Spotternetwork Reporting Question

[Bill Tabor]

I was attempting to make a Spotternetwork report the other day in the field and had a bit of trouble. Problem was I was on a slow connection and Spotternetwork wants me to first flag the position of the incident via Google maps and a pin that you move around. Problem was Google maps when it initializes is zoomed out all the way to national view. It took me forever with a lot of persistence to get Google maps to zoom in and then find my position and move the pin. I had to do this about 5 or 6 times at lowering zoom levels and wait each time while Spotternetwork determined the locations of the pin for reporting. The whole time I was looking at the computer rather than the storm activity I was trying to monitor outside the vehicle.

Question: Is there a quicker way of doing this? Am I just missing something here. One thought I have is that Spotternetwork could initialize the Google maps and the pin for the activity report in the current location of the Spotter via gps and zoom to an appropriate level so that the pin could quickly be repositioned up to 20 miles or so for accuracy. I looked for a quicker interface than the online website form but didn't see anything. How do the rest of you do this, and how much of an issue has this been for anyone else?

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Bill,

Did you have a GPS running? If you do, then your position should be automatically entered without any need to pin it on the Google Maps, IIRC. If you don't have the GPS up, you can try to use GRx or StreetAtlas to get your lat/lon, then put SpotterNetwork into "Manual" mode, enter your lat/lon, then submit a report.

Then again, I thought Tyler did away with Google Maps when submitting reports? Ah, wait, are you submitting a report by going to spotternetwork.org first, as opposed to using the "Submit a Report" button in the application? Tyler streamlined the page that you are brought to when you hit "Submit a Report" to make it relatively small and friendly for cell connections.

 

[Tony Perkins]

You need the spotter network client Bill.

http://www.spotternetwork.org/latest_SNclient.zip

 

[Skip Talbot]

Does the new beta client let you submit reports through the client itself? I was out on Saturday and tried to report two inch hail. My connection was so spotty though I couldn't wait for the page to load before I had to move. It would be nice if you could fill out the fields in the client and just hit send, instead of loading a separate page.

 

[Andrew Revering]

No it doesn't. But the page it pulls up is pure text. It cant be more than 10kb.

 

[Skip Talbot]

Yeah, I know its a small amount of data to transfer, but its the seek time that does it. I have to wait for it to establish a connection with the server. If my data is out then I will never get that page. It would be nice if I could enter the data first and then the client software would try several times on its own to connect and send it. That way I don't have to sit there trying to get a webpage to load, and can spend my time bailing out of the two inch hail core.

 

[Andrew Revering]

I'll have to run this one past Tyler.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

It might even be helpful if you can fill out a report in the client, and have it queue up and report it later when you get signal again.

We had the same problems on Saturday. No data in NW OK.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

It might even be helpful if you can fill out a report in the client, and have it queue up and report it later when you get signal again.

We had the same problems on Saturday. No data in NW OK.

I second this idea. If nothing else, you'll only need a connection to send the report itself, not the web page + report. I imagine all you'd need is a pop-up window in the client with some drop-down boxes and a couple of text boxes for descriptions. Even though the page is only 10 kb, it may be the 'make or break' when data connections are unreliable. In addition, I like the idea of having it "queue up" and submit automatically when it detects a valid internet connection. Perhaps send something back from the server to the client to confirm that the report was successfully submitted.

 

[Andrew Revering]

That's exactly right... that's how it would have to be to confirm the data was received successfully by the server.

I would argue though that in the case that you don't have data to report a 'reportable condition', you should be calling in the report or using the Ham as an alternative means of communication.

 

[Bill Tabor]

In answer to the questions of a few of you: Yes I did have a gps connection and gps was functioning at the time. I chose submit a report in the app and it brought me to the web page that had the Google Map app and the pin to move. Perhaps my Spotternet client was old (since last Spring). The night after the event I downloaded the latest from Spotternetwork.org. Currently using version 2.2. Not sure if that was the same as what I had. I think it may have been 1.2 or something. So perhaps it is improved. Next day after loading the new version I clicked submit a report (just to check) and it looked similar. Of course I didn't go through all the steps since I didn't have anything to report at the time.

As for the rest of the thread conversation...yeah I agree with the rest of you and was kind of thinking the queue and submit as able was how it already worked. That is a great idea, and best way to do IMO from the client - quick - submit and forget and move on to the next storm feature. I have an Iphone and I noticed that when I was in an area where the network couldn't send it would stage it in the 'Outbox' and wait for the network connect and then it would send. Seems to work well.

Maybe I should use the Beta? What do you all recommend for actual in the field reporting?

 

[Bill Tabor]

I might add that after my initial reporting event (non-tornadic) I had a tornado to report but didn't until 20 minutes later due to the trouble I had earlier. I knew I didn't have that long to try. Course I tried my NWS phone number and that apparently was old and didn't work, then I tried 911, and they told me to call the local non-911 number next time. Heck I tried to help out. They never did issue a tornado warning. Between the Spottnetwork and trying to stream video and keep my stream up with all other chasing tasks I had very little time to actually observe the storm. I will have to reevaluate all this stuff. I miss the days of just watching the storms. Plus I know I missed key features and clues because I as so distracted.

 

[Andrew Revering]

Tyler and I discussed the option to put the reporting into the app, but decided against it for a couple reasons:

1) The logistics of keeping the form in the program up to date with the latest formatting for submission is a bit hairy. Its much more difficult than updating a web page.

2) If you cannot submit a report in a timely manner online, it should be done by other means.

 

[Skip Talbot]

1) The logistics of keeping the form in the program up to date with the latest formatting for submission is a bit hairy. Its much more difficult than updating a web page.

How sbout downloading the webpage form locally through the client software at the start of the client software. That way the latest submission form is used and there will be no loading times for each report. The spotter is most likely going to have a decent connection when they start the application so downloading that updated page shouldn't be a problem like it might be once out in the field.

2) If you cannot submit a report in a timely manner online, it should be done by other means.

Reporting via ham radio and cell phone is great for fixed base spotters. The real beauty of having GPS integrated reporting software, is that I can submit a detailed report with specific time and location information instantly from any location. Reporting via ham or cell is equally cumbersome for a chaser and more cumbersome than online reporting. It requires finding the correct frequency or number and then trying to convince a party that doesn't know you that your report is legitimate. Besides the local skywarn nets are going to want you to check in first and then you'll probably be dealing with a lot of other traffic. The NWS offices and 911 centers are also going to be extremely busy, so getting that call through is going to be iffy. A lot of chasers are simply not going to bother with reporting if they can't just hit the button to have their report go through.

 

[Andrew Revering]

How sbout downloading the webpage form locally through the client software at the start of the client software.

Ok... good solution. Maybe this idea still has a chance to get through our politics. ;-)