Jody Radzik
EF2
Just throwing in my two cents, I'd say adding the Level III radar products should be a priority. This would make RadarLab HD much more useful as a storm chasing aid, IMHO, and a real boon for us Macintosh-using chasers.
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Weathertap Radarlab HD
- Thread starter Bill Tabor
- Start date
Just throwing in my two cents, I'd say adding the Level III radar products should be a priority. This would make RadarLab HD much more useful as a storm chasing aid, IMHO, and a real boon for us Macintosh-using chasers.
Bill Tabor
EF5
SSimmons...could you speak a bit more about Radarlab HD's radar? Is it displaying level 2 data? Is it using any of the newer NWS standards or products that I heard about awhile back that is supposed to provide higher levels of resolution? Also perhaps a bit about it's smoothing algorithm since this is new to Weathertap. Is it smoothed or interpolated (similar to Grlevel3)?
I looked on the Weathertap site but didn't find any of this information. Typically a product such as this would be advertised with features list a bit more.
I looked on the Weathertap site but didn't find any of this information. Typically a product such as this would be advertised with features list a bit more.
ssimmons
Bill,
RadarLab HD displays Level-II Base Reflectivity radar data. The Level-II radar data is, in a sense, higher in resolution than the Level-III radar products since images are shown with 128 colors instead of 15. This provides more detail in intensity and helps the user to see hook echoes and gust fronts more clearly. As for the data itself, we receive the data streaming in from each radar site. Once we have enough data, the radar image is built and available through RadarLab HD. The Base Reflectivity is the first scan the radar completes before tilting and making another scan. As soon as the Base Reflectivity scan is completed, we build the image and make it available in RadarLab HD. We do interpolate and/or smooth the radar data, but I really can't get into the details of what all is involved in this. We do not have a feature list yet as the program is still in a beta test phase. I'm sure once we have all the bugs worked out there will be some documentation on it.
I found the issue you stated earlier about a Tornado Warning area showing up as a Severe Thunderstorm Warning. In fact, the area had both at the same time, but the code was showing the Severe Thunderstorm Warning instead of the Tornado Warning. I'm currently fixing this to make sure the most severe Warning is display for an area if it contains more than one type of Warning.
I also found the problem with the overlay layers being re-download at each zoom level. It is not suppose to do that. I've fixed this so once you download the last zoom level image of an overlay layer, each zoom level beyond this will not re-download the data.
I've corrected the problem that Robbie Cox had stated about the control panel not repainting when the window is resized. This seems to only happen at large screen resolutions with certain Java JVMs. I've coded a work around and it should repaint the control panel on every screen resize.
I've also changed the WWA overlay. The colors are now a lot more transparent and have a thick border drawn around them.
I have not put any of these code changes on the web site yet, but the newest version (Revision 7) will have these changes and should be out there by the end of the week.
If you find any other problems with RadarLab HD, please let me know. Thanks a lot, you guys have been a real help.
RadarLab HD displays Level-II Base Reflectivity radar data. The Level-II radar data is, in a sense, higher in resolution than the Level-III radar products since images are shown with 128 colors instead of 15. This provides more detail in intensity and helps the user to see hook echoes and gust fronts more clearly. As for the data itself, we receive the data streaming in from each radar site. Once we have enough data, the radar image is built and available through RadarLab HD. The Base Reflectivity is the first scan the radar completes before tilting and making another scan. As soon as the Base Reflectivity scan is completed, we build the image and make it available in RadarLab HD. We do interpolate and/or smooth the radar data, but I really can't get into the details of what all is involved in this. We do not have a feature list yet as the program is still in a beta test phase. I'm sure once we have all the bugs worked out there will be some documentation on it.
I found the issue you stated earlier about a Tornado Warning area showing up as a Severe Thunderstorm Warning. In fact, the area had both at the same time, but the code was showing the Severe Thunderstorm Warning instead of the Tornado Warning. I'm currently fixing this to make sure the most severe Warning is display for an area if it contains more than one type of Warning.
I also found the problem with the overlay layers being re-download at each zoom level. It is not suppose to do that. I've fixed this so once you download the last zoom level image of an overlay layer, each zoom level beyond this will not re-download the data.
I've corrected the problem that Robbie Cox had stated about the control panel not repainting when the window is resized. This seems to only happen at large screen resolutions with certain Java JVMs. I've coded a work around and it should repaint the control panel on every screen resize.
I've also changed the WWA overlay. The colors are now a lot more transparent and have a thick border drawn around them.
I have not put any of these code changes on the web site yet, but the newest version (Revision 7) will have these changes and should be out there by the end of the week.
If you find any other problems with RadarLab HD, please let me know. Thanks a lot, you guys have been a real help.
Greg Stumpf
EF5
Please offer an option to turn off the smoothing (that really should be the default). Many radar purists like myself prefer to look at the raw base data.
Bill Tabor
EF5
Great man! Sounds like some excellent fixes. This should improve it considerably I'm thinking, and thanks for clarifying a bit about the radar itself.
ssimmons
Bill,
The newest revision of RadarLab HD has been uploaded to the web site. This is revision 7 and includes all the changes I listed above. You can check what revision you currently have by clicking on the RadarLab HD logo in the upper right corner of the program. Hopefully, it will say V1.0 Revision 7. If not, you may need to delete you Java cache. Java Web Start it is suppose to automatically download the latest version when you launch it. We have found that it does not always do this. If you do not have Revision 7, you should delete your Java cache and this will force RadarLab HD to download the latest version. To delete the Java cache do the following:
Go to the Control Panel (Start->Control Panel or Start->Settings->Control Panel). Click on the "Java" icon to open the Java Control Panel. Click on the "Delete Files..." button at the bottom of this panel. Then press "OK" on the next window that opens. This should clear your Java cache. Now re-launch RadarLab HD from the weatherTAP.com website.
The newest revision of RadarLab HD has been uploaded to the web site. This is revision 7 and includes all the changes I listed above. You can check what revision you currently have by clicking on the RadarLab HD logo in the upper right corner of the program. Hopefully, it will say V1.0 Revision 7. If not, you may need to delete you Java cache. Java Web Start it is suppose to automatically download the latest version when you launch it. We have found that it does not always do this. If you do not have Revision 7, you should delete your Java cache and this will force RadarLab HD to download the latest version. To delete the Java cache do the following:
Go to the Control Panel (Start->Control Panel or Start->Settings->Control Panel). Click on the "Java" icon to open the Java Control Panel. Click on the "Delete Files..." button at the bottom of this panel. Then press "OK" on the next window that opens. This should clear your Java cache. Now re-launch RadarLab HD from the weatherTAP.com website.
Jody Radzik
EF2
I've been trying to use RadarHD tonight on my iMac dual 2.15 MHz with 2 Gig of RAM running 10.4.9 under both Firefox and Safari. In both cases the new version runs painfully slow on a Sprint PCS Vision internet connection. It's taking literally minutes to load each Radar image. I know I've got at least twice the bandwidth of a 56K connection, yet it's still downloading as if I was on a 1200 baud modem.
Last edited by a moderator:
ssimmons
Nothing was changed in the code that would cause the images to download slower. The radar images can be quite big depending on how much radar data is in the image. The images could easily be 400-500K in size. I've used RadarLab HD with a Verizon wireless card and it does take a while to download the radar images, but it definitely isn't taking minutes per image. I don't know what your problem might be except a slow internet connection. I have no experience with the Sprint PCS network.
Jody Radzik
EF2
I just wanted to say that WeatherTap RadarHD has been working awesome for me today as I practiced nowcasting. I can see this is a great tool for us Mac users at home or out on the road.
Robbie Cox
EF2
Another issue that needs corrected is the range ring. right now you must go into setting to apply it or to remove it. Could you add a toggle box to turn on and off under the tab overlay or background ?
Also still a memory hog. on three different computer's you must reboot since it locks up the systems even after freeing up and closing other programs.
Also still a memory hog. on three different computer's you must reboot since it locks up the systems even after freeing up and closing other programs.
Jody Radzik
EF2
If it just had the velocity scans, it would be everything I'm looking for in a chasing tool.
ssimmons
RadarLab HD does use quite a bit of memory, but it will only use a maximum of 256 Megs. Each Radar image can be quite big depending on how much data is in the image, and Java decompresses each image so that makes the memory footprint of each image even bigger. So if you have a 200K image it could easily take up 5-6 Megs or memory in Java. This is one thing I don't like about Java. I am currently working on the overlay layers so that they are redrawn at each zoom level. This should help some with the memory usage since the raw overlay data is downloaded instead of images. It will also remove the pixellating that occurs to the roads, cities, airports, county and state boundary overlays at higher zoom levels. We are planning on adding more radar products and are discussing how to go about doing this. I'll let you guys know when the next update has been uploaded to the site.
Bill Tabor
EF5
Any estimate on when some of the other products for Radarlab Hd will be available such as SRM, Tops, Vil?
Tonight on Bexar and Atascosa counties (Texas) issued 12:08 it was displaying a severe thunderstorm warning, when they had issued a tornado warning.
I really think (and I think everyone will agree with me) that different colors should distinguish the different warnings. This is especially important when driving and you don't have time to click or mouse over every warning. In fact when they are all the same color you don't really feel the need to check them.
As I recall I also noticed a while back that when I set it to a default station, it had no effect.
I am using revision 8. Text of tornado warning follows:
[FONT=lucida sans typewriter, lucida console, courier]398
WFUS54 KEWX 250508
TOREWX
TXC013-029-250545-
/O.NEW.KEWX.TO.W.0021.070425T0508Z-070425T0545Z/
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
1208 AM CDT WED APR 25 2007
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AUSTIN SAN ANTONIO HAS ISSUED A
* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
ATASCOSA COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS...
BEXAR COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS...
* UNTIL 1245 AM CDT
* AT 1206 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS HAVE
DETECTED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 7
MILES SOUTHWEST OF SOMERSET...OR ABOUT 10 MILES EAST OF DEVINE...
MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.
* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
SOMERSET BY 1215 AM CDT...
[/FONT]
Tonight on Bexar and Atascosa counties (Texas) issued 12:08 it was displaying a severe thunderstorm warning, when they had issued a tornado warning.
I really think (and I think everyone will agree with me) that different colors should distinguish the different warnings. This is especially important when driving and you don't have time to click or mouse over every warning. In fact when they are all the same color you don't really feel the need to check them.
As I recall I also noticed a while back that when I set it to a default station, it had no effect.
I am using revision 8. Text of tornado warning follows:
[FONT=lucida sans typewriter, lucida console, courier]398
WFUS54 KEWX 250508
TOREWX
TXC013-029-250545-
/O.NEW.KEWX.TO.W.0021.070425T0508Z-070425T0545Z/
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
1208 AM CDT WED APR 25 2007
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AUSTIN SAN ANTONIO HAS ISSUED A
* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
ATASCOSA COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS...
BEXAR COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS...
* UNTIL 1245 AM CDT
* AT 1206 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS HAVE
DETECTED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 7
MILES SOUTHWEST OF SOMERSET...OR ABOUT 10 MILES EAST OF DEVINE...
MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.
* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
SOMERSET BY 1215 AM CDT...
[/FONT]
ssimmons
Bill,
I sent you a PM addressing your issues.
I sent you a PM addressing your issues.
ssimmons
The newest update to RadarLab HD is now available. This is Revision 9 and contains the following:
1. Fix for the WWA layer not redrawing at certain zoom levels when new data has arrived. This is the problem that Bill pointed out earlier.
2. Tornado Warnings are now plotted in purple and all other Warnings are plotted in red.
3. There is now a County Names overlay so that these can be turned on at any zoom level.
4. The Roads have been split an "Interstates" layer and a "US & State Roads" layer.
4. Now for the major change. The following layers are now redrawn at each zoom level. Airports, City Labels, County Boundaries, County Names, Interstates, US & State Roads and State Boundaries. As you zoom in, each overlay will be redrawn. When panning the image, once the mouse button has been released, the image is then redrawn.
Because of number 4, it may take a few seconds to download and build the Roads, County and State boundaries depending on which site you choose. For instance, the New Orleans State and County boundaries will probably take the longest to download and build since there is so much data for this site. The good thing is that once the overlay is download, it is then used to draw the needed image at each zoom level.
To see which version of RadarLab HD you currently have, click on the RadarLab HD logo in the upper right corner. The current one is "V1.0 Revision 9". If you do not have this one, you may need to delete your Java cache and then relaunch RadarLab HD from the web site. There are instructions on page 2 of this thread (message number 14) for clearing your Java cache. Please let me know if you find any problems with the newest version.
Enjoy!
1. Fix for the WWA layer not redrawing at certain zoom levels when new data has arrived. This is the problem that Bill pointed out earlier.
2. Tornado Warnings are now plotted in purple and all other Warnings are plotted in red.
3. There is now a County Names overlay so that these can be turned on at any zoom level.
4. The Roads have been split an "Interstates" layer and a "US & State Roads" layer.
4. Now for the major change. The following layers are now redrawn at each zoom level. Airports, City Labels, County Boundaries, County Names, Interstates, US & State Roads and State Boundaries. As you zoom in, each overlay will be redrawn. When panning the image, once the mouse button has been released, the image is then redrawn.
Because of number 4, it may take a few seconds to download and build the Roads, County and State boundaries depending on which site you choose. For instance, the New Orleans State and County boundaries will probably take the longest to download and build since there is so much data for this site. The good thing is that once the overlay is download, it is then used to draw the needed image at each zoom level.
To see which version of RadarLab HD you currently have, click on the RadarLab HD logo in the upper right corner. The current one is "V1.0 Revision 9". If you do not have this one, you may need to delete your Java cache and then relaunch RadarLab HD from the web site. There are instructions on page 2 of this thread (message number 14) for clearing your Java cache. Please let me know if you find any problems with the newest version.
Enjoy!
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