My name is Bob I am the Emergency Management Tech for Flagler County Emergency Services. I am researching Wx Display software and have a few questions:
How does WD work with multiple stations? We want to put up maybe 3 Peet Bros stations and want to have the data here at our EOC as well as on the web for the NWS and public to have.
How “real time” is it? Does it read streaming data
Same with the webcam, does it read web cam data as real time?
This is a new venture for me so any ideas and guidance is appreciated!
I don’t know about the Peet Bros stations, but you can run multiple copies of WD on the same PC each one picking up data from a different station. I’m doiung that at the moment. My web site is now being updated with data from my new VP2 (Thanks Brian ) and also from my now semi-redundant WMR928. I’m doing this to check what the new station data looks like compared to the old station. I would assume that WD can do the same with Peet Bros equipment…as long as you can connect all three to the PC at the same time. WD is licenced per PC, so you can run multiple copies under one licence.
You can look at all copies of WD running on the PC on the PC screen and each one can upload as much (or as little) data to other directories or a web site and even send data via CWOP so that NWS can ingest it into their models.
I’m not sure what you mean about reading realtime streaming data? If you mean does it read the data from the weather station in real time, then if by real time you mean within a few seconds then yes (this will depend on how often the station provides new data or can be polled). Again, not knowing the Peet Bros stations I don’t know what they’re capable of, but I would assume that data can be read from them pretty much as fast as they can provide it.
The web cam function in WD can either capture individual images (and overlay other data onto the images), or it can stream data out. I think (but I’m not 100% sure) that the media stream has to be accessed from the PC running WD.
I think you’ll find WD can do virtually anything you’d ever want to do…there’s an awful lot to it. You can also download a copy and try it for 30 days if you like (full functionality). And the biggest bonus of the software is that the author (Brian Hamilton) uses this forum every day, responds to problems quickly and has even been known to add new features within a few hours of them being requested!
I am also Bob and I run a personal station right up the road from you in Jacksonville and you can see all of the data that i use WD to provide from my web site, including a web cam. http://JaxWeather.net/
If you view the web cam and click on the main web cam image it will open another window for streaming which is streamed directly from my local computer… http://JaxWeather.net/JaxWeatherCam.php
hi
by installing says 2 versions into 2 different locations on the same PC, and then in one location, create a file called 2wd.txt there, then that 2nd install is completly speparate settings and data from the other install, so that way you can have 2 stations running
and even a 3rd or 4th, via 3wd.txt, 4wd.txt
etc
the web cam can have the current conditions overlaid on it, which is updated every 4 seconds
Hello everyone! Thank you very much for all of the responses. Let me digest this and I will get back and let everyone know. Brian at WD has been helpful too and responsive.
OK another question…will I need a PC at the remote site to send the info to me for each wx station?
I plan to have one station 9 miles away from the Operations Center as well as possibly another one 5 miles away with connectivity through the modem cable network and possibly backed up thru APRS
I want to collect this data at the EOC and display to the public…
Again this is my first time at something like this so any input will be helpful
If you can send the data via APRS, then WD can operate in ‘stationless mode’ and display the APRS data. However, the APRS data stream is quite limited and you’ll get more data if you can have WD talking directly to the weather station.
When you say ‘modem cable network’ what type of network is this? Is it a dedicated point to point modem link, or a private network for the EOC or some other form of network, e.g. the Internet or an ISP network. If it’s your own private network, then you could buy some serial to ethernet adapters and connect the remote stations to the WD PC via the network. If you’ve got point to point links that will carry 19200 baud serial data then I think you should be able to use those.
It is a cable modem network provided by a private provider. A regular network in which someone can subscribe to get high speed access to the net…as the way I understand it. Would that work?
If you can get a fixed IP address for the cable modem then you stand a chance. You’ll need to buy a serial to ethernet converter and I’d suggest a router (with firewall functionality) to go behind the cable modem, unless it has that functionality built in. The router is to protect your ethernet converter from being attacked/distrupted by hackers/external influences. You could try it without the router, but I’m not sure how easy it would be to configure it.
) and also from my now semi-redundant WMR928. I’m doing this to check what the new station data looks like compared to the old station. I would assume that WD can do the same with Peet Bros equipment…as long as you can connect all three to the PC at the same time. WD is licenced per PC, so you can run multiple copies under one licence.
