iPad Apps for Chasing

JamesCaruso

JamesCaruso

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Hi all,

It is harder than I thought it would be to find succinct information in one place as to what iPad apps are best for chasing...

How can I most closely duplicate the PC experience of combined radar and GPS a la Baron Threatnet or GR Level X??? I am currently toying with Weathertap (has an iPhone app but not an iPad app), Radarscope and Storm Spotter. (What are the pros and cons of these latter two?)

Also, are there any good apps to show model data, especially overlaying different levels of the atmosphere? Or is my best bet just using Safari with the usual sites such as COD and UCAR?

Thanks,
Jim Caruso



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
As far as radar for the Ipad, Radarscope is the best, hands down. Don't even mess with weathertap. Radarscope is only 10 bucks, and it's worth it. As far as model data, the usual internet sites will suffice.
 
WeatherTAP absolutely works on the iPad. My wife and I chased for several days with just an iPad, CradlePoint WiFi router with a VZW 3G aircard, and paired to a Dual puck BlueTooth GPS feeding location to navigation and weather apps. WeatherTAP mobile isn't quite as full-featured as the notebook RadarLab, but works pretty darn well. RadarScope and Storm Spotter are good as well. The usual model and data sites work fine, although some that use Flash won't loop.
 
Can't say much for the iPad but for my iPhone I've tried pretty much all of them and keep going back to RadarScope as my first choice. Great program and worth every penny.
 
RadarScope Soundings, and IWXM Pro are the biggies. I also use some links like SPCs meso page, CODs satellite, etc.
 
Radar Scope is good, but without a detailed road map, it's somewhat worthless. It does use Allison House data, which is a big plus if you don't care about the road network / chasing. Storm Spotter has the Google road map system but the radar quality is very poor. Last time I checked, Weather Tap radar quality was poor and I don't recall if detailed maps were used. I'm sure someone will eventually incorporate the Google road map with high quality radar. It's my understanding that software developers are limited in the about of data they can incorporate into Apple Apps. (?)

W.
 
Thanks Warren. That's my sense also. Radar Scope is better for radar but doesn't have the road network. Storm Spotter has the road network but the radar isn't as good.

Actually, Storm Spotter's radar would be adequate enough, but the main problem is that they overlay the radar on top of Google maps, instead of overlaying the roads on top of the radar. For this reason, if you want to see the roads you have to make the radar very translucent, which then limits its usefulness. In addition, to see the detailed road network, you have to zoom in so much that you then can no longer see any storm structure in the radar- you're just under a full screen of green, yellow or red shading... Is that your experience too, or could I be doing something better?
 
Storm Spotter will have a new update out soon that uses level 3 data instead of the gif images it currently does. This should address your complaints Warren. You can sign up for the beta version here: http://rosskimes.net/blog/storm-spotter-30-beta I've seen a lot of the preliminary work on it, it is going to be very nice.

I will also suggest my apps, WeatherWall Mobile is my radar app that has a much more grlevel3 like interface. There is a new version awaiting approval from Apple that includes warnings and some other upgrades.

I also make the Soundings Mobile app mentioned above for checking out radiosonde data.

EF Scale is my free app that is just a reference on the EF Scale damage criterion. Worth the grab since it is free.

I've got a few more apps in the works that will really turn your iPad into a mobile weather monitoring system but they aren't yet to the release point.
 
I don't have an iPad, but I do have several apps on my iPhone that have been useful to me:

-Radarscope: best radar application you can chase with. The Allison House data feature makes the app much more useful and is a must to really get the most out of this app. With Allison House, you get crisper data, warning polygons, risk areas, storm reports, storm tracks, etc.

-iDamage: links to SPC for convective outlooks. It also has something like SPC has that shows storm and damage reports.

-My-Cast: I only really use this so I can see the radar nationwide. It's also somewhat useful for visible satellite.

-Mesonet app: If you live in Oklahoma, this is the best weather app available.

-Soundings Mobile: I just bought this app seconds ago. The only downside I see with this app is the limited number of sites to choose from per state, but I guess it's no more than you'd get with say SPC. I'll have to play around with it more. Otherwise, it looks like a great app.

-iMap Weather Radio: like a Weather Radio but on your phone. Sends push notifications of watches and warnings for your location and/or from your local media depending on how you set it up.


-WeatherGeek Pro: view the GFS, NAM, SREF, WRF, RUC, and MOS. I have trouble using this app just because it's on such a small screen. It may be better on an iPad.

-TomTom: this is what I use for navigation. Since the maps are stored onto your phone, you don't need data. This becomes useful when you're in the boonies with no signal and paper maps become useless.

-WunderRadio: I use this to listen in on scanners across the nation. For example, when the Joplin tornado hit, I could listen in and get a different perspective of the destruction it caused.

-TuneIn Radio: for those long drives, you can tune in to your local radio stations. WunderRadio also does this.

-Kamala: it's not an app. I bookmarked this webpage as an icon because of how useful it is. It turns SPC's convective outlooks into text formats. Very useful on the road when data is an issue. Also, I just found out this weekend from a chasing buddy that Kamala updates just a tad bit before the SPC homepage does!

-SlingPlayer: just a nice-to-have app. If you buy a Slingbox and connect it to your TV at home, you can basically watch your home TV on your phone. Works great!

I hope these apps help you as they've helped me. I use to chase with nothing more than my iPhone, paper atlas, and scanner, and on occassions, still do at times.
 
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I am the developer of Storm Spotter. Just wanted to respond a little to your post.

I completely agree that it would be better with the roads on top of the radar data, but that is not possible with Google Maps. The road data is tiled onto the map, so developers do not have access to the individual layers. I am hopeful that Apple will release their own map platform with iOS 6 that will give developers more control over this. If so, it will be the first thing I impliment with it.

The one thing in your post that I disagree with is that the current radar data is adequate :). It looks really bad when zoomed in (as you mentioned in your post). With L3 data coming soon (beta testing starting with week as Zak mentioned), it won't be that blurry when zoomed in. Unfortunately, it won't really be any more useful at that fine of a zoome level, but that is not something that an app can really solve.
 
One suggestion, you can add an existing web site pages to the home page screen. I have one page on my iPad home screen that is devoted to weather sites, e.g., SPC Mesoscale Discussions, Day 1,2 3, etc. This makes it easier to use the page icons as shortcuts rather than bookmarks.

Also, the new iPad come out this week with a high resolution screen (or so it is rumored). Also, there are now multiple aps that incorporate a java script browser for live video, e.g, local weather.

W.

PS: Thanks Zac for the Storm Spotter update!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Nice thread hduran!! Very useful.

I've got only one question for Storm Spotter App: it's months I'm not using it as it don't work...
Anyone else is having my same issue?


hduran said:
I don't have an iPad, but I do have several apps on my iPhone that have been useful to me:

-Radarscope: best radar application you can chase with. The Allison House data feature makes the app much more useful and is a must to really get the most out of this app. With Allison House, you get crisper data, warning polygons, risk areas, storm reports, storm tracks, etc.

-iDamage: links to SPC for convective outlooks. It also has something like SPC has that shows storm and damage reports.

-My-Cast: I only really use this so I can see the radar nationwide. It's also somewhat useful for visible satellite.

-Mesonet app: If you live in Oklahoma, this is the best weather app available.

-Soundings Mobile: I just bought this app seconds ago. The only downside I see with this app is the limited number of sites to choose from per state, but I guess it's no more than you'd get with say SPC. I'll have to play around with it more. Otherwise, it looks like a great app.

-iMap Weather Radio: like a Weather Radio but on your phone. Sends push notifications of watches and warnings for your location and/or from your local media depending on how you set it up.


-WeatherGeek Pro: view the GFS, NAM, SREF, WRF, RUC, and MOS. I have trouble using this app just because it's on such a small screen. It may be better on an iPad.

-TomTom: this is what I use for navigation. Since the maps are stored onto your phone, you don't need data. This becomes useful when you're in the boonies with no signal and paper maps become useless.

-WunderRadio: I use this to listen in on scanners across the nation. For example, when the Joplin tornado hit, I could listen in and get a different perspective of the destruction it caused.

-TuneIn Radio: for those long drives, you can tune in to your local radio stations. WunderRadio also does this.

-Kamala: it's not an app. I bookmarked this webpage as an icon because of how useful it is. It turns SPC's convective outlooks into text formats. Very useful on the road when data is an issue. Also, I just found out this weekend from a chasing buddy that Kamala updates just a tad bit before the SPC homepage does!

-SlingPlayer: just a nice-to-have app. If you buy a Slingbox and connect it to your TV at home, you can basically watch your home TV on your phone. Works great!

I hope these apps help you as they've helped me. I use to chase with nothing more than my iPhone, paper atlas, and scanner, and on occassions, still do at times.
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