"Live" Buoy data maps

Careful with this one, guys. It appears to be a site that tries to install spyware on your computer. At least it did with mine.

Jim
 
It looks like MilfordMaWx is promoting his own site.

Old Jim - I clicked on various links on the site to see if there was an attempt to install spyware and it never happened. Maybe your warning caused them to remove the spyware but more likely, you have a spyware detector that gave a false warning. Can you be more specific about what happened? I would also be interested if anyone else that went to the site had any problems.

The site appears to be just what MilfordMaWx advertised it to be. However Bill or Mike may have something to say about this. It looks to me it is an attempt to get more traffic on their site. The part of the site he linked above does have some value to us as boaters.
 
Here's the link for the NOAA National Bouy Data Center with maps world wide.

This is straight from the source.
There is a movement under way to commercialize all of OUR weather sites. We paid for these Government supported sites with our tax $$$$. Now there are some that want us to have to pay in order to view them. :amgry
 
Dave,

Forgive me my poor memory as this happened late last night. When I clicked on the link provided above, my Spy Seeker kicked in and said something like "This site is a disseminator of spyware, yada yada yada." I posted my comment based on that warning. Perhaps my spyware is just too damn picky or maybe their headquarters is in Washington state and they just got all wet.

I sent a PM to Mike last night and he checked it out and found no problem with it.

Jim
 
Roger is concerned about commercialization of -our- weather sites. This might very well be a problem, but it would depend on how this all plays out, and in particular, what is the value added, if any?

I went to a (legitimate) business development/inventors seminar several years ago, and one of the opportunities being discussed was the licensing and commercialization of all the satellite and aerial photo data that was becoming available. The suggested possibilities included land-use management, disaster planning, insurance evaluations, etc. etc. . . . Obviously these would be massive, capital-intensive undertakings.

Now 6-8 years later we have (Keyhole --> ) Google Earth, Zillow.com, and many other valuable applications. Some (Zillow) 'free' (with advertizing); others (Google Earth) free at the basic level, with 'pro' and 'enterprise' levels available at low and high cost, respectively. As most of you are probably aware, the network news uses Google Earth to zoom from a satellite view to a local view, whether in your neighborhood, New Orleans (post-Katrina), or Iraq.

On the flip side, do we all remember the origins of 'cable TV'? ("Why would anyone want to pay for TV? We already get everything we need for free!") Am I the only one who remembers that one of the 'logical' (?) answers to this question was, "There won't be any commercials! You'll be paying for the cost of the programming via cable fees, but then you won't be bothered by commercials!" With the advent of 'reality TV', we all know how low we've sunk. Not only do we have endless commercials during the shows (7-1/2 minutes straight, timed recently), many of the shows are commercials! And of course, we have endless shows building choppers 'on strict (artificial) deadlines', "Having a baby", "Wedding Party", "While you were out", "Fear Factor", and finally (what can I say?), 24 hours of Anna Nicole Smith, Britney Spears, Tom Cruise, etc.

But, I digress . . . back to the weather. I can imagine great possibilities for commercial dissemination of weather info, in inexpensive (or free) formats, far beyond what we would expect (or be willing to fund) NOAA to provide. The end results could be phenomenal, or they could be an expensive PITA, beyond our wildest dreams.

iggy
 
My concern is that this is his first message, the very day he joined, with no boat, in MA, touting FL data. Not "Newbie" or "How many motors would I run on a C-Dory?" or such, not a crime, but iffy.
 
Sometimes "iffy" is just fun and the information presented as such is food for thought. I'll bet if we looked into it someone out there in cyberland has accumulated all the availabe data from the tide/atmospheric stations into a nifty database that could be used for planning long range seasonal cruises... interesting to say the least. Butch
 
Well this thread has gone in a very different direction to say the least! First of all let me say that I never have nor will I ever knowingly put (or allow) spyware on my website. I believe that the internet is by far too full of less than honorable people running less than honorable websites.

This being said, I want to explain the few simple reasons why I run my site:

-a hobby (something I personally enjoy)

-a learning tool for myself and my children. So much can be learned and taught by creating, maintaining and running an honorable scientific website.

-a community service. Free sharing or information for the benefit of all.

While I totally agree with your concerns about the commercialization of weather data that our tax dollars has paid for, I want to let you know that the NDBC provides the data I use (for buoy maps) and a method to retrieve it. I am just formatting that data in a graphical manner and providing it for free to all. Furthermore, what you don’t see is the data that I provide to the NWS, local TV, radio and other websites totally at my expense.

My website is something I started a couple years ago just posting simple weather data from my yard. Now my site has evolved into something much larger with many more visitors than I would have ever imagined. They have come to enjoy and rely on for information I provide and it is something that I am proud to have my name on. I am PD and it is my family's website. I invite you to benefit and/or be entertained by what I produce and I ask nothing in return...I run my site completely at my own expense and offer it to the public as what I feel the internet should be; a free and safe source of information.
The choice to view is entirely up to you.

Paul
http://www.pdfamily.com/weather/
 
I find this site most helpful especially for those of us in Florida who are making open water crossings across the "Big Bend" or to the Bahamas. There are other sites which Paul has in the PNW which I think would be of value to the folks up there.

I find this far more acceptable, than some politician using this same information which we paid for a tax payers, then wanting to give it to a company who will then sell it. Hopefully this will never happen-and this type of information will be free.

Thank you Paul. I have brought this site to the attention of those who are currently waiting to cross the "Big Bend" area of Florida--despite 3 days of stiff northers and seas which disuade crossing.
 
Paul – I was one of the earlier posters on this thread and noted it did not appear to be spyware related or necessarily a site we should avoid. However, your problem was, you were not forthcoming about your relationship with the site in your first post. If you had been I think all or most of the controversy could been avoided.
Don’t pretend to be something you are not.
________
Dave dlt.gif
 
thataway":dv0ithgf said:
I find this site most helpful especially for those of us in Florida who are making open water crossings across the "Big Bend" or to the Bahamas. There are other sites which Paul has in the PNW which I think would be of value to the folks up there.

I find this far more acceptable, than some politician using this same information which we paid for a tax payers, then wanting to give it to a company who will then sell it. Hopefully this will never happen-and this type of information will be free.

Thank you Paul. I have brought this site to the attention of those who are currently waiting to cross the "Big Bend" area of Florida--despite 3 days of stiff northers and seas which disuade crossing.
Click to expand...
Thanks Bob and dont hesitate to let me know if there is anything I could provide that might assist in the crossing. I'm not sure if you've seen this temperature map, and I have inculded a couple locations in the Bahamas although their data is not as constant and I automatically remove old data: http://www.pdfamily.com/weather/neast.htm . As for the PNW, here is 1 of many maps of that region: http://www.pdfamily.com/weather/buoy/NWbuoy.php
Again, let me know if there is anything I can provide .
 
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