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windfind
Joined: 18 Mar 1997 Posts: 1902
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2022 10:07 am Post subject: New OS for legacy Classic iwindsurf |
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Hi Gang,
Some of the crew at the Florida IT office have finally had some time to work on legacy sites such as Classic iwindsurf.
Classic iwindsurf should look exactly the same as in past decades but behind the scenes is a completely new OS and most of the legacy items are now live on the new platform. This will make the old site much more stable since it no longer uses code from the Jurrasic era. (Sadly, this means we have to send the oldtimers who were maintaining the code of the old classic windsurf back to their retirement homes.)
The links are unchanged so keep on using your existing bookmarks.
Since nationwide very few people still use Classic iwindsurf it is important that you send feedback if you find bugs in the new platform.
For classic iwindsurf, we are still using the ancient hand-drawn wind maps with the features some of you love. But be aware that we can not add new sensors, public domain sensors or tempest sensors to these old maps. So for the latest in sensors use the new iwindsurf.com: https://wx.iwindsurf.com/map#45.762,-121.493,10,1
Mike Godsey
weatherflow.com
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isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2022 10:48 am Post subject: |
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As long as they keep supporting WAP, this oldtimer will be happy. There's nothing like simplicity. As the song says, "BAM! There it is!"
And NO ADS. Even on my big desktop monitor, iW is still often more ads than content.
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ericandholly
Joined: 20 Jun 1999 Posts: 292
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2022 10:50 am Post subject: |
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In the past few days the classic has not worked on my iphone 11 at all with the latest phone OS loaded. Classic does still work on my older Mac with 10.14.6 just fine.
I find the Classic more intuitive to navigate, but the New works just fine and have been a bit lazy about getting to know it as well as I should.
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combs
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Joined: 01 Apr 1997 Posts: 130
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2022 10:59 am Post subject: |
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Mr. Godsey- thanks for the update. the main reason I use the classic version is the air pressure info for the gorge, which I don't believe is available on other options.
Any plans to add this data to the new site, or app?
Thanks again!
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hilton08
Joined: 02 Apr 2000 Posts: 506
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2022 11:03 am Post subject: |
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windfind wrote: |
Since nationwide very few people still use Classic iwindsurf
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Thanks for keeping classic iwindsurf and wap running for us old guys (and gals).
Even if we are a small percentage of the users, I'm sure most have been loyal users since the days of the wind pagers.
I'm so old I still remember paying for a long-distance phone call on a land line to listed to the automated voice of the wind talker at the Rhonda Smith windsurfing center for a real time wind report.
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isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2022 11:16 am Post subject: |
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Of the two images shown above, I'll take the Classic version by a country mile. It's LEGIBLE, the data we want is not obscured by absolutely useless topo maps, and it tells me all I need to know without having to blow up the screen to see WTH's going on at any given site ... IF I can even find the site among the clutter. In the many years I've been using iW, I've very seldom seen any advantages to most of their "upgrades". Most of them are just glitzy ways to obfuscate the same old data. If they would invest one tenth of their glitz budget into a useful sensor at Roosevelt (the Arlington sensor is very often off by 20 knots and/or 20-30 degrees direction from what Roosevelt sailors rig for and launch into), I'd be far more impressed and appreciative.
If I had ever briefed my commanding officer -- who had a PhD in laser physics -- with words and/or charts this cluttered with frills, he'd have cut me off at the knees.
Screw the capers; where's the BEEF?
And, no, BiffMalibu and I are not the same person.
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isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2022 11:24 am Post subject: |
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hilton08 wrote: | I'm so old I still remember paying for a long-distance phone call on a land line to listed to the automated voice of the wind talker at the Rhonda Smith windsurfing center for a real time wind report. |
Many times I'd check my pager when my alarm went off at 4:30 AM, but before driving to the Hatch I'd always drive to a phone booth first to check out Roosevelt. "28 gusting to 30", and I'd be rigging a 4.2 -- often alone -- by 6 o'clock.
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windfind
Joined: 18 Mar 1997 Posts: 1902
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2022 12:26 pm Post subject: |
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Classic was the first product of our company decades ago. Now, iwindsurf/ikitesurf are just a tiny corner of Weatherflow. But Classic was picked "Best of the Web" by Forbes Magazine in the early days of the web. For these reasons and our long time customers we are dedicated to maintaining Classic.
Replies:
Isobars: WAP failed to be adopted in many countries, and its use has declined since 2010 as HTML compatibility expanded in mobile phones. At some point in the future WAP may no longer be supported as worldwide standards change but that will not be our doing. I really liked how simple the flat head 4 cylinder engine was to rebuild in my first car but...
ericandholly: They just finished with the new version this morning. So it should be working better now.
combs: The new iwindsurf.com was standardized to meet the needs of our weather customers worldwide. Unfortunately, there is no other place where sites are lined up in a row from West to East like the Gorge. That layout makes the pressure gradients easy to use in the Gorge but very difficult to use elsewhere. So that feature is missing in the new iwindsurf.com. I hope to see it added when we make a new version of the app since the existing one is very powerful and not very intuitive.
hilton08: I remember my first visit to the Gorge looking for a 16' pressure treated 6x6 to install at Rhonda Smith windsurfing center for our first Gorge sensor.
isobars: Learning how to use our sensors AND the surrounding public domain sensors on the relief map is the first step in avoiding making long drives only to find the useless wind at your site. Wind follows topography. It is the overall wind in an area interacting with the Gorge cliffs and topography around your site that determines whether the winds will be mostly on the Oregon or the WA side of the river. You can not do that with Classic. For example https://blog.weatherflow.com/west-coast-wind-blog-the-wall-wind-direction-and-2-venturis/
We have been trying to find a good sensor site at Roos for years. Prospective sensor sites always have issues. Rent, turbulence, trees, insurance, endangered species, etc. Then there is the money issue. These sensors cost thousands for us to manufacture, install & maintain. How many new windsurfing customers will a Roos sensor bring in to cover the cost?
I think you are under the impression that the "glitzy" data you see in the IW and IK are only for use for windsurfers, kiters and wingers. Actually, the vast majority of our major customers, government and commercial, are not in those categories and they pay for that data on our other apps. Check out our main website Weatherflow.com and try to find iwindsurf.com. Below are a few of our main customers.
I look at it this way. All these entities pay the bills for a sensor network I get to use. It was great being in Bonaire, 50 miles north of Venezuela, this spring and having our sensors there to find wind!
Mike Godsey
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hilton08
Joined: 02 Apr 2000 Posts: 506
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Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2022 12:05 am Post subject: |
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It would make an interesting blog topic to learn the behind-the-scenes history of windsight/iwindsurf
The technology has come a long way since you had to call the Mini-Mart in Biggs and ask the clerk "Is it windy?" before making the drive to Maryhill.
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windfind
Joined: 18 Mar 1997 Posts: 1902
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Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2022 10:32 am Post subject: |
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hilton08 wrote: | It would make an interesting blog topic to learn the behind-the-scenes history of windsight/iwindsurf
The technology has come a long way since you had to call the Mini-Mart in Biggs and ask the clerk "Is it windy?" before making the drive to Maryhill. |
Hi Hilton08
Windsight and iwindsurf.com were never connected in any way. Most of you you know the sad history of Windsight in the Gorge.
Here is an extremely brief and very partial history of Weatherflow/Tempest:
Long ago Jim M. started a Southern California company called Call of the Wind with the then-revolutionary use of a pager to push wind reports to windsurfers rather than your calling an a phone number. Then David S. had the silly idea of putting the sensor data and forecast on this new fangled thing called the Web and actually having people pay money to look at web pages. Call of the Wind expanded to the Bay Area and I began forecasting. Later Call of the Wind expanded to the Gorge and Windsight quickly disappeared.
Meanwhile, on the East Coast Phil had developed the Wind Hotline using a phone system but with the revolutionary idea of designing and manufacturing wireless weather stations that did not need 110v and a phone line. Thus they could be placed closer to launch sites. Jay was the premiere forecaster on the east coast at that point with lots of contacts with the local, state and federal governments.
Later, with significant venture capital, these 2 companies merged into a company called iwindsurf.com led by Buck (CEO of Vela). iwindsurf.com then expanded to cover most of the coastal USA.
It quickly became clear that windsurfing was NOT profitable enough for a company to succeed. The company's name was changed to Weatherflow reflecting our goal to be a weather company not a windsurfing company.
In the following decades, with Jay's and others' contacts in the NWS, Dept. of Defense, Coast Guard, HazMat, Reinsurance, NWS, NOAA, etc. ,Weatherflow grew very rapidly acquiring the customers and partners in the list above. That pace of growth has greatly accelerated this past decade.
Worth mentioning is the fact these customers and partners led to our ability to place our sensors on Federal Aids to Navigation in waters nationwide including many on the Columbia River from Jones Beach to 3-mile Canyon. Hopefully you did not think the Feds allowed us to do that to benefit windsurfers.
Building upon our expertise in sensors Phil and his team designed an utterly revolutionary consumer weather station with NO moving parts: https://tinyurl.com/twu3dwyu The Tempest weather station is a best seller on Amazon with our Tempests located world wide making the largest sensor network on the planet.
All of the information from Tempest sensors and our pro sensors is used with our Machine learning technology to improve model forecasts.
Our Denver modeling & AI office has a crew of Ph'ds producing amazing model enhancements with resolution down to 1km that make the best forecasts possible except for the Gorge where even 1 km is not enough.
Our meteorology team has greatly expanded with offices nationwide and covers many endeavors ranging from kitesurfing to America's Cup to delivery drones to wind turbines.
Last year Weatherflow/Tempest began selling stock and so many people, including many of our loyal customers, invested that we made our investment goals in record time:
https://www.startengine.com/weatherflow-tempest
Video: https://youtu.be/fPwFy-jEDtA
All of us in Weatherflow keep our hearts in wind sports but our bills are paid by those with bigger needs and wallets for weather information.
Can you remember the last time we raised your monthly subscription?
Mike Godsey
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