Thursday, January 8, 2009
Swift WX
Not to hijack the thread or anything but it seems like there are a lot of products (both software, hardware or service) geared toward storm chasers that cycle through then fall off the map. I find that interesting.
I have to wonder if it is a lack of demand for a product/service aimed at such a narrow market or if the people behind the software simply become uninterested in chasing or dealing with chasers...
People pay a nice price for GEMPAK systems, but "in theory" the same data can be had from CoD & NWS websites. It's just that "in operation" if you want the best, you probably are going to shell out a little cash.
- Rob
SwiftWX is pretty intuative in its design. Sometimes I'll get messed up because it automatically caches the weather data. And I'll be going out on a chase and have data on there from my last chase - whoops.
Now where did that cell go?!?! Hehe. Good product, I like it and would reccomend it.
Oh, it also has GPS integration. Wish we could get some more road-mapping detail in there though.
Not to hijack the thread or anything but it seems like there are a lot of products (both software, hardware or service) geared toward storm chasers that cycle through then fall off the map. I find that interesting.
I have to wonder if it is a lack of demand for a product/service aimed at such a narrow market or if the people behind the software simply become uninterested in chasing or dealing with chasers...
Not to continue the thread-jack, but...
I think the main problem with trying to make money selling weather data is that the free products that are out there now are so darned good. It's tough to convince people that they should shell out their money for model/radar/satellite/lightning data from [private sector weather vendor] when they can get a fair bit of similar data from [government/university source] for free. Obviously [government/university source] ought to be offering innovative products, but it makes it tough for small developers to stay ahead of them.
There are some good things in the works from [private sector weather vendor] though, hopefully we'll be discussing them here on StormTrack before next chase season.
Just as a comment, GRLevel3 can display dynamic placefiles (as overlays), such as SPC Outlooks, watches, etc, in addition to things like Oklahoma Mesonet data, etc.
So I've heard, but there are no instructions - at least good ones - that shows you how to do this.
Not to hijack the thread or anything but it seems like there are a lot of products (both software, hardware or service) geared toward storm chasers that cycle through then fall off the map.
I notice that too. I was kind of amazed at all the advertising money poured into Storm Predator, which is a decent program but doesn't seem to be as powerful as some other alternatives out there.
Tim
On Steve's point, I have wondered the same thing, as it seems there is a thrust toward getting some of this software on the market, only to die down in a year or two after the initial hubub is over. I have to wonder if there is a 'perceived market' of large numbers of chasers or emergency services who might benefit from such software, which dies down once the reality sets in that this is a pretty tough market in which to make sales. Forming a customer base with return business would be pretty tough with chasers, IMO - just because as a group this is really a 'gadget crazy' bunch of people for the most part, and as soon as something bigger and better comes out it seems like it's often time to jump on the next bandwagon. That's not a slam on chasers in any way - just the way the situation exists currently.
I really don't know why this is, but until now I have seen no real benefit to jumping on the GRLevel3 thing, as I know other places that give me the exact same product - and I'm already familiar with these. Swift is one of the ones I've used and it works fine, though I'm seriously considering something different this year.
I was looking up some stuff on this software and was curious if anyone else has used it. What I saw looked pretty good but is it worth the price? And does it compare to other software already available? Everyone's input is welcome.
I have used it in the past, but as for it being the best around -- I would certainly have to say no -- GRLevelX is the absolute best radar analysis software on the market... It also gives you GPS integration, so it will plot your current location on the radar display panel. It is extremely affordable, and is worth every penny, and it also lets you trial it out ( http://www.grlevelx.com ).
#If you have any other info about this subject , Please add it free.# |
Posted by jack |