codebones

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

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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…

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