Hey Ivo,
as a pilot and hobby meteorologist I really love windyty (or well, windytv now ;) ).
However, with some parts of the beta I'm really happy, with some I'm not quite comfortable:
Negative ones first:
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The absence of the global view:
The Mercator Projection which has taken the place of the global view is a big step backwards. It may be good for relatively small areas, but if you zoom out into a view of half the planet, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. It is a cylindrical projection of a sphere on a flat surface, it is true to an area at the equator but gets increasingly distorted towards the poles. That being said, the projection is distorting the view on global weather data in a very unrealistic way. If, for example, a low pressure area, of which we assume that its size remains unchanged over time forms at the equator and moves in a straight line northwards (just as an example), the new windyty map will show it greatly increasing in size as it's moving away from the equator. As this is giving an entirely wrong impression of the true global weather, the Mercator Projection is not an alternative for the global view. -
Pixelation:
When I look at the non-beta-windyty in a zoomed-out view, I get a very clear and smooth map for the winds. In the beta however, there is a lot of pixelation, which makes the map seem much less high-quality (see attached screenshot). I don't know if this is a bug or just a beta-phenomenon, but for me one of the special features of windyty are the high-resolution, high-quality graphics that make it so smooth and easy to use. -
Menu:
When I go to the settings menu via the three horizontal bars, I can't seem to 'go back' to the standard menu where I can choose settings, location, distance measuring etc., so when I'm in the settings menu and want to go to distance measuring, I have to exit the menu via the 'X'-button, click on the three bars and then I can go to the next menus. Adding a 'back'-arrow would make this easier to use. -
non-liquid animation:
While the non-beta-windyty slowly blends in the new maps going forward on the time bar, the beta jumps hard from one picture to another, which takes the smooth impression away.
Now the positive things:
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New weather forecast:
I really love the new weather forecast. Having all the days in one line makes it easy to see large or even small changes in temperature and wind over time. -
Overlay menu:
It's really nice that I am now able to customize the overlays to those I need, so I can hide those I don't really need. However, it might be a bit of a confusing menu if you're a new user and not used to the functions of windyty.
Thanks for making such a great website! :)
Andre
