San Francisco Surf Conditions, part deux
I just released an update to the San Francisco Surf Conditions prototype application. I added the following features:
- Scrub – you can now scrub the timeline by dragging it or using the arrow keys. Spacebar starts/stops the animation, and backspace takes you to the beginning.
- Date Range Selection – There are five options for date range. The first four are: past 24 hours, 2 days, 1 week, or 2 weeks (default). The fifth option lets you select a Specific Date and displays ~3 days of data centered around the chosen date.
- Weather Info – shows the current weather conditions at a WeatherBug station at Lafayette Elementary School. The weather info is updated every few seconds. Currently, the app shows:
- Barometric Pressure
- Daily + Monthly Rainfall
- Temperature
- Humidity
- Wind Speed – including a ticker showing wind speed over time
- Wind Direction – this is the gauge on the map. It shows current wind (blue), average wind (yellow), and max gust (red). The gauge is centered at the location of the weather station: 4545 Anza St
San Francisco Surf Conditions
Here is a prototype of an application I’m building to visualize surf conditions for the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s written in Flex and uses the Axiis data visualization framework. Many thanks to Tom Gonzales for the inspiration, code samples, and encouragement that helped motivate me to take this on.
Currently, the application only shows data for one CDIP buoy – the San Francisco Bar buoy that sits about 4 miles southwest of the Pt. Bonita lighthouse. The buoy provides a spectral analysis of wave energy broken down into 9 bands of wave period ranges. For each period range, the buoy provides direction and energy, which is measured by area (cm^2).
I plan to add more information to this application, like:
- air temp – both at the buoy and at a weather station in the Richmond
- wind speed & direction – both at the buoy and at the weather station
- water temp at the buoy
- tides (and moon phases?)
- sunrise/sunset
I also might add more buoys, but unfortunately, we don’t have any other CDIP buoys close by (except one about 25 miles west of Pt Reyes). The nearby buoys (46012, 46026, pryc1) provide different measurements than CDIP buoys, so I’ll need to figure those out before I can add them to the app.
Please let me know what you think, and if you have any suggestions. More details below…
Welcome to codebones
My name is Matt Hill, and this blog is about building software that people actually want to use. That might sound strange, but in the business world, compelling software is a rare commodity. Most business software is forced on users by well-meaning IT folk (and their corporate masters). Users are told they have to use it. The software is often half-baked, bloated, unintuitive, slow, and doesn’t offer anything close to good “user experience”.
I’m going to focus on various aspects of software development that can have significant influence on the end user, including UI design, software architecture, data visualization, and new technologies. I will also (hopefully) provide many cool examples. These days, I usually build Flex clients and Java servers, so most of my examples will use those technologies.
About Me
I’m a software architect with over 15 years of professional software development experience. In 1982, shortly after seeing Van Halen’s Hide Your Sheep tour, I wrote my first (useful) program on my sweet Apple ][. I’ve been programming computers ever since. I have a background in computer science and music (guitar), and I have a master’s degree in tequila. (I’m working on my Ph.D.) Most mornings you can find me at one of the San Francisco area beaches checking out the surf.