WeatherGeekPro Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Thought you guys may be interested that there's a weather model app on Android and iOS now. Full disclaimer: I designed this app. All proceeds generated are going back into additional features (we are not going to make any profit on this project at all, in fact we're really in the hole with development costs and I doubt we will make that up). We have received great feedback from the weather community so far. The most requested thing people want is to include even more data sources. To that end, we are searching for partners (university and private sector) to help us deliver more data. In particular, we want to add more nowcasting/analysis data which would make this even more useful for chasers. But it's a nice way to get model data on the run. Android: https://market.android.com/details?i...=search_result iPhone/iPad/iPod: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/weath...1494?mt=8&ls=1 For a complete list of features and screenshots: http://www.weathergeekpro.com Let me know if you guys have questions or comments or if anyone out there would like to discuss a partnership to make more data available on the app. This is really a weather community-driven project and a lot of feedback from model watchers has been put into its development. We also hope we can generate enough sales to begin buying banner ads here and on other weather forums. We have already sent the admins here some iOS promo codes to try the app out. The app is in its beginning stages and we hope with the weather community's support to begin to add more data and features as we go along. Thanks everyone for your time in reading this post. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
okie333 Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Good idea, but I think I'll pass... $5 seems pretty steep for a fancy graphical frontend to NCEP. Lower it to $2 (or even better, lower it to $1 or free for just the GFS 1000-500mb thk maps and have a $4-5 in-app purchase for the rest, with TapJoy as a payment option... see my post in the Android Radar App forum for details) and I'd probably do it. Especially because once something like this gets out at this kind of a price, someone else is bound to make it for less (unlike the raw Radar apps, which are very difficult to make for raw data... most radar apps you see are simply 99-cent or $1.99 fancy frontends to the NWS radar site or [usually worse] another radar site). Now make an app that does RAW model output data (with ALL variables... this means plotting the maps on the phone instead of relying on pre-generated maps from a server) and I'd worship the very ground it sits on... and gladly give up $50 for it (yes that has a zero in it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbutts Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 looks cool, but reluctant to pay at this time maybe next time I'm fussing around with twisterdata in the browser If there were a free version I'd install it and give advice for sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeatherGeekPro Posted March 18, 2011 Author Share Posted March 18, 2011 Good idea, but I think I'll hold off... $5 seems pretty steep for a fancy graphical frontend to NCEP. Lower it to $2 (or even better, lower it to $1 or free for just the GFS 1000-500mb thk maps and have a $4-5 in-app purchase for the rest, with TapJoy as a payment option... see my post in the Android Radar App forum for details) and I'd probably do it. Especially because once something like this gets out at this kind of a price, someone else is bound to make it for less (unlike the raw Radar apps, which are very difficult to make for raw data... most radar apps you see are simply 99-cent or $1.99 fancy frontends to the NWS radar site). Now make an app that does RAW model output data (with ALL variables) and I'd worship the very ground it sits on... and gladly give up $50 for it (yes that has a zero in it). Thanks so much for your feedback. Our development costs were so high, we can't offer it for any less at the present time. We hope to generate enough sales to eventually include premium data for an in-app purchase and at that point, the price of the app may decrease, but I don't see that happening anytime in the next 12-18 months (many other enhancements are higher priority). For someone like me who forecasts daily and needs to access the models at will, this app is worth even more than $5. I can see people who don't need to look at every model run of every day not willing to pay $5. But it never ceases to amaze me how people will pay hundreds and hundreds for a device, but not buy a $5 app. For the quality of software we provide and for all the future enhancements you get for free, we think $4.99 is a steal. We are looking at GRIB data options for the future, but until devices are faster, we do not think it is a good solution. We feel it is better to keep the data in the cloud for now. Thanks again for your opinion though. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
okie333 Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 looks cool, but reluctant to pay at this time maybe next time I'm fussing around with twisterdata in the browser If there were a free version I'd install it and give advice for sure Yeah TD seems to be the gold standard, even though they are not timely at all with getting GFS maps out. Maybe they are considered to be very good because they have so many variables... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeatherGeekPro Posted March 18, 2011 Author Share Posted March 18, 2011 Yeah TD seems to be the gold standard, even though they are not timely at all with getting GFS maps out. Maybe they are considered to be very good because they have so many variables... Funny you should say that. We are exploring a partnership with them and others to offer more and more data. NCEP data is just the beginning for this app. Yes, their severe weather parameters are second-to-none. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeatherGeekPro Posted March 19, 2011 Author Share Posted March 19, 2011 FYI - version 1.12 is now available as a free upgrade on the iTunes App Store for iOS users. It corrected a bug when sharing WRF model images on Facebook and Twitter. It also corrected a mislabel of a parameter for the NAM an GFS model menus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Echo Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 John, I did purchase this app for the iphone. Works great. What can we expect in the future? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeatherGeekPro Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 John, I did purchase this app for the iphone. Works great. What can we expect in the future? Thanks so much for downloading the app! I have a huge amount of things on the wish list. First and foremost is to add additional models, model imagery and parameters...especially for precip type, snowfall and various severe weather parameters. We are exploring partnerships with others to help us make this happen. I also would like to add additional regions outside of the US and Canada. I also would like to make enhancements to the UI experience on the app...things like being able to jump to a specific time, auto model selection, among other things. We have a lot of ideas...we just need to continue to get downloads (please pass along the word) so that we can continue to fund the enhancements as we go along. I was told by app "experts" this would not be a good app to do because it is too specialized and the weather community was too small to support it. I'm trying to prove them wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
okie333 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Thanks so much for downloading the app! I have a huge amount of things on the wish list. First and foremost is to add additional models, model imagery and parameters...especially for precip type, snowfall and various severe weather parameters. We are exploring partnerships with others to help us make this happen. I also would like to add additional regions outside of the US and Canada. I also would like to make enhancements to the UI experience on the app...things like being able to jump to a specific time, auto model selection, among other things. We have a lot of ideas...we just need to continue to get downloads (please pass along the word) so that we can continue to fund the enhancements as we go along. I was told by app "experts" this would not be a good app to do because it is too specialized and the weather community was too small to support it. I'm trying to prove them wrong. NCEP got about 400 million hits to the model site in 2010. 'Nuff said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeatherGeekPro Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 NCEP got about 400 million hits to the model site in 2010. 'Nuff said. Imagine what they would get if they offered more maps/products! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tropopause_Fold Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 nice app. bought it for the ipad. well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phlwx Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 NCEP got about 400 million hits to the model site in 2010. 'Nuff said. 100 million of them were from Ji as he hit refresh waiting for the GFS to come out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaoPos Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 100 million of them were from Ji as he hit refresh waiting for the GFS to come out. Winning! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WintersGrasp Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 I downloaded the app....it's nice but how can I look at data on the map for a specific timeframe without animating the entire thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeatherGeekPro Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 I downloaded the app....it's nice but how can I look at data on the map for a specific timeframe without animating the entire thing? Animation is just one option. You can also view each individual time by swiping either left or right (must be zoomed out). You can also swipe up or down to change levels. We are looking at a way to change the UI to provide direct access to any time you pick for future releases. Check out our website at www.weathergeekpro.com for a user’s guide and even a model guide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeatherGeekPro Posted April 1, 2011 Author Share Posted April 1, 2011 Since severe weather season is here, we decided to offer a limited time discount of WeatherGeek Pro on both Android and iOS platforms. Get the app now for just $2.99. It took a lot of convincing for me to get our CFO to allow me to drop the price this low on the app, but I hope it will allow even more people to download it. So far, thousands of users have downloaded our app and have given it an average rating of over 4 stars. Let me know if you have any questions! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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