New Experimental Recon Page

[Scott_inVA]

Folks,

WindRunner and I are experimenting with a new page at Mid-Atlantic WX.com that displays 2 recon images:

1. WindRunner's (awesome) recon tracking map,
2. My raw data map with recco information.

Several links also included. Please note, this page is provided by 2 Virginians!!!

Note this is EXPERIMENTAL and not considered fully operation by Mid-Atlantic WX.com. But wanted to share and get comments.

Link:

http://www.midatlanticwx.com/cyclone/recon.htm

(Thanks to Kyle for chipping in on this effort )

Scott
Mid-Atlantic WX.com
http://www.midatlanticwx.com
Lexington, VA

[brunota2003]

that looks pretty cool!!

[WindRunner]

And another great piece of this is that the maps on that page will update before the I can post the maps here, often times beating my post in the recon thread by a full minute, and even moreso if Imageshack is acting up. Even if you don't see an updated map in the thread, chances are that it will have made it onto the midatlanticwx.com page.

[Scott_inVA]

I'm working on a hover feature that will give full info on each report on the raw data (bottom) map. DHTML is funky and I've had no success outside of IE. Also messing around with a clickable audio link that reads the VDM to you but that is still a ways off.

Oh, I got flamed on a different board about charging for recon...this is free and not part of the Premium Service Weather model maps section

Scott
Mid-Atlantic WX.com
http://www.midatlanticwx.com
Lexoington, VA

[wayoutfront]

thanks

[mtm4319]

As the first person to start posting recon paths on Google Earth (sorry, I had to take just a little credit for this ), I have an idea that might help this effort out. The last time I posted GE recon maps on the S2K board (for Invest 91L just off the North Carolina coast), instead of drawing paths, I just updated an elementary KML file (edited in Notepad) with the final lat/lon coordinate of each miniob, saved the file as .kml again, then opened it up in Google Earth.

You have a file that looks like this:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<kml xmlns="http://earth.google.com/kml/2.0">
<Placemark>
   <LineString>
     <coordinates>
       -88.93333,30.40000
       -88.43333,30.68333
       -87.83333,31.11667
       -87.06667,31.68333
       -86.10000,31.86667
       -85.03333,31.81667
       -83.98333,31.83333
       -82.93333,31.95000
       -81.91667,32.06667
       -80.91667,32.00667
       -79.91667,31.91667
       -78.98333,31.86667
       -78.43333,31.56667
       -77.91667,31.26667
       -77.68333,31.55000
       -77.48333,32.10000
       -77.30000,32.66667
       -77.10000,33.21667
       -76.76667,33.75000
       -76.31667,34.18333
       -76.00000,34.51667
       -76.51667,34.25000
       -76.96667,33.96667
       -77.30000,33.88333
       -77.30000,34.43333
       -77.00000,34.25000
       -77.01667,33.76667
       -76.68333,33.61667
     </coordinates>
    </LineString>
</Placemark>
</kml>


Up to 50 sets of coordinates can be placed in the file this way, enough for a mission of over 8 hours.

And the resulting map looks like this:



Perhaps you could even set it up that the .kml file could be placed on a server - that way people could download it as a network link.

[WindRunner]

You mean like this one? It has everything but the line.

And you may certainly take some credit here, as you were the original

[bkdelong]

It shouldn't be that hard for a programmer to write a script to auto-grab the recon data files and generate a kmz file with the necessary points on-the-fly.

[mtm4319]

You mean like this one? It has everything but the line.

Indeed. But while this map certainly displays an impressive amount of information, it honestly (for me anyway) is a bit too cluttered. Using a line instead of the plane icons would show basically the same thing, but it would leave more room to show the labels for vortexes and drops. The only drawback of this, instead of possibly taking a little more time (I'm not sure whether it would or not), is that it doesn't signify which observation is the most recent. Continuously updating just one icon with the most recent coordinates (and placing that on the map as well) would fix that, but it would take just a little more time.

Another idea that I think might help: I think it's a good idea to use the down-arrow icons for dropsondes and red crosses for vortex positions. But on the map, maybe you could just type "18:02Z" or "Vortex 18:02Z" instead of "Vortex Position - 18:02Z". The red cross already means it's a vortex position, so it may be redundant to type that out in the label too. The same goes for the drop, although that doesn't take up as much room.

[SouthFloridawx]

I really like having a small square with color coded with the windspead and the data beside it.

[mtm4319]

It shouldn't be that hard for a programmer to write a script to auto-grab the recon data files and generate a kmz file with the necessary points on-the-fly.

That's what I was thinking. Basically, it would just take something that can figure out how to translate:

0020 3809N 07517W 08535 0483 035 009 265 265 010 09128 0000000100

Into:

Code: Select all

       -75.28333,38.15000

in a KML file.

[WindRunner]

Yeah, the coding into a kml file is a piece of cake. The tough part is putting it into GE and taking the screenshots - that can't be automated no matter how hard you try. You also have to consider the drops and VDMs and reccos that need to be plotted . . . it's a lot to process.

[SouthFloridawx]

Yeah, the coding into a kml file is a piece of cake. The tough part is putting it into GE and taking the screenshots - that can't be automated no matter how hard you try. You also have to consider the drops and VDMs and reccos that need to be plotted . . . it's a lot to process.

Doesn't take too long... Lucky we get HDOB's every 10 minutes instead of sooner.