Oh how I miss DarkSky, and accuracy in weather apps in general. I have no idea if it is AI or just enshitification, but wow, local temps are just always way off with Apple Weather and most other apps. This is important to me because I live in my van and I am talking about these apps being off 5 to 10 degrees. The only one that comes close is Accuweather but their interface is horrific. And forget about the widgets...just show me the highs and lows for the week and quit changing the layout like you think i know what I want, because you do not.
Eulogy for Dark Sky, a data visualization masterpiece (2023)
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Re: Eulogy for Dark Sky, a data visualization masterpiece (2023)
#32Dark Sky was a marvel, and when it first came out, its ability to say rain will start where you are in 2-3 minutes was a marvel. The information design argument is 100% valid, but I also marvel that, having bought the company, Apple's weather app still isn't as precise or accurate. I don't know whether Apple's privacy focus prevents them making the same precise predictions, or if there is some other reason they don't…
Kind of feel like watching Spiderman tonight and I don't know why hehe.
In all seriousness I heard some good things of dark sky. My current weather app is windy.com and I believe it's more built for surfers and such (??) - not sure what the best android weather app is.
Re: Eulogy for Dark Sky, a data visualization masterpiece (2023)
#33Dark Sky was a marvel, and when it first came out, its ability to say rain will start where you are in 2-3 minutes was a marvel. The information design argument is 100% valid, but I also marvel that, having bought the company, Apple's weather app still isn't as precise or accurate. I don't know whether Apple's privacy focus prevents them making the same precise predictions, or if there is some other reason they don't…
Yes! The ability to be outside, pull out your phone, and get an almost-to-the-minute awareness of when it was going to rain felt magical, right out of Back to the Future 2. I used this countless times.
So much of weather forecasting, at that time, was about trends and probabilities. DarkSky was about events, certainty, and action.
It was truly ahead of anything else and forced a new standard.
Re: Eulogy for Dark Sky, a data visualization masterpiece (2023)
#34So what happened with previous customers who (I'm presuming) paid for the app? Did their app keep running or were they given a refund? I am guessing it used publicly available weather data, but even then, if the server names changed (and support was ended), wouldn't the app quit working?
I paid for it and got nothing at all. I don't remember if the app quit working or if Apple force removed it from my phone.I felt absolutely scammed - it's literally the only app I've ever paid for.
It really sucks. Do they use the same data? I've noticed Apple Weather is substantially less accurate than Dark Sky. If Dark Sky told me it was going to rain in 10 minutes for 7 minutes, that's what was going to happen. If Apple Weather says it, well, maybe.
Re: Eulogy for Dark Sky, a data visualization masterpiece (2023)
#35Fortunately someone recreated a clone at https://merrysky.net , which was featured [1] on HN some time ago. I've used it daily since. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34155191
Great rec! Thanks!
See also Windy.app (a paid app w/ great dataviz, dx, and robust set of data sources).
Re: Eulogy for Dark Sky, a data visualization masterpiece (2023)
#36I knew so many people that used Dark Sky before Apple bought it...
Re: Eulogy for Dark Sky, a data visualization masterpiece (2023)
#37I miss it too, so I created a web based weather app directly inspired by Dark Sky:
https://github.com/hbmartin/open-sun
Re: Eulogy for Dark Sky, a data visualization masterpiece (2023)
#38I miss it too, so I created a web based weather app directly inspired by Dark Sky: https://github.com/hbmartin/open-sun
Clicking History, Forecast, and Notifications at the bottom doesn’t seem to do anything.
Re: Eulogy for Dark Sky, a data visualization masterpiece (2023)
#39Fortunately someone recreated a clone at https://merrysky.net , which was featured [1] on HN some time ago. I've used it daily since. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34155191
Thx bro. I stumbled into this thread thinking it was about something else, and left with a new favorite weather bookmark.
Nice things:
- Loads fast
- Nice vis of both today and week
- Can mouse over the visualizations to get precise readouts.Re: Eulogy for Dark Sky, a data visualization masterpiece (2023)
#40yeah, nothing hits like dark sky hit