[Rhodes22-list] NOAA weather privatized?

Steve Alm salm at mn.rr.com
Thu May 19 16:01:47 EDT 2005


Mark, I get it now.  Thanks.  I sent my letter.
Slim

On 5/19/05 2:45 PM, "Mark Kaynor" <mkaynor at gmail.com> wrote:

> Slim,
> 
> Sorry. Here's another try:
> 
> What used to look something like this:
> http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/AKQ/SFTVA
> 
> Now looks more like this:
> http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/forecasts/VAZ014.php?warncounty=VAC121&city=Bla
> cksburg
> 
> The point being that, once the data are stored in XML format, they can be
> output to the web (or to Word or to .PDF, etc.) in pretty much any fancy
> interface the programmer decides to use. AuccuWeather, the Weather Channel,
> all of them can then easily use then "brand" the NOAA data on their web
> sites.
> 
> Mark
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
> [mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Steve Alm
> Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 3:25 PM
> To: Rhodes
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] NOAA weather privatized?
> 
> Hmmm...I'm a little sorry I asked, although I know you're just trying to
> help.  8-)  So what does all that mean for the likes of me?  Does it mean
> better, clearer wx web sites?  What tools does this give me?
> Sorry so dumb,
> Slim
> 
> On 5/19/05 1:17 PM, "Mark Kaynor" <mkaynor at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Slim,
>> 
>> Hoo boy. Another one that's a bit tricky to explain w/ out speaking Geek.
>> Like they say, it's all Geek to me....
>> 
>> XML stands for Extensible Markup Language - it's a markup language
>> (kind of, but not really like HTML), that's primarily used to describe
>> and contain data for publishing on the WWW. Unlike HTML, however,
>> which uses predefined tags, the programmer defines XML tags, making it
>> very powerful for handling data - like weather or Amazon or eBay, or
>> insurance info, etc. I know that sounds a bit obtuse, so I did a quick
>> Google search and came up w/ this site which probably says it a bit
> better:
>> http://www.w3schools.com/xml/xml_whatis.asp
>> 
>> And here: http://www.htmlgoodies.com/beyond/xml/article.php/3473531
>> 
>> Mark
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
>> [mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Steve Alm
>> Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 2:03 PM
>> To: Rhodes
>> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] NOAA weather privatized?
>> 
>> Mark,
>> 
>> What is an XML interface?
>> 
>> Slim
>> 
>> On 5/19/05 8:00 AM, "Mark Kaynor" <mkaynor at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> Folks,
>>> 
>>> I've been hearing about this for a couple of weeks and thought I'd
>>> pass it along.
>>> 
>>> Mark
>>> 
>>> The National Weather Service recently began publishing weather data
>>> to the public via an easy to access XML interface. Previously NOAA
>>> released data in an arcane and complicated format created over 40
>>> years
>> ago.
>>> 
>>> This is a great boon for everyone, as the XML feeds allow for
>>> integration of weather data into personal homepages & computer
>>> applications, and makes it easier for scientists, meteorology
>>> students and people interested in the weather to use
>>> industry-standard tools to
>> access weather data.
>>> 
>>> Well, its not great for everyone, particularly companies like
>>> Accuweather, who make their money reselling weather data to the
>>> public and
>> media outlets.
>>> Apparently they managed to lobby Senator Santorum of Pennsylvania to
>>> introduce a bill, S.786.1, which would prevent the National Weather
>>> Service from competing with for-pay weather companies. The language
>>> of the bill is very broad and if passed may jeopardize the XML Data
>>> Feed, the NOAA website, and even NOAA weather radio.
>>> 
>>> The following link makes sending a letter to your senators easy -
>>> please take the time to do so if you want NOAA to be able to continue
>>> to provide free services (the ones we already pay for with our taxes).
>>> 
>>> https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr003=uio7mzb8p1.ap
>>> p
>>> 8a&pag
>>> e=UserAction&cmd=display&id=123
>>> 
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>> 
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