eSpotter Phased Out?

[Tim Shriver]

At the moment...I will only add that I have inquired at NWS HQ right here in Silver Spring....and the basic thing I get in all this is that there is absolutely no one working, knowledgeable, concerned with or working/interested in doing anything regarding eSpotter (phase out or in) or any other national standard. What I always understood was the eSpotter was once implemented but now essentially abandoned "in-place". .

I know they still are working and maintaining eSpotter as we just had some changes put in place for the password reset intervals.
From the list I posted it looks like many WFO's are using it and I have heard nothing official
about it going away.
But the later may be so, but I am guessing they would replace it with something even better.

NWSChat, is well, nice. Some folks do submit storm reports with it, some do not.
But it is nice to have the ability for the NWS METs to ask a direct question.
I also like being able to go to other WFOs like DVN, LOT or ARX for more information
on what may be coming our way. You are not limited to just to your local WFO in NWSChat.

As for the SN reports being posted into NWSChat, most of the time they ask me or other spotter group leaders if they know the person who submitted the report.
They may also ask if a local spotter can confirm the SN report.

To turn all on-line reporting of severe weather events over to a privately held company is not something I would want to see. This is the job of the NWS.
But utilizing private resources in addition to NWS official resources only improves the over all picture the NWS receives.
That I am for.

Tim

 

[Jim Saueressig]

I can say that Topeka is still using it as I have on occasion used it for information purposes like snowfall even a few weeks ago and it was used in the storm total reports.

 

[Robert Dewey]

I'll keep using it until (if?) they do away with it. After reading through some of these posts, I'm pretty confident that it's going to be around awhile.

 

[Robert Dewey]

Here's an email I received after sending a message to [email protected]:

Hi Robert,
Some offices are using other systems for reporting severe weather. eSpotter is still in use and has no plans, that I am aware of, as being phased out.

Thank you,

 

[Robert Dewey]

Just tried to report some hail and the server isn't responding...

The servers are taking a big hit right now I suspect, as people check on the impending storm.

 

[Tyler Allison]

I think the real issue here is that SN isn't NWS endorsed

It actually is. But we'll go into that more in the presentation at ChaserCon

 

[DWest]

Tyler, sounds interesting.

I did end up finally using SN today - should have probably done so earlier, as I didn't realize it submits directly into eSpotter anyway.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I don't think eSpotter should be phased out, I think they need to just add more interaction to it, make it more social, look at the trends online for 2011 and adapt to them... hell many wfo is already utilizing twitter and facebook for warning services, why not make espotter a social portal as well!!!

 

[Tyler Allison]

It's a mater of resources. Nobody is willing to spend budget on it.

 

[DWest]

I don't think eSpotter should be phased out, I think they need to just add more interaction to it, make it more social, look at the trends online for 2011 and adapt to them... hell many wfo is already utilizing twitter and facebook for warning services, why not make espotter a social portal as well!!!

Honestly I've never even thought about using things like twitter for submitting reports - not sure how many people take advantage of that, but it seems to be more public oriented anyway.

 

[Jason Foster]

It's a mater of resources. Nobody is willing to spend budget on it.

This is why it even still exists....they don't even have the funds to dismantle it.

 

[Robert Dewey]

I don't think they really need to change anything about eSpotter, so why would it need more funding? It does its intended job quite well IMO, and I'm of the "if it's not broken, don't fix it" belief (especially when it comes to gov spending).

 

[Tim Shriver]

No way should it be a social portal. Thats nuts. Save that for the Twitter spotters and Facebook users.

I have seen nothing official from the NWS about doing away with eSpotter nor that it has been de-funded except
for rumors from those non-NWS folks that are pushing the use of another privately owned system.

Tim

 

[Shawn Gossman]

No way should it be a social portal. Thats nuts. Save that for the Twitter spotters and Facebook users.

I have seen nothing official from the NWS about doing away with eSpotter nor that it has been de-funded except
for rumors from those non-NWS folks that are pushing the use of another privately owned system.

Tim

Yeah... your right, just keep everything primitive and don't go with the trends people find popular... lol... that more sane for ya?

 

[Tim Shriver]

Yeah... your right, just keep everything primitive and don't go with the trends people find popular... lol... that more sane for ya?

I wouldn't say that eSpotter is primitive. Not anymore then any other web based system like Twitter.
As for the "trends people find popular" that should not be the goal of a system to report
severe weather. Useful, fast and affective would be worthwhile though.

We have tons of other venues for the social end of life. Twitter, Facebook, SpotterChat etc.

Tim