Cumulus Support

The beteljuice repeats ....... clientraw.txt is not the only input ! (also WL sticker tags and VWS formated files)

And there are several here (Cumulus) who donate to a network. If I remember correctly the only thing 'missing' is current conditions (some networks compsenate for this by looking for nearby METAR)

Here is an example: http://www.metserv.info/meso/UKWN.php

beteljuice, the link you provided is NOT for the MesoMap Live - it is for the Weather Network and it is completely different (although called mesomap because of its visual similarities) and operated quite differently (not from a central server and not using the same weather data) - I know, I worked on the AJAX/PHP scripts used for the Weather Network (although I have neither started nor joined the Western Canada Weather Network which is part of the Weather Network as is the United Kingdom Weather Network)... I also have the MesoMap Live on my weather Web pages...

hills wrote:Good to see another Aussie on here. You'll have to register on Cumulus Maps as we don't have any representation up there as yet.

http://sandaysoft.com/maps/cumulus-map.php

But be careful if you try to put your site on this map - you are not permitted to if you don't use a so-called 'standard' port (80) for your site!

So much for publicising users weather stations!

Edit - And nice to see the 'owner' of the map emails you to tell you this with an invalid email address so you can't possibly respond to him! Thanks Mr. Reed....)

serowe wrote:But be careful if you try to put your site on this map - you are not permitted to if you don't use a so-called 'standard' port (80) for your site!

You make it sound like an arbitrary ban, and I'm sure that's not the case, it is presumably a technical limitation of the technology used - possibly a restriction in Google mapping.

So much for publicising users weather stations!

Edit - And nice to see the 'owner' of the map emails you to tell you this with an invalid email address so you can't possibly respond to him! Thanks Mr. Reed....)

Kevin kindly produced the map facility for me and continues to maintain it; I'm very grateful to him for this, he's a very busy man and he doesn't have to do it. Fortunately, he doesn't seem to be the kind of guy to take offence at an attitude like yours and stop doing it, but I wouldn't blame him if he did.

Steve - Google Maps has no such restriction - this is Kevins restriction:

Sorry, submitted website URL's must be standard port 80 HTTP websites.

Non-standard ports are not accepted for the Cumulus User Map as many users can't access them.

This hurts you as much as your users. Whether we choose to place our sites behind a different port or not is our business/problem, not someone elses. The simple answer to this is not to put a URL on the pin if it causes such an inconvenience to others.

As to your other comment - this is a two way street (consider that he previously advised me I was breaking the TOC of my ISP - without knowing what my contract with them states!)

This is aside - something like this restriction is certainly one that should be 'out there' as, even reading through these forums, there are more than a small number who use non-standard ports for various reasons - they are all willing to promote your product but are being stopped.

But be careful if you try to put your site on this map - you are not permitted to if you don't use a so-called 'standard' port (80) for your site!

So much for publicising users weather stations!

Edit - And nice to see the 'owner' of the map emails you to tell you this with an invalid email address so you can't possibly respond to him! Thanks Mr. Reed....)

For the current 557 Cumulus Weather Sites on the User maps, apparently it is not really a big problem. All of them using normal web port protocols. Easy to do, easy to support, no problem with proxies etc... No support issues with people saying they can't get to a site on the map etc..

I do try to keep the sites at least relevant... So it is quite easy to get on the map as long as the site is relevant, has a valid URL and is related somehow to use Cumulus weather software.

As for email address, it works great, communicate with people all over the world with it related to weather topics. I do however block abusive users or users that request to no longer be contacted by them. You asked to be remove your info on Aug 11th, so I did.

BTW it is NOT a limitation of Google maps, but rather a limitation of how I wrote the code to manage the URL's. The data is stored in a special delimited format which is then generated into XML used by Google maps. Not really worth the time to rewrite the code for 1 or 2 non-standard sites.

You are the second site with a non-standard port to be submitted. The other site eventually ended up with a normal website and was added some time later. So you would be the only one.

Well lets try to be reasonable - asking to remove my info shouldn't, IMHO, result in an email address being blocked - to me that is, well, childish. Especially when you send an email to it.

Why not simply implement a non-URL pin? ie one without a URL?

But I will ask again - why should you or anyone decide for other users what URL is used? As we both agree - this ISN'T a limitation of Google Maps and will normally ONLY affect anyone trying to get to those sites from behind a corporate firewall (and, if I found my employees accessing this type of information which didn't relate directly to their work during business hours, they would be looking for another job! Yes - hard line attitude, but they get paid to work, not surf the net). For most weather station owners, this is a hobby and not all can afford to buy hosting on commercial domains.

This is not a conspiracy... It is simply how I wrote the code to work. I wrote it pretty much from scratch and figured out how to interface it to the Google Maps API, showed it to Steve and away we went adding sites. If I were writing it now, I most likely would do somethings differently, but that was then and this is now and time is at a premium.

As mentioned before, except for basically 1 person, this has not been an issue as most people use websites on the default port. As crazy as that sounds, that is what most people do. So 1 out of close to 700 submitted sites over the time (currently down to around 550) means it works for 99.99857% of sites submitted.

The number of sites on the map is a great testament to Steve and the software he has created and basically gives out free of charge to whomever chooses to use it. Seeing all those sites all over the world is pretty impressive and I know it is much more than Steve ever thought would be when he first started out.

I'm sure if someone wants to create a new user map and maintain it, they could approach Steve and it would be his call if he wants to use it, but that would be up to him. Current map works great, represents the Cumulus Weather Software well and is as it is...

Well I think you've done a great job Kevin. To link the user list with Google Maps was fantastic I thought - a wonderful addition and as a retired (except for a hobby) programmer, I salute you. I don't know of any other software that has a map if it's users. And to have just one complaint out of 700 users must be a record! Good work!

And I agree with you about Steve - such great market domination from a hobby is a real tribute to his skills and determination!

Yep, I think its a great feature too, and the main thing is Northauschaser's web site is now listed, so we have most of Oz covered!!