for selecting forecast icons to favor the selection of windy icons.
- Revised the forecast icon selection algorithm.
3.0
- Added history graphs for gust and temperature information.
- Moved all history graphs to the back of the dial views.
- Changed the locations of the help and info buttons.
- Added a background for times after sunset.
- Added a custom URL scheme so that TAW can be launched from ThirdAveView.
- Added tide information (previous, current, and next) to the sensor information view.
- Added sunrise, sunset, latitude, longitude, moonphase and forecast icons, windchill, cloudbase to the sensor information display.
- Added a tab to launch ThirdAveView. When selected, current wind direction, speed, tide type, and current tide value are sent
to ThirdAveView.
2.0
- Added dials for gusts and temperature, and added a wind/gust history graph.
- Changed the splash page image to use a photograph taken by Scott Ellington, a frequent visitor to Third Ave.
1.06
- First official version (i.e., first version on the App Store).
Citations
We would like to thank Scott Ellington for letting us use his photograph on our splash screen. We would also like to thank
Clark Beckstead for his photograph of 3rd Avenue looking toward Coyote Point at sunset.
Differences with Flash Weather Web Site
In April, 2010, an experimental version of ThirdAveWind (and ThirdAveSuite) was deployed
that eliminates the conversion from knots to mph for wind speed values. The
intention of this change was to accommodate the differences between observed
wind speed values on the EFI roof, where the weather sensors are located, and the
observed wind speed values at the corner by the sailboarding ramp. Since that
deployment the values displayed in these apps have been aligned much better with the observed
values at the sailboard ramp. In fact, the values in the apps now appear to be
between the values at the sailboard ramp and the values at the channel marker, whereas the values from the weather sensor align better with the values at the channel marker or values at the SFO sensor. As such, this change has been made
permanent, and users of ThirdAveWind and ThirdAveSuite should know that the values
displayed in these apps are not observed values but are intended to comply with
our goal of providing accurate information on the kiting/sailboarding conditions
at 3rd Avenue.
Proviso
ThirdAveWind was designed to work on Apple 3G-generation iPhones. It may or may not work with earlier iPhone models. If you
find that the application is crashing on startup please contact ArborStudios and we will try to help diagnose the problem
but there is a chance that the older phones just don't have the horsepower that ThirdAveWind requires to run.
Tutorial
A ThirdAveWind tutorial has been written to introduce the user to the features of this application and its use. Please select
the following link to view it: Tutorial.
Sample Images of Application
Future Plans/Improvements
- Maybe build a version that merges with ThirdAveView.
Space Provided By Hurricane Electric