[OZAPRS] WXSVR

Mathew McKernan mathew at mmckernan.id.au
Fri Nov 24 18:18:04 AEDT 2017


Hi all,


Thanks to everyone who has helped at every turn with this project resurrection, including Geoff for the original code, plus everyone who has helped with old shape files, content, the former WXSVR-AU website and the like. It is very much appreciated.


An update for everyone as to the current status.


  *   I've activated WXSVR-AU and it is working 😊 with some fixes due to changes in BOM, NSW RFS, VicEmergency etc. Biggest challenge was the massive learning curve and mixture of "what was previously done" and now.
  *   Key items for awareness:
     *   UIView32 is dead with shapes for BOM areas. Geoff made a change some time ago to stop using the NWS Format for events, so we don't cause confusion on the network. I don't plan on hacking WXSVR-AU to make it work with older clients that only do NWS weather bulletins. Seemed to be a lot of debate on this in the US APRS mailing lists years ago around this.
     *   Xastir has implemented functionality in line with this change. I am planning on reaching out to APRSISCE for Windows Users.
     *   Shape files have changed, the BOM changed these some time ago and have moved away from the method and format they previously used.
     *   This means new dbfawk files are needed for Xastir.
     *   It also means get-BOMdata no longer works as well. The shapes are available, but filenames have changed and content has changed as well, hence why we need different dbfawk files.
     *   The good news is that Xastir doesn't necessarily need development changes. Just that certain files need to be renamed - e.g. IDM00001.shp becomes gfe_public_weather.shp etc. gfe_metro_areas.shp is retired.
  *   The old WXSVR-AU was very reliant on using LGA's (Local Government Areas) in NSW for Fire Incidents.
     *   I've changed this and have coded in functionality to take the Latitude/Longitude from the fire incidents, tie it to a forecast area and send it out that way. This is done by finding the forecast shape that the fire incident is within.
     *   The end goal is to include incidents from all Fire Agencies Australia wide, all publish the Latitude/Longitude, but not the LGA - hence the need to make this change to map it back to forecast area.
     *   NSW Fire Incidents will trigger a Weather Bulletin for incidents that have community warnings associated to them for Advice, Watch and Act, Emergency Warning. Victorian fires do not have this functionality, yet.
     *   This also makes setting up iGates much, much easier.
  *   Weather Warnings
     *   Available Australia wide as a Weather Bulletin Message and a Area specific shape.
     *   Each event includes a object in the centreoid of the weather zone.
     *   The idea of the object is so you can know what the alert is all about with some useful text.
     *   The warnings available are:
        *   Severe Thunderstorm Warning
        *
Flood Watch or Warning
        *
Severe Weather Warning
        *
Fire Weather Warning
        *
Sheep Weather / Graziers
        *
Bushwalker Weather Alert
        *
Frost Warning
        *
Cyclone Watch or Warning
        *
Fire Ban Advice
        *
Marine Wind Warning
        *
Brown Rot Advice
        *
Downy Mildew Advice
        *
Tsunami Threat Watch or Warning
        *
Aviation Lightning Warning
  *   Fire Danger Ratings:
     *   Only available for all of Victoria at this stage.
     *   Objects created for all rating levels from Low-Moderate through to Code Red (or Catastrophic, depending on your state). These are positioned in the centre of the zone based on the "centreoid" of the zone - essentially the middle position taking into consideration that our zones are not circles and follow natural land edges.
     *   Low-Moderate & High will not result in an output for a weather warning but will output an object giving the FDR.
     *   Very High, Severe will result in a Weather Watch with object giving the FDR
     *   Extreme and Catastrophic (or Code Red) will result in a weather warning with object giving the FDR.
  *   New Implementation Detail:
     *   Source callsigns have the format of ZZZxxx, ZZZ is a 3 letter code assigned for the forecast zone, xxx is the product type - this is assigned by the WXSVR and doesn't match any BOM names unfortunately.
     *   BOM use 8 digit values (e.g. NSW_PW001 is a zone), meaning we then lose the ability to include the product type (meaning people can't filter particular products). Not to mention it is too long I believe for AX25 packets and breaks the format.
     *   If people want to gate the data onto RF, they would allow anything with the callsign starting with their respective forecast area. This will then gate weather warnings, fire danger ratings and fire incidents onto the air.
     *   I will publish the zone codes next week sometime when I replicate the data a bit more.
  *   WXBot like functionality:
     *   Not available as yet, I am working on this.
     *   I found the source for the US Version of WXBot and plan to use this as a basis and enhance it for Australia.
     *   I am thinking it will have the same callsign as WXSVR-AU, meaning we can eventually provide "finger" functionality to obtain more information from the original bulletin.

If you'd like to see this data in your respective client, add "e/WXSVR-AU" to your filter on APRS-IS.

Feedback is very much welcome, including being told to turn it off because it is too noisy!

Cheers and 73s!

Matty
VK3MJM


________________________________
From: OZAPRS <ozaprs-bounces at aprs.net.au> on behalf of Mathew McKernan <mathew at mmckernan.id.au>
Sent: Thursday, 23 November 2017 3:11 PM
To: Australian APRS Users
Subject: Re: [OZAPRS] WXSVR



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Hi Peter,


No problem!


Just wondering, how did you handle those FDR objects? Did you do them as polygons or as points?


I've noticed there is very limited support nowdays around NWS/BOM alerts in ARPS products. The original version of the weather alerts in WXSVR-AU used NWS objects and we'd upset our friends in the united states. It also meant we had to hack around with modified shape files to make it all work.


Xastir seems to work with the BOM shape files with the BOM based notifications, which means we have a more uniformed setup and we don't need to handcraft shape files.


Another option I am thinking of for some situations are publishing polygon objects instead.


Thanks,


Matty

________________________________
From: OZAPRS <ozaprs-bounces at aprs.net.au> on behalf of Peter Wicklein <vk3tbn at hotmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, 22 November 2017 6:45:02 PM
To: Australian APRS Users
Subject: Re: [OZAPRS] WXSVR


Matty



Great, more particularly the Fire items, years ago i used to add them as objects via ui view, bit hard to keep updated if you go on holidays..



Regards

Pete



Sent from my Windows 10 phone



________________________________
From: OZAPRS <ozaprs-bounces at aprs.net.au> on behalf of Mathew McKernan <mathew at mmckernan.id.au>
Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2017 12:49:07 PM
To: Australian APRS Users
Subject: [OZAPRS] WXSVR


Hi all,


I reached out to Geoff Gatward who was the creator/original maintainer (to my knowledge) of the old WXSVR-AU service.


I've been doing some work on this over the past few days and seem to have it operating again.


Is this a service everyone would be interested in returning to service?


In terms of functionality for those who can't remember:

  *   Weather warnings from the BOM for
     *   Severe Thunderstorm Warning
     *
Road Weather Alert
     *
Flood Watch or Warning
     *
Severe Weather Warning
     *
Fire Weather Warning
     *
Sheep Weather Alert
     *
Bushwalker Weather Alert
     *
Frost Warning
     *
Cyclone Watch or Warning
     *
Fire Ban Advice
     *
Marine Wind Warning
     *
Brown Rot Advice
     *
Downy Mildew Advice
     *
Tsunami Threat Watch or Warnin
     *
Aviation Lightning Warning
  *   Fire Incidents for VIC and NSW
  *   Fire Danger Ratings for VIC
  *   Fire Alerts & Community Warnings for NSW (VIC to come)
  *   Marine warnings above only work for NSW, VIC, TAS and WA. Nothing for QLD or NT as yet


In terms of enhancements, I think we can improve with:

  *   Marine warnings for all states/territories
  *   Fire incidents for all states/territories (where we can, agencies seem to have a mixture of quality data...)
  *   Fire Alerts & Community Warnings for all states/territories (where we can, agencies seem to have a mixture of quality data...)
  *   Fire Danger Ratings for all states/territories (as above with fire alerts etc)
  *   Ability to have WXBOT style functionality for Australia (this would be cool for those on the road, especially on HF APRS to get their local weather observations & forecasts)
  *   Once we have a working platform again, work with our iGate operators to gate bulletins & alerts onto the network where appropriate. This would involve configuring appropriate filters to pass through (is this permitted however?)


There are some challenges at the moment, the website for WXSVR-AU is gone and Geoff is tracking down what he can. One limit we have at the moment is a copy of the shapefiles. If anyone has these on record somewhere, please let me know. I'd very much appreciate a starting point to work with.


Cheers & 73s,


Matty

VK3MJM





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