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Pirate Weather: A free, open, and documented forecast API

pirateweather.net

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Re: Pirate Weather: A free, open, and documented forecast API

#161

Post by aequitas »

alexander0042 wrote: post #136
aequitas wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Lambda functions will just be running your business logic code. Only specific part Lambda provides is the glue. Which is easy to replace with any other cloud or self hosted alternative.

The the end of the day, the real reason I went with Lambda to build this is that when I started, I didn't know anything about spinning up a server, building a storage array, or serving an web request. But what I did know was how to write a Python script to extract weather data from a file. The really cool thing about some of these cloud tools is that they let me ignore all of those (very difficult) problems and just…

Exactly what the cloud is best used for imho. You can focus on your core problems and still shift to a different solution later on when that becomes more effective cost wise.

But still, when I first started in AWS we had lift and shift'ed most of our platform onto AWS and when it came to adding new features I first looked at Lambda instead of building out on the existing platform. The speed at which I could setup the feature and start measuring and iterating on it was so much better compared to doing it on our existing platform. Even though that was pretty ironed out and fully automated.

Re: Pirate Weather: A free, open, and documented forecast API

#162

Post by azinman2 »

alexander0042 wrote: post #127
datalus wrote: post #85

I found this old blog article at a high level on how Dark Sky works... about 12 years old now. I always loved this app and was kind of sad when Apple acquired them... but to have Apple come in and just buy your app out is probably a great feeling for the founders :) Anyhow, here's the url: https://jackadam.github.io/2011/how-dark-sky-works

This is fascinating, thank you for sharing! What is even more amazing about Dark Sky is that they did this in 2011, when a lot of the tools I have access to now didn't exist. For Pirate Weather, I avoid working with radar data at all, instead using the 15-minute forecast that the HRRR model provides

Why avoid radar data?

Re: Pirate Weather: A free, open, and documented forecast API

#163

Post by zmk_ »

jron wrote: post #5

I was really hoping https://merrysky.net/ had a graphical forecast similar to weather underground's 10 day. I've yet to find anything else that quickly shows everything you'd want to know in a single image. Even the mouseover timeline is perfection. It is so good and seemingly exclusive to WU that I sometimes wonder if they hold a patent for it.

On Android, there is an awesome app called Flowx. Probably the best weather app I have used.

Re: Pirate Weather: A free, open, and documented forecast API

#164

Post by feanaro »

jacurtis wrote: post #31
NoboruWataya wrote: post #3

> Why "PirateWeather"? I've always thought that the HRRR model was pronounced the same way as the classic pirate "ARRR". Also, there is one company out there that thinks APIs can be copyrighted, which might apply here. This answers the first question I had upon seeing the name, which was, is it free, open, documented and legal ? Based on the above the answer seems to be "probably". Very commendable effort, and I hope…

I agree, PirateWeather seems like a misbrand here. When I read it, i thought it was stealing weather data or something. On the web, the term "pirate" generally doesn't mean good things. This name almost implies that it is illegal or something. I'm imagining designing a software product around this and presenting it to a C-Level, explaining that we use "PirateWeather" and I think I'm going to get grilled with lots of…

> On the web, the term "pirate" generally doesn't mean good things.

Maybe we're on different webs, but in my mind "pirate" has good connotations. As in, a rebel, a free spirit, a fighter of oppression.

Re: Pirate Weather: A free, open, and documented forecast API

#165

Post by 867-5309 »

aliqot wrote: post #88
qup wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's more about it having "pirate" in the name that makes one question its legality.

Perhaps the author has a peg leg, a parrot, or a penchant for API plunder.

or they charge $3.14k/hr

Re: Pirate Weather: A free, open, and documented forecast API

#166

Post by cjrp »

macintux wrote: post #30
shagie wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are using the current version of iOS, the new weather app rocks in terms of functionality (IMHO better than the previous version of Dark Sky). If you are on an old version of iOS and mourn the loss of DarkSky app, I personally like MyRadar - it has some very nice features and I used in tandem with DarkSky in the past. If you are after writing an iOS app, you already have an Apple developer account allowing for…

The new iOS Weather app certainly has lots of functionality, lots of data, but I mourn the clean, streamlined Dark Sky interface. Plus the temperature map, unlike the radar map, no longer allows you to change to a future date/time to see how the temperature changes are going to progress across a larger region, which I always found interesting. Very unfortunate.

I've switched to Carrot and paid to enable "layouts"; they have a very Dark Sky-esque one.

Re: Pirate Weather: A free, open, and documented forecast API

#167

Post by andylynch »

zinekeller wrote: post #137
markdown wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they have a right to make money from the data. I thought it was a govt service. BOM is private?

You'll be surprised that the free-for-all-no-questions-asked US system is not the one followed around the world. Australia, like other countries with significant British history, has the concept of Crown Copyrights ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_copyright#Australia ). Whether it's the (UK) Met Office ( https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/services/data/met-office-data-f... ), (Australian) BoM ( https://reg.bom.gov.au/…

Quite correct- though the UK Met Office has a specific non-commercial API in DataPoint which is pretty good.

Re: Pirate Weather: A free, open, and documented forecast API

#169

Post by tucosan »

I applaud the effort. I just checked the forecast data for Berlin, Germany and it is quite inaccurate compared to the quality models offered for my region.

It seems that they only use NOAA data even though there are vastly superior models for the EU, e.g. ICON-EU and ECMWF.

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