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AtSea automatically
downloads Nexrad animations and much more. WSI, which is a sister company
to the Weather Channel and a major purveyor of meteorological data and
analysis, has included a fairly full suite of other relevant information:
buoy reports, text forecasts, wind graphics, and even sea-surface temperature
maps for fishermen. Its delivery system is powerful, constantly downloading
data via satellite into a commodious interface box, so it’s always
there when you want it. In fact, since the satellite communication is
one-way, AtSea downloads info for the whole United States. So you could
be watching what’s happening around you in South Florida one moment
(see photo on page 42) and the next be calling a buddy in Des Moines to
tell him he’s about to get poured on!
Besides its partnership
with Northstar, WSI is working on relationships with other plotter and
PC-charting developers and will also release its own weather-viewing software.
AtSea hardware costs $2,000, and subscriptions start at $300 for a six-month
season.
Weather Works, a spinoff
of another serious data company called Baron Services, announced a product
in Miami that is similar in scope to WSI’s but delivers weather
information via unused bandwidth of the XM satellite radio system. Radio-at-Sea
is putting together the hardware and will be marketing it along with WxWorx
PC software for around $1,000 with service at $50 per month. Weather Works
also recently issued a short but intriguing announcement naming Garmin
as a partner that will deliver its graphical weather “in conjunction
with XM’s 101-channel satellite radio service on marine products
currently under development.” I called Garmin and asked if we’re
going to be able to watch Nexrad and listen to tunes on a future plotter,
but only got a laugh and a “no comment.”
Also in Miami was a
new company called WeatherGlobe Technologies, whose WeatherPort PC program
takes a more rudimentary and less expensive approach to Nexrad. You need
some sort of Internet connection—typically a cellular data link
to your laptop—then you select a chart of your area, and the program
will fetch the needed Nexrad data to run an animation over just that chart
area from WeatherGlobe’s server. I tried a demo and found it worked
pretty well. Since then the company partnered with Fugawi, which will
add the overlay function to its charting program (see “Fugawi Marine
ENC,” page 47) while WeatherGlobe drops its own software and concentrates
on adding data beyond Nexrad. Subscriptions will remain at $20 to $40
per month, depending on contract length.
Finally, WeatherData
introduced StormHawk, which also fetches information via cellular, but
has ambitiously intended to put combined weather and detailed mapping
for land and sea onto the PocketPC handheld PDA platform. The system will
cost about $550 for software plus a $10-per-month subscription fee, but
the company recently delayed full introduction until the end of the year.
If all this sounds a
bit half-baked, well that’s the nature of a rapidly emerging technology.
None of these particular products has completely jelled, and no doubt
we’ll see even more entrants, strategies, features, dropped ship
dates, etc. in the coming years. Plus there are lots more to the core
Nexrad features offered than I’ve had room to discuss. For instance,
many of these weather outfits do a lot of quick post-processing of NOAA’s
raw output. WeatherData claims a unique ability to project storm and even
lightning as far out as 30 minutes with high accuracy. Baron’s boasts
of “patented storm-cell identification and tracking capability as
seen on TV.” And Nexrad itself has significant additional capabilities
that have yet to reach any consumer weather watchers, such as imaging
system moisture in 3-D and mapping wind speeds (hence its alternate “National
Doppler Radar” title). In other words, once the display and data
communications are established, the possibilities for weather imagery
you might have onboard at your fingertips are open-ended. Nothing is for
sure at this point, except that the age of marine live weather products
is about to begin.
WeatherData Phone:
(800) 999-2075. www.storm-hawk.com.
WeatherGlobe
Phone: (800) 282-8953 or (418) 246-9942. www.wxport.com.
Weather Works
Phone: (800) 556-3911. www.wxworx.com.
WSI Phone: (978)
670-5000. www.wsi.com.
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