Google Earth - great way to track storms

Stratusxpeye · #41 Postby **Stratusxpeye** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 5:55 pm

Are these Maps animated radar? Do thy update autoly while i have the overlay running in google earth. I tried finding the anwser through google earth web site but i couldnt find it

https://www.youtube.com/user/senorpepr · #42 Postby **senorpepr** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 5:57 pm

These aren't animated maps, they are current. They are set to refresh every five minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/user/senorpepr · #43 Postby **senorpepr** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 10:03 pm

senorpepr wrote:I think you are onto something here. I've been playing around with this all night.

I put together two files for Google Earth. Please send some feedback.

First is called 03L. (Go to http://tropicalupdates.nhcwx.com/03L.kmz)

This has the wunderground SST chart and the NHC Model plots of 03L. Note... the SST chart is to scale in the Gulf of Mexico, but if you look further away from the Gulf of Mexico, there are sizing errors. You can see on the SST chart that some of the states don't line up as you get further away from the GOM.

Second is something I was playing with. This is something for the global trackers. Go to http://tropicalupdates.nhcwx.com/WMOCyclones.kmz

This imports the live official RSMC plots from the World Meteorological Organization and loads them up on Google Earth.

It isn't the cleanest image since it is several images loaded together, but it's pretty accurate in position.

Anyway... check it out. And if you haven't downloaded Google Earth, I suggest it. It's free and it's awesome.

The WMO Cyclone program has been working really well throughout the day. It grabbed 04E on being named Dora and the formation of 04L. So far, this has been very impressive. If you have Google Earth and like to track storms... grab the WMO Cyclone file!

air360 · #44 Postby **air360** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 10:17 pm

you are saying we grab the file from your link and use it? or is there a different overlay you are referring to? im almost sure your talking about the second link you gave...but want to make sure

#45 Postby **Terry** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 10:22 pm

Air360 -- just have GoogleEarth opened and open Senor's links with GoogleEarth. Very cool.

https://www.youtube.com/user/senorpepr · #46 Postby **senorpepr** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 10:23 pm

air360 wrote:you are saying we grab the file from your link and use it? or is there a different overlay you are referring to? im almost sure your talking about the second link you gave...but want to make sure

Yes, the second link.

http://tropicalupdates.nhcwx.com/WMOCyclones.kmz

air360 · #47 Postby **air360** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 10:29 pm

well as far as animation of radars goes....as far as i can tell if you can find a radar that in its animated form can be viewd as a gif (as in if you right click on it and click properties the image is a .gif) then you can use it in google earth....i think. Becuase looking at google eart and the still radar we have right now those are gifs...and i know you can animate gifs...so if a radar that is a gif can be found on some site...then it should work

air360 · #48 Postby **air360** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 10:35 pm

does the pro version of this program give anything majorly better? even more zoom capabilities or anything else like htat ?

#49 Postby **SkeetoBite** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 10:45 pm

air360 wrote:does the pro version of this program give anything majorly better? even more zoom capabilities or anything else like htat ?

The pro version allows for data imports (up to 2500 data points) and high res image exports for print and web. The import feature is actually an add on for $200, on top of the $400 for Pro so you can plot from a database. Pro also offers import of "Shape Files" and most, if not all geo-referenced graphic images.

The only other major difference is Google Earth is free, while Google Earth Pro is currenty a $400 subscription for one year. As this takes off, I suspect the price will increase tremendously.

Per a press release from Google last week, the free version will eventually be supported by advertising. Probably banner ads in the margins or as pop-up markers on your maps for... maybe a Starbucks close to what you were looking for.

jax · #50 Postby **jax** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 10:49 pm

can we but stock?

#51 Postby **SkeetoBite** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 10:51 pm

jax wrote:can we but stock?

LOL, no, but you may be able to BUY some. It was trading at around $300 per share friday COB.

hurricanefreak1988 · #52 Postby **hurricanefreak1988** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 10:51 pm

Sure wish I could download this. From what you all are saying, it sounds pretty cool.

jax · #53 Postby **jax** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 10:54 pm

i looked at the site and it implied that they were not
directly affiliated with google...

#54 Postby **SkeetoBite** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 11:02 pm

It's really cool. I suspect they are loading up additional servers to handle the load. It will probably be available during the week.

Here's an export example for TD4:

You can set the transparency of the layer we (or anyone else) added, and then zoom right down to a close-up of your house if you want.

#55 Postby **SkeetoBite** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 11:04 pm

jax wrote:i looked at the site and it implied that they were not
directly affiliated with google...

Google purchased a company called "Keyhole" for their interface. The geo, gis and image data is powered by a company called EarthSat.

logybogy · #56 Postby **logybogy** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 4:09 am

senor, those are awesome.

I'm thinking there has got to be a way to get the coordinates directly from the NHC or weatherunderground or another weather site and have them automatically load.

Something similar to the USGS Earthquake tracker that is already pre-loaded into google earth.

The reason the radar overlay works is the NOAA radar uses two gif images. A static background that contains the map and a "transparent" image that contains the radar pixels that is constantly changing every 5 minutes. If we could find a site with transparent satellite pictures that are updated regularly, that would be awesome.

But, wow, you've done a great job with this!

I also really like the 5 day plot on google earth with the cone of uncertainty that skee did.

Getting data from the hurricane models (UKMET, GFS, etc.) on each run would also be awesome.

I guess the key thing would be to figure out a dynamic data source that we can use so the overlays update automatically like the radar image so people don't have to constantly create new .kmz files for each new storm update.

#57 Postby **Roxy** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 6:04 pm

Incredible!

#58 Postby **Pebbles** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 6:15 pm

*CRYS* BUT I WANT IT!!!! *sighs cause it's too late to download* :cry:

jimbo · #59 Postby **jimbo** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 8:34 pm

Signed up for a year with Keyhole 3 months before Google bought it. Great fun for the 29.95 I spent. Check out Hoovre dam and tilt the frame for the elevation effect.

jkt21787 · #60 Postby **jkt21787** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 8:37 pm

jimbo wrote:Signed up for a year with Keyhole 3 months before Google bought it. Great fun for the 29.95 I spent. Check out Hoovre dam and tilt the frame for the elevation effect.

Too bad its free now though :wink:

Google Earth - great way to track storms

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