Show HN: Mobile Aviation Weather

#1

Post by steven777400 » Fri, Oct 17, 2014, 4:41 PM UTC

Show HN: Mobile Aviation Weather
metars.mobi

Re: Show HN: Mobile Aviation Weather

#2

Post by steven777400 » Fri, Oct 17, 2014, 4:45 PM UTC

This isn't a general-audience type of project, but I think we have some pilots on HN so they might be interested. In general, I haven't made a personal tech project (outside of work) in years. So I finally got motivated by scratching my own itch, which is really all that is intended here.

Ever since aviationweather.gov redid their website to be much more feature-full, I've found it very difficult to use on my very slow Android 2 phone with a tiny screen. So I decided what I really wanted was a geo-located METAR/TAF display. "Just the facts", so to speak.

I also added color-coding so that I can easily pick out the bad conditions from the rest of the data.

I wouldn't ever expect this to have a wide audience since every pilot I know also has a late-model iPhone with a variety of aviation apps. But it serves a need for me, and more importantly, it got me back into hobbyist development (at least for a little while).

Re: Show HN: Mobile Aviation Weather

#3

Post by verystealthy » Fri, Oct 17, 2014, 7:50 PM UTC

steven777400 wrote: post #2

This isn't a general-audience type of project, but I think we have some pilots on HN so they might be interested. In general, I haven't made a personal tech project (outside of work) in years. So I finally got motivated by scratching my own itch, which is really all that is intended here. Ever since aviationweather.gov redid their website to be much more feature-full, I've found it very difficult to use on my very sl…

Well done. I can see this working well for aviation enthusiasts (i.e. X-Plane folks) who like to use real world data. However, METAR/TAF are not the friendliest of formats. Have you considered including a METAR/TAF decoder?

Re: Show HN: Mobile Aviation Weather

#4

Post by jzawodn » Fri, Oct 17, 2014, 7:58 PM UTC

Nice. Well done.

I'll try it next time I'm flying.

Re: Show HN: Mobile Aviation Weather

#5

Post by hightowk » Fri, Oct 17, 2014, 7:59 PM UTC

Great start on combining local data. Do you use flight services? They have made some changes to automatically parse and display this data in an easy to see format, and it is free. https://www.1800wxbrief.com/afss/#!/next-generation-briefing...

They can also notify you of changes in your briefing, even when you are in the air. https://www.1800wxbrief.com/afss/#!/adverse-condition-alerti...

Re: Show HN: Mobile Aviation Weather

#6

Post by jjwiseman » Fri, Oct 17, 2014, 8:15 PM UTC

How to read METARs: http://www.wunderground.com/metarFAQ.asp

Re: Show HN: Mobile Aviation Weather

#7

Post by steven777400 » Fri, Oct 17, 2014, 8:29 PM UTC

hightowk wrote: post #5

Great start on combining local data. Do you use flight services? They have made some changes to automatically parse and display this data in an easy to see format, and it is free. https://www.1800wxbrief.com/afss/#!/next-generation-briefing... They can also notify you of changes in your briefing, even when you are in the air. https://www.1800wxbrief.com/afss/#!/adverse-condition-alerti...

So far I only get data from aviationweather.gov's data service. It doesn't support CORS so I have to proxy it (and transform it from XML to JSON), but other than that I don't do anything else server side.

Edit: I might have misinterpreted your comment. I do use flight service and their email based easyactivate/easyclose flight plans. I don't usually use them for weather information though.

Re: Show HN: Mobile Aviation Weather

#8

Post by steven777400 » Fri, Oct 17, 2014, 8:30 PM UTC

verystealthy wrote: post #3

steven777400 wrote: post #2

This isn't a general-audience type of project, but I think we have some pilots on HN so they might be interested. In general, I haven't made a personal tech project (outside of work) in years. So I finally got motivated by scratching my own itch, which is really all that is intended here. Ever since aviationweather.gov redid their website to be much more feature-full, I've found it very difficult to use on my very sl…

Well done. I can see this working well for aviation enthusiasts (i.e. X-Plane folks) who like to use real world data. However, METAR/TAF are not the friendliest of formats. Have you considered including a METAR/TAF decoder?

The data that I get from the web service does include a breakdown of the specific conditions (not a human readable translation, but enough to generate one). So far I haven't implemented that since I can read METARs myself. I'd want to be careful not to consume too much screen real estate. Something to think about for sure.

Re: Show HN: Mobile Aviation Weather

#9

Post by steven777400 » Fri, Oct 17, 2014, 8:31 PM UTC

jzawodn wrote: post #4

Nice. Well done. I'll try it next time I'm flying.

Thanks

Re: Show HN: Mobile Aviation Weather

#10

Post by steven777400 » Fri, Oct 17, 2014, 8:35 PM UTC

verystealthy wrote: post #3

steven777400 wrote: post #2

This isn't a general-audience type of project, but I think we have some pilots on HN so they might be interested. In general, I haven't made a personal tech project (outside of work) in years. So I finally got motivated by scratching my own itch, which is really all that is intended here. Ever since aviationweather.gov redid their website to be much more feature-full, I've found it very difficult to use on my very sl…

Well done. I can see this working well for aviation enthusiasts (i.e. X-Plane folks) who like to use real world data. However, METAR/TAF are not the friendliest of formats. Have you considered including a METAR/TAF decoder?

Addendum: I did put the "about x minutes/hours" old thing on the data because of all the parts, the Zulu time is the one I consistently do have trouble with. :)