Suggestion for integrating external Front line map links into the Windy App

thimu

A few days ago, the question came up again whether front line maps could be provided (see Display traditional fronts). This question has appeared regularly for years. The Windy team's answer is always essentially the same, summarized as: they cannot be provided, with the explanation that Windy is not able to create such front line maps.
I fully understand and accept this completly!

Nevertheless, there is a need for front line maps, including for myself.

My workaround is that I have searched for websites that display exactly these maps for a specific large region and saved their direct links as shortcuts on my Android smartphone.

This workaround works for the region where I live (Central Europe).
However, it is impractical when I travel, e.g., to the USA, South America, etc., because

I do not know any good and useful front line maps from the destination region,
it is time-consuming for me to search for them and then save them as shortcuts on my smartphone, and
having many shortcuts on the smartphone is, of course, not very desirable.

Therefore, I propose the following basic idea:

Basic idea

Windy would include a small collection of 10 URLs that directly link to front line maps. The list is grouped by large regions, and for each region there is one link. Together, these regions cover the entire world.
When a link is opened, it is opened in the smartphone’s default browser.
The links are accessed through the picker.

Some relevant aspects of the idea

1. Who maintains the URLs?

The 10 URLs are entered once by the Windy team.

2. Is there a copyright issue?

From my point of view, no. Windy only has pure links. No external websites are embedded. No caching of external websites.
I assume that the external providers of front line maps would welcome additional traffic.
As a courtesy, one could ask them whether they agree with this.

3. How could the links be accessed in Windy?

Through the picker. Based on the picker location, the corresponding regional link to the front line map is selected from the list.

4. Is there a language problem regarding the external front line map website?

In my view, no. The symbols on such maps are standardized worldwide by the WMO (World Meteorological Organization), meaning anyone can understand front line maps.

Sometimes, the websites also contain verbal descriptions of the synoptic situation. Many browsers now have built-in translation functions, so language plays only a minor role.

And the purpose here is solely to display a front line map website; additional verbal descriptions are only a nice-to-have in this context.

My idea in more detail

Additional submenu in the Settings

In the Windy app → Settings, an additional submenu “External Front Line Maps” is added.
This submenu contains a two-column table.
The list of URLs can be viewed here.

Region (Broad area)	URL
Europe	https://14-tage-wettervorhersage.de/wetter/grosswetterlage/
…

BTW: Here are some different links for Europe
https://www.wetter.net/grosswetterlagenkarte
https://www.meteoschweiz.admin.ch/#tab=forecast-map

Possible list of regions (Broad areas)

North America (Continent)
North Atlantic (including parts of Europe)
Europe (including northeastern Atlantic section)
North Pacific (extratropical)
Tropical Atlantic / Caribbean / Eastern Pacific
Canada / Northern Hemisphere (northern sectors)
East Asia / Western Pacific
Australia / South Pacific / Indian Ocean (Southern Hemisphere)
South Asia / Indian Subcontinent
South America

This covers the entire world.

Perhaps this division is still too coarse. It could be made more granular if needed.

Opening the external front line map using the picker

When using the picker in the Windy app, the menu bar appears at the top.
To the right of the existing button “Forecast for this point”, there would be another button: “External Front line map”.

When clicking on the “External Front line map” button, the default browser opens the link corresponding to the region in which the picker is located.

Extended idea - make the table editable

Advantages:

It makes sense for the table to be editable because:

Flexible choice of sources
Providers of front line maps vary greatly by region. Users can add the sources they consider best, most accurate, or most convenient.
Reliability
If an external URL stops working, users can replace it themselves without having to wait for an update of the list by the Windy team.
Travel-related adjustments
Frequent travelers can dynamically adjust links for different regions without modifying the entire set of predefined links.
Additions and specialization
Some users may want to add more regions or specialized maps (e.g., only North Atlantic, only Southern Hemisphere).
Different languages and preferences
Users can enter sources in their preferred language or with their preferred map style.

In short: An editable table makes the feature future-proof, flexible, and individually customizable—without requiring Windy to maintain all possible links worldwide.

Extended idea 1 – Only URLs editable

The advantages 1 to 3 and 5 are covered.

The two-column table (Region / URL) is only editable in the URL column.

Rows cannot be deleted.

There is also a button “Load default URL list”.

Extended idea 2 – Fully editable

The advantage 4 is covered.

The two-column table (Region / URL) is fully editable.

When clicking on the region name, a map section selector opens (similar to “Select area” in Google Maps for Offline maps or Overpass Turbo OSM {{bbox}}).

New rows can also be added.

There is also a button “Load default URL list”.

My use case

My personal use case is using the Windy app while traveling.
Therefore, I would like to see such functionality integrated into the app. Plugins are not available in the Windy app.

I would be pleased if parts of my suggestion were taken into consideration.