Label : weather

XyGrib for Mac now truly “Apple like”

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XyGribXyGrib, the GRIB weather file viewer developed under Linux and well known in the PC world, is the subject of a port on Mac which, since version 5.0, is real progress compared to the first versions. Since the beginning 2011 it is distributed as an executable version for Mac (Intel) Ready to use, as a package in a disk image (.DMG).

We must welcome the community of this development that makes a great work for the greater benefit of boaters. Open source software opensource, zyGrib is distributed under the GNU GPL v3. zyGrib allows the display of a large number of GRIB files, from many weather Forecasting Models weather. It also allows automated requests generated by the application. Read more …

Météo Consult is available on iPhone and iPad

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Created in 1988, company Weather Consult was the first private weather company in France. She mainly developed paid forecasting services for professionals, leaving the public service Météo France to take care of the free forecasts for the general public. Meteo Consult is best known in the field of ocean racing, where it gained an almost exclusive dominance.

Become a subsidiary of Prosodie in 2000, it buys La Chaine Météo in 2006, then it was itself bought by the Le Figaro group at the end of 2008 (¹).

La Chaine MétéoThe "La Chaine Météo" application for iPhone appears as soon as 2009 (²). Of impeccable quality and ergonomics, This free app brings forecasts to 10 days, covers towns and beaches, provides video forecasts technical, regional and alerts. Despite its orientation towards the general public, it has been very useful information for coastal boaters.

This year, we are witnessing a complete change of strategy for Météo Consult.

Read more …

Weather4D 1.1 for iPad and iPhone, at the top.

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Two months after out for iPhone, Weather4D (¹), by surprising Olivier Bouyssou, arrives with a version fully optimized for iPad, with the modest release number 1.1.

This single iPhone/iPad version is therefore a simple free update for the lucky buyers of the version 1.0.

And yet, what work it took to adapt and optimize this 3D application, both iPhone screens and memory capacities 3 and 4 than those of iPads 1 and 2, known to be very different ! Read more …

Disturbances in GRIB files

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Disturbances are not just atmospheric, it happens that they are also in the transmission of GRIB files !

Some of you alert me for two or three days about difficulties to receive files, or the absence of data displayed in iNavX.

After checking in requesting last night from my iPad, I was forced to note, once a file loaded after long minutes of waiting, that the data were not displayed on the chart. By checking the GRIB display with MacENC, only the wind vectors appeared, but not the contours. So I contacted by myself Richard Ray who, thanks to jet lag, was able to react immediately. Read more …

GRIB files in GPSNavX and MacENC

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The menu Weather report in these two applications allows you to request a GRIB weather forecast file and then view it on the open map. The function Request GRIB send a request to the server Saildocs.com returning to the mailbox file requested. You can then get the file in attachment and store it to the location of your choice (²).

The function Show GRIB will then allow you to view the file on the map and scroll through the forecasts. You can usefully refer to MacENC Video Tutorial No. 3 on the website.

Here is a short technical summary of the weather module integrated in these two apps. Read more …

Marine weather on iPhone

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Météo FranceIn a previous post about my favorites apps for iPhone, I cited two weather apps : La Chaine Météo, very good general weather application from Meteo Consult, and iSailing Weather that offers maps of sea-based weather GRIB files from British origin.

Weather France has finally added its own free app, offering its full range of forecasts, including marine weather reports in text format. Read more …

The voice of marine weather

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Marine weather, or rather I should write : Marine Weather, with capital letters, is for modern mariners as ancient gods was for our oldest ancestors : a permanent reference to the conduct of our life.

The Long Waves

Not so long ago, this divinity was speaking to us, sailors to trade, fishermen or boaters, by a celestial voice carried by the waves. Our high priestess, Marie-Pierre Planchon, informing us twice a day of the destinies, happy or terrible, that we risked experiencing by venturing out on the waves. In those days the weather had a name and a voice, recognizable at a glance. Read more …