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BBC Launches Linux Powered Weather Format
nzkaha writes "BBC launches new weather format using Weatherscape XT. This may be one of the higher profile deployments of Linux based systems. Weatherscape XT supplies weather graphics for all UK BBC channels plus the BBC World Service. The system relies completely on openGL graphics and there are demonstration clips of the system in use at Metra.info . Developed in NZ by MetService as a cross platform system for Linux, OS X and Windows, the BBC solution has been deployed on Linux with MySQL DB. Data is replicated to remote studios and displayed live by the Weatherscape application using Nvidia Graphics and drivers. Future deployment options will depend on customer choice and platform support."
a linux system also renders the red+black graphical intro to bbc news. there are many linux systems in use at the beeb. why so surprised ?
$ strings FTP.EXE | grep Copyright
@(#) Copyright (c) 1983 The Regents of the University of California.
... even the BBC have admitted that they have had hundreds of complaints about the look of the new service already. They had to tweak it once already because the north of England, and Scotland, were disproportionately small.
People preferred the old format because it was clearer, didn't swoop around, and conveyed all the relevant information quickly and effectively. This new system is unnecessarily complicated and confusing.
Why use web based Weather feeds when you can pick the data off the satellite's directly???
. html
Connect a 137-138MHz FM communications receiver or scanner to your soundcard and get colour images directly from overhead weather satellites. You can either build your own like I did or just buy a receiver.
For an explanation try:
http://www.emgola.cz/www_fa/meteosat_englisch_how
and for a great tool: http://www.wxtoimg.com/
PORN
PORN
PORN
PORN
the beeb's new weather graphics have been controversial. a lot of people don't like the dark muddy colours. plus Scotland was really pissed because the way the map was angled meant you could hardly see it. this has now been changed, but the new map still doesn't show wind direcion or isobars.
from the few times I've seen it I haven't been impressed. it looks like a nice virtual atlas, but I never seem to come away with any actual info from it.
never mind, nowadays I get my weather from the OSX Dashboard widget.
Oh great, Linux weather. I was quite pleased with Microsoft's pleasant Blue Sky of Death.
xkcd.com - a webcomic of mathematics, love, and language.
shinyfeet.com
Why is 2D insufficient? I much prefer the non-distorted 2D weather map, even if it means I don't get to see as much area. That's usually ok.
2D seems much more precise. Where are all those raindrops falling? You can't tell from a still image.
If they put it out on the internet, is that considered piracy because the US wants private industry to charge for the same service?
It's always 72 degrees, humid, partly cloudy fluorescent and (perhaps) stinky in said ecosystem.
... not MetaService.
You know, met as in meteorological, as in that wet stuff we tend to call weather in New Zealand.
There were a lot of complaints when they started using it on TV in New Zealand too, but now everybody's pretty much used to it. Really it was just an attempt to make the "boring weather bit" on the nightly news into something a bit more interesting from a visual point of view.
When Google Weather (beta) finally goes live, they will present it it four dimensions. For a lot of folks, the internet is actually a vast improvement over cable "local on the 8's" and the 3D stuff will die its own death if it does not actually add info. I agree that the floating clouds are not instructive. Pointless must be a Kiwi euphonism for useless...
"If they put it out on the internet, is that considered piracy because the US wants private industry to charge for the same service?"
I wasn't aware that either New Zeland or The British Isles were considered "The US"?
someone's been reading too many library manuals.
Met as in meterological not meta as in data.
I wasn't aware that the internet was confined to New Zeland and The British Isles.
Vol~
See here on the BBC News site for more comments.
(PS - Go Liverpool for the cup)
The new graphics sure are pretty and I love to see Linux deployed, but it's now not possible to enterpret the map.
The graphics move constantly, so by the time you've looked in the corner to see that the map is talking about mid-day on tuesday, the map has moved again. Also, the forecasts no longer include important information like isobars or wind speeds.
MacBook Pro. Worst name since the Bicycle
Anyone know if/where the source code may be? I may be interested in adding some of my own models for scenerio planning.
a cross platform system for Linux, OSX and Windows
I'm so glad there is finally some software out there that caters to everyone! I'm very happy with my Windows 3.1, and now that Trumpet Winsock is out the Internet is finally easy to access!
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
For a moment I thought it said: "Linux Powered Weather Front". I didn't know that Linux was capable of running the World Wide Weather. :)
IE? :)
Pretty Pictures!
Weatherscape application using Nvidia Graphics and drivers.
This could encourage ATI to get off their ass and release some decent drivers for Linux.
This 'dumbed-down' format is quite popular elsewhere. However many of us still like our isobars, and feel that the fancy graphics is displaing real information.
While I find the technology behind the system fascinating, BBC weather reports have never looked so shit. The country is covered in dark/light spots which are supposed to display cloud cover (but one has to know that to appreaciate it) instead of just using little clouds or similar. There are no wind directions, all that can be seen is the movement of weather systems... I want vectors!!
Seriously though.. even though it certainly has benefits to work in 3d like this (especially since it does not have to be prerendered) the technology, or at least this implementation, is not yet up to it.
PS: what the hell is up with this? "To confirm you're not a script.." I'd be happy to do this if I didn't need 4 tries to actally decipher the damn thing with the crappy font that was chosen and the criss-cross lines all over the image. I had to try twice now... this time at least the font is readable.
For those in the know; is it true that for a company like the BBC, adding another format like OGG considerably takes resources and time? If this is the case, slashdotters in the UK could volunteer valuable time and intellectual capital.
Like other people said, everyone hates it. Those old weather icons were classics - they could have used those in the new system, and what's with the captions at the bottom - they look nothing like the rest of the channel style its as if a fucking 8 year old was given the task of customising this system. The brown/green colour of the map is totally wrong, use the same green as before! (that was a proper map green), the rain looks cool but just doesn't work, use little rain icons so people can understand what's land and what isn't. It just pisses me off that they wasted several million on this piece of shit, Linux or not, it sucks and is a total waste of money replacing something that didn't even look out-dated (because it was so well designed). Now ITV looks better! Seriously you don't mess with an Englishman's weather map...
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
NHK (Japanese public TV) tried using a 3D weather map something like this--not spherical, but an angled view of the archipelago--on their nightly news program for about a year, then it disappeared. They didn't give any explanation, at least as far as I know, but from personal experience I assume it was because (1) it was harder to read/interpret than the regular 2D map and (2) the camera shook like crazy whenever they panned across it (it looked like they were panning across some sort of bluefield and putting the 3D images in through CGI).
You must remember that this solution searching for a use has come out of the country which has turned the business of dumbing-down TV into a supreme art form. This is animation is just one of the symptoms of pandering to the supposed needs of that sector of the population which is thought to be unable to differentiate an isobar from an icecream.
As shiny and pretty 3D as this new one is, it doesn't really provide what the majority of users need. The users being the viewing public, and what they need being the ability to see at a glance what the weather will be like. This means that less, not more detail is needed. We (on the whole) don't need to see each individual rain drop, nor see the whole thing in a pretty 3D display. The simplicity of the older system provided this at-a-glance representation. It seems to me that whoever designed the new system didn't use a User Centered Design approach. see: http://www-3.ibm.com/ibm/easy/eou_ext.nsf/Publish/ 570
The NZ version is used on TV 1 and TV 3 here.
People have mentioned a lack of isobars, wind direction, strength, muddy colours etc.
On our version we get an isobar map first, which shows the bars changing, fronts coming through etc. Then a broad sweep over the country showing weather effects like cloud/rain + temperature/wind info overlayed by town.
Then a close up on the major centres (6 are shown).
The weather is very nice showing what the temperature will go down to tonight, in the morning, and afternoon.
Perhaps the BBC is doing something different and leaving out some of the info we see here. That would be their decision.
As for the muddy colour of the map. Perhaps the British should wake up and realise that their green-and-pleasant land isn't a vibrant shade of green any more. AFAIK it uses true colour satillite images of the landscape. So that mud colour is what your country looks like.
In soviet russia, linux launches......
:-\
I think I'll go to bed... apparently I'm not a human either
TWW
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
The 3D animated weather map has been hugely successful in New Zeland, it is very clear and shows what the weather will be like as the day goes on, complete with cloud, rain and wind (and sun!). It is far, far more useful than a static map.
It is also very reliable, I can only remember a few times when it failed to work properly, mainly due to poor operators rather than a machine crashing.
The BBC has done a terrible job of it- they have made Britain a dull brown colour, (its is quite a green and pleasant land outside London!) the animation is hard to follow and they don't show clouds- just their shadows.
They are about to fine tune it tomorrow from the feedback they have received, so we'll see what they come up with. In any case its a vast improvement from the "sunny, with some rain" forecasts of old...
mplayer
Yours Sincerely, Michael.
This is offtopic.
I'm quite under the weather about it. Just because technology makes something possible, does not always mean it is a good idea. 1) It looks ugly 2) I find it less informative 3) It distracts from the weatherman's tie - or the weathergirl's dress - those traditionally being the most interesting features of the forecast.
In my case, I fly hang gliders and I sail. The BBC has said that "isobars will still be shown where helpful to viewers". Which viewers? I need the isobars shown every time. I feel like parading outside BBC Television Centre dressed as an old style symbol such as a cloud with two rain drips, carrying a sign saying, "Please give me my job back".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ukweather/pressure.sh tml
Honestly it's not that hard to use your bloody eyes. 99% of the people in the UK just need to know "big arrow stong wind" and don't care/understand pressure
... the online aviation forecasts. Proper maps, and more detail - just pick the TAF for your nearest airfield.
"BBC Launches Linux Powered Weather Format"
Linux users rejoice at finally knowing what the weather's like outside!
"Derp de derp."
The old system worked fine. I have a funny feeling that the new one isn't long for this world.
Conor "You're not married,you haven't got a girlfriend and you've never seen Star Trek? Good Lord!" - Patrick Stewart
Now instead of that they are using cheap-looking fly-over views of Britain generated from a weirdly chosen vantage point somewhere over North Africa(!) which has the effect of making Scotland look tiny in the view compared to the south of England.
Even worse, they now use animated rain drops which look like they are falling from a height of about 50-100kilometres above Earth, i.e. rain from space!
The new look also makes it hard to tell where the rain is going to fall because the animated rain drops fall down the screen starting quite some distance outside the area on the map that is actually going to get hit by rain.
Even more daftly, the rain drops appear to fall vertically down the screen. If you absolutely insist on using silly 3d perspective views for all of this, which you really shouldn't do, then at least make the rain drops fall in true 3d perspective.
Lastly, they have also decided not to give any air pressure maps, which stops anyone even vaguely familiar with weather forecasting from working out for themselves the short-term trends beyond the end date of that weather forecast.
Scroogle
The recasting of the weather forecast has been a deeply disheartening experience. For those not familiar with the problems of the new (linux powered! I would keep quiet about that if I were an linux advocate) forecast -
(1) Even by its own criteria it does not work well. In terms of presenting information it is a disaster. Masterfully clear and concise icons evolved over decades have been ditched for a series of children's animations that manage to be both impenetrable and suggestive of absurd accuracy at the same time.
(2) Worse though is the BBC's retreat from providing an informative and educational forecast. Over decades skilled forecaster-presenters subtlety explained synoptic charts and the large scale weather story so that the UK weather - and the uncertainty in that forecast - was skillfully conveyed. This meant that you were never in dark - rain not arrived by lunchtime? the front must have slowed, it will be along later.
Now there is no structure or intelligence to the forecast - it is a goldfish view of the weather. One result of this was that, regardless of education, many could make a basic interpretation of isobars, etc: quite possibly the only scientific chart they would encounter. I am not sure that losing this literacy is a good thing.
And why have they done all this? It is a puzzle: the bbc web page condenses the rationale to "Today's media industry is like a shark, either you keep moving forward or you are dead in the water.". Perhaps the weather forecast, previously a high point of the BBC's output - has been handed over those who design programme idents and trailers.
It's much more informational than the old weather. I can now exactly say what the weather will be at my location (I live in fairly remote place) - whether it'll be rainy or cloudy or sunny. The good thing is that I don't need closeup view for getting all this information. All I need is a view on whole Europe.
I guess, people don't like it mainly because they can't stomach the brown color. People generally somehow don't like something new, something different. Even though it is better. But the new weather is MUCH better and I'm glad that BBC did that and defend their decision. After time, people will get used to it.
Good lord, I thought we'd made more progress than that!
(In truth, we have. Linux is running lots of critical systems, and people know this.)
Am I part of the core demographic for Swedish Fish?
I loved that VR-studio. The design was very clean and there was nu clutter to distract your eyes from the news. The studio seemed very big (all in VR offcourse) which made it look very prestegious. This virtual space also allowed dramatic camera-movements.
:-) I truly don't understand why. They were ahead of their time.
The one thing I hate about most "modern" studio"s is the abundant use of plasma-sceens. These things are NEVER aligned properly with the rest of the design. I hate it. It's just more distracting clutter. Especially when they do live-interventions on these things. The picture is horrible and they have to use a far-fetched angle to get everything in the shot. All these problems dissapear if you use a VR screen. No clutter, great picture-quality and you can place them whereever you want.
And I'm not even a Brit.
I live in Belgium. That's a small country, so networks have small budgets and crappy news-studio's.
I used to look up to the BBC-news studio, but now they have regressed to Belgian (or CNN?) standards
I disagree with you on the "apocalyptic remix of the Greenwich Time Signal" though. I rather like that theme.
"The Gnoth-eastern cold front is pushing this Kloud front into our area... it's gonna be Kold enough for the penguins folks! Be sure to wear your Red Hats tomorrow."
"Have a Sun-ny day! I'm Richard Stallman, and now for Mac Sports... take it away, Steve!"
Just because linux is running lots of critical systems doesn't make it high profile. High profile means that people are aware of it. Most people don't care to know the specifics behind critical systems, usually such things become high profile only after something has gone wrong.
Statisticians invent convenient graphical representations of data such as pie charts and column charts. Technologists "improve" on them by adding drop shadows and perspective views that dont' carry any data, but make things harder to read if you're actually interested in the data. Users enthusisatically embrace the new, inferior versions, and add do them by commiting aesthetic atrocities with color.
Cartographers spend centuries creating a vast toolbox of methods for representing the surface of the Earth for various purposes. Technologists "improve" on these by throwing them out in favor of anifty "perspective" view that looks like you're looking through a telescope from a geosynchronous satellite. Users add to this by commiting aesthetic atrocities with color.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Here is something to scare the Americans a little:
MetService, a State-Owned Enterprise.
He he he, a government owned company that makes money. Can't wait to hear the customary ranting that goes with the territory.
There has been a similar trend here in Kansas to try to make the weather "sexier" by having meaningless 3D animations.
Let's face it - weather is usually BORING, and can usually be summed up in very few words: "It was sunny and hot today. Tomorrow will be sunny and hot at first, with the possibility of storms in the evening. Over the next week it will probably be sunny and hot, with possible storms in the evenings, until midweek, when it may rain."
However, since "news" is no longer news but infotainment, they have to make the weather interesting. Hence, fancy 3D swoops and rendered clouds that really add nothing to the presentation, but look "cool" to the NonMindO generation.
Now, here they will have animated 2D graphs showing the movement of fronts and pressure zones, and *that* is useful.
Of course, when our weather gets the least bit "interesting", then they break in and you would think that We Are All Going To Die - "There is a MASSIVE storm just outside Goodland, moving east at 50 MPH - TAKE SHELTER AT ONCE! We have had reports (from untrained spotters) of basketball sized hail, 1000MPH wind gusts, tornados, flaming meteors, and Elvis."
It is funny to me, because as a ham I can listen to (and participate in) the storm spotter nets - and it is funny to hear a trained spotter report dime sized hail, and then 50 minutes later (when the skys are clear) hear the TV report golf-ball sized hail in the same area.
(OT: Goodland, KS is like Greenland - the name is highly ironic, as Goodland is the place were it usually is the hottest, coldest, and windiest in Kansas, with the largest hail and such.)
www.eFax.com are spammers
Personaly I like the new system it doesn't take two seconds to work out if it is raining or if there will be cloud cover. The old system was in accurate and you had to guess a lot or just accept... there may be rain.... then again there might not.
The new view showing the north bigger has made it easier to see but even before that it was not hard and you could see what you needed too.
I'll tell you why people don't like the brown colour. Because the Earth is not shitty brown coloured. Really! Take a look!
The old green colour was not only more pleasant to the eye, but more *ACCURATE*! Also, why do they have splodges that are darker than than others? I just think that looks terrible.
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
The Weather Channel has been using LINUX and openGL for it's cable headend systems for years. They have thousands distributed all around the US. The last set of specs I heard about them had them using OpenGL on an ATI card to generate the onscreen "local" graphics and displays on the Weather Channel in each cable system market.
1) readability. A TAF is not aimed at the general public:
Sure, there are legends explaining TAF's and METAR's, but c'mon, I mean... I bet most people don't feel like having to do a lot of work just to get their weather forecast.
2) The nowcast-nature of a TAF won't tell you anything about the weather to come, any more than looking out the window once in a while. Towering cumulus/congestus? Looks like rain.
Huge anvils on those cumulonimbus? Might even be thunder/hail/snow then.
3) I'd love a look at the TAF if I were to land my plane at some airport but the weather could be quite different where I live, not more than 30 miles away. A TAF wont tell you that.
Maps you say? Well thats a whole other story
I myself prefer a combination of the Sembach satellite analysis as a nowcast, combined with the GFS maps to look ahead in time, where I check the sanity up against ECMWF
But for a quick weather forecast, I still just flick on my tv at seven
Finally, something that ATI can look at and realize that they are loosing business for their crappy graphics drivers.
using Nvidia Graphics and drivers.
Does this mean that we can see better nvidia drivers out soon?
Cheers,
RoadkillBunny
I thought the weather was powered by (the) Sun
They won't, because Theora is too patented.
Haven't the VP3 patents that cover Theora been licensed for free use for any purpose by any person as a condition of getting the tech into Theora?
Same Name maybe, everything else is totally differrent, TVNZ's was running on an IndigoII MaxImpact until last week, when it switched to Linux also. :) ( XT does a vast amount more UI wise & they had some smart AGP->PCIX video transfer, pity the FX4400SDI came along ). :), I used that alot & would not change it.
The big difference is the code base & design philosophy.
The TVNZ one is the original & alot older ( '96 written ), based on a web UI, using perl scripts to start up & trigger events ( unix signals ) & hand drawn regions for clouds, able to be tweaked every hour, generally every 6, then interpolated in real time. It also is tightly coupled data & presentation, which was my fault, but it was built in under 3 months from memory by one person ( me ), 4 years 5 odd people for the WeatherscapeXT
The TV3's Weatherscape XT integrated UI gives a heap more control & flexibility. TV3 WeatherscapeXT is also using modelled clouds.
To even the screwup's equation, they used opengl lines for rain ( it looks that way anyway ), whereas I used antialiased lines on poly's, mine scale width with distance, theirs don't
Nigel
jazzman, it worked! I got trolled for trolling a troll. I'll check that off my to do list...
Authority questions you. Return the favor.
NZ's tv stations use this and I must say it looks far better, BBC one is all bland. But it does look better than a 2D painting. I think its just to many people hate change.
... I will switch back to Windows immediately!
k -at-the-same-time weather presentations.
Seriously, I have not met a single person with a single good thing to say about the new-look weather at the BBC.
For a couple of years, I've been silently congratulating the BBC for their clear, no-nonsense style when all around (ITV, yes, I'm talking about you) were changing to stupid, over-detailed, animated rubbish.
Looks like I should have been less silent about it.
As far as I can tell, the new maps are the product of someone at the BBC graphics department who SHOULD KNOW BETTER showing off their l33t gr4f1x sk1llz at the expense of clarity, legibility, and good taste.
When the maps first were aired, about half of each forecast was devoted to explanation. On a 90 second slot, if you have to explain it, YOU HAVE FAILED.
Come to think of it, this could be one bloody good use of software patents (excuse my language). Just get a patent on "3-D weather maps" - OK, they've been done for years, but that doesn't usually stop a software patent - and then sue the BBC for infringement. They'll *have* to go back to the previous, easy-to-see, obvious-to-all, no-instructions-required, actually-designed-by-someone-who-can-walk-AND-tal
Oops. All of the above was supposed to read "me too", but I think it touched a nerve.
Sean Ellis
Follow OfQuack's antics on Twitter.
I've seen the new style, and I've watched with interest as the rain moves across the landscape. Yes, it still says anything could happen ;) But it says it with greater accuracy.
Please explain to me how this isn't a paradox?Granted, the announcement is that it's running on Linux, which is great, but the actual presentation isn't anything new. We've had presentations very similar to this in Minneapolis for quite a while now. I preferred having the 2-d maps instead of the 3-d mostly because the weathermen seem to think the view looking north-west is much better than looking either absolute-north or magnetic-north.... If they could just rotate the bloody view to some sort of north, rather than north-west or north-east, then I could see better potential for it...
Do the Nvidia Graphic drivers come standard ;)
with their distro of linux?
Arash
Arash Partow's Philosophy: Be a person who knows what they don't know, and not a person who doesn't know.
Time given is for a complete copy of the Wikipedia database from one replicating slave to another. Switching master to continue taking data takes seconds to minutes, depending on degree of automation.
good to know it uses Linux, but the new system is nasty. (ok better now you actually see scotland), but our beautiful country is now a dirt brown.
Please mod parent up, and give him/her a copy of the classic text which has the explantion as to where we might go from here: Title: "The Visual Display of Quantatative Information" Author: Edward R. Tufte http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0961 39210X/103-1094609-9675034?v=glance
above link has viewable (free, as in beer) content