Weather radar for New Zealand
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Last year I used to be very active on your excellent Windy.com site. Back then weather radar wasn't showing for New Zealand. Just noticed it now is. I did nudge MetService to try to be a little bit more cooperative for you.
Looks like they are but there's still room for improvement. It seems Metservice are providing you with hourly data. Weather places for other places (e.g. Australia) show much more dynamic weather radar.
Just had a look at the MetService weather radar:
https://www.metservice.com/maps-radar/rain/radar?range=300&tab=real-time
Noticed it shows at increments more frequent than hourly. So they are collecting the data. Any reason why MetService can't provide Windy with more frequent updates?
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@pillface Hello, thank you for your comment. But at the moment we cannot offer more frequent radar data for NZ.
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@pillface I have also had a couple of emails back and for MetService. In February 2020 Brad from the MetService told me they realised the data they made public was lacking in comparison to other weather services around the world. They are updating their API to make more data available. It was supposed to take at most 18 months, which would mean it should be coming online now at the latest. Their exact quote was:
"However, we are making further changes to increase accessibility and reusability of observational weather data. For example we are developing an API that will make a wider range of data publicly available, specifically aimed at supporting the development of innovative weather products which should be available later in 2020. The new www.metservice.com will enable us to provide users with access to value-added data sets, including additional observational data. We intend to implement this capability in the future - likely in the coming 18 months."
It might be worth trying to email them again if you have time. I tried a few months ago but didn't hear anything back this time. So maybe I've worn out my welcome. :)
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@onetrev Hi, I did, wrote them, negotiated...we have offer from them, but it is soooooooo much EXPENSIVE that it is not possible to buy the data.
I hope that one day something gets changed, but now NZ Metservice think about Windy as their competitor. Unfortunately they has monopoly for radar data, they do not want us to display it unless we pay "their potential loss" and they estimated it really high. We can not do anything with it. -
Australian BOM has nice price list, great support, 5-minute data... I wish the MetService had the similar attitude like BOM has.
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@tz Wow, that's very unfortunate about the MetService. Thanks so much for trying to do something.
I believe the problem is unlike most countries NZ's meteorological organisation is a "State-Owned Enterprise" so they are mandated to be profitable. That's a terrible idea for something so important -- in my opinion. And that's why the BoM in Australia (where I am right now) or Environment Canada are much more generous compared to the MetService in the data the public has access to.
At this point I think the best bet would be for any NZ citizens out there on Windy to write to their local MP to complain and alert them to the poor service the MetService provides. It may also be useful to report to the local media, stuff.co.nz has good local reporting, how New Zealanders are limited by this terrible arrangement for their domestic meteorological organisation.
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@tz said in Weather radar for New Zealand:
@onetrev Hi, I did, wrote them, negotiated...we have offer from them, but it is soooooooo much EXPENSIVE that it is not possible to buy the data.
I hope that one day something gets changed, but now NZ Metservice think about Windy as their competitor. Unfortunately they has monopoly for radar data, they do not want us to display it unless we pay "their potential loss" and they estimated it really high. We can not do anything with it.Thanks for clarifying the situation @tz
However by comparison rainviewer.com has great radar data for NZ.
Do you think they pay this really high cost with MetServiceNZ?
And I thought Windy used the rainviewer api for this radar data anyway?
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@jmh2002 Rainviewer has only 1-hour data and we have the same. Yes, we use their API for the access.
MetserviceNZ has also ~7 minute data, but for high price. -
@tz said in Weather radar for New Zealand:
@jmh2002 Rainviewer has only 1-hour data and we have the same. Yes, we use their API for the access.
MetserviceNZ has also ~7 minute data, but for high price.Ok thanks, previously the 10min updates were working at Rainviewer. Pity :(
