Friday, January 9, 2009
GRLevel3 vs Weathertap
I'm still signed up with Weathertap, and like a lot of their features as well including Radarlab and Weathertap Studio. Weathertap also has a lot more than just station radars such as regional, satellite, lightning, and severe / forecasting data. In that regard it might be tough to give up Weathertap. I really think that GRLevel3 should have drill down regional views to make for quick location. But quick location by warning or cell id is a major plus as well.
What do the rest of you think? Any reason to keep Weathertap? Do you still use it? What do you think GRLevel3 needs. Of course GRLevel2 is even higher quality but I believe you don't get free data feeds.
Bill
Tyler Allison is running the LDM... I am sure he can get the National 1KM Mosaic (it's in GINI format, I believe)... He could then setup a process to transform that file into a GIF image for subsections of the USA (most likely using GEMPAK)... Gibson Ridge software could then download the latest GIF file and display it as a background or something, much like SwiftWX used to do.
Already done actually ;)
Gibson Ridge is figuring out if/when/how they want to utilize the data. He's a one man development shop so he has to pick and choose what he works on. He also doesn't like just throwing something together that sucks. He could do a satellite underlay/overlay but he wants to do it right and with the best data possible. Not some 640x480 national image that's been streatched and the pixels are the size of a truck. Doing it right takes time. Right now he is building a next generation Level 2 visualizer in his lab that will make your nose bleed (or wet your pants..pick your analogy) when you see it....it's that good.
He has talked about a larger meterological application (eg: satellite overlays, etc) but for now he's focusing on putting out the best radar software. I had to practically twist his arm to get him to develop his new place file system that now allows metar overlays, position tracking, lightening, etc. He wants to put out the best radar software he can without making it bloated, which I can appreciate :)
WeatherTap also has reliable satellite data
WeatherTap provides a great service, just a different service. I prefer to be able to manipulate the data as I see fit, instead of static content....that's simply a personal choice.
However if a customer of AllisonHouse told me they are paying somebody $5/m for reliable satellite data and they'd rather not, I'd be happy to provide the data. I've got it...however nobody has ever said it was worth anything to them.
What I can't do is generate static images on the scale that WeatherTap does it. I know what kind of hardware it takes to do what they do and it's not for the under funded part timer with a wife that's pissed about the amount of time I spend on my "hobbie". AllisonHouse will never provide that kind of access unless somebody knows a Venture capital group interested in growing a startup ;)
At least for the next 12-18months I see the "weather software" business still a multiple product environment. Assuming you want the best of each area.
This program is pretty sweet!
- Rob
Tyler Allison is running the LDM... I am sure he can get the National 1KM Mosaic (it's in GINI format, I believe)... He could then setup a process to transform that file into a GIF image for subsections of the USA (most likely using GEMPAK)... Gibson Ridge software could then download the latest GIF file and display it as a background or something, much like SwiftWX used to do.
Do you get an error message like error loading states.gis or anything? Make sure the .exe file is not on your desktop. It needs to be in the GRlevel3 folder.
When I click on the .exe file it says "The publisher could not be verified. Are you sure you want to run this software?"
And I clicked run, it installed everything. I moved all the related icons, such as "cities" etc into one big folder. When I click on the main icon grlevel3, literally nothing happens.
I don't know what the problem could be, the security level is normal, and my computer is very updated. I also installed Directx9.
Then at the start of this year I was introduced to GR Level 3, so being the curious person that I am I decided to give it a go and I tried out the trial version of it. I liked the software, but I still wasn't convinced it was better than my weathertap.
I decided to purchase GR Level 3. Since then I have cancelled my membership with weathertap and use GR L3 only.
I can't imagine going back to weathertap.
Did you download the software from this site?http://www.grlevelx.com/grlevel3/
Yeah that's the one.
I've been reading through the GRLevel3 trial forums and I have yet to come across anyone who's had this problem.
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