The Newsroom

The Weather Forecast Thread

> 'Nice' weather girls... >More wet weather set for UK (February 2005)

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PO
Pootle5
Dunedin posted:
marksi posted:
SNIP

I don't think it does actually. Modesty's really not your thing, is it?

Should the BBC be catering for the lowest common denominator? I've been through all this before, but briefly, again - you may not be able to interpret a pressure chart or care about wind speed or direction, but many people can and do. If you're not interested, don't watch and use (at absolute maximum) those three minutes for something else that interests you.

You'd probably be shouting about "dumbing down" if it was suggested that any other subject be reduced in depth of information, duration and quality.


Look there's really no point arguing- I quite shockingly believe that a weather forecast should do what it says- namely to predict the weather for the country. For all the glamour that is the isobars, I still maintain that most people are interested in the forecast of that data- e.g. the wind speed....and then they only want to hear about it if it's significant i.e. a gale.

If you really believe that people up and down the country are sitting down to weather forecasts saying "I wonder what those thermals of the west of Ireland are up to tonight"- I think you've lost touch with reality a tad.

I posted weeks ago the criteria that I believe should be used to determine the success or otherwise of the new graphics. I've quoted my post below- this is how I shall judge the efforts on screen on Monday:

Quote:
The basic test for the new graphics are two fold:

(1) Deliver the forcast with equal or better clarity.

(2) Deliver the same amount of information in equal or less time.

Failure on either of these accounts will indicate a step back for BBC Weather.

Time will tell.


What has glamour got to do with isobars? The isobars and fronts charts help me to see what sort of weather we will be having, the BBC should continue to use this as (a small) part of it's forecast - without them it's yet more dumbing down to meet the base desires of the ignorant. They really are very easy to understand.

Yet by removing the symbols, I think it will fail to meet most people's requirements.

The BBC weather symbols are an easy to understand, classic design. I really do not see how slightly different shaded or coloured blobs will help anyone to take in a weather forecast as easily as they can at the moment.
MA
marksi
Dunedin posted:
marksi posted:
SNIP

I don't think it does actually. Modesty's really not your thing, is it?

Should the BBC be catering for the lowest common denominator? I've been through all this before, but briefly, again - you may not be able to interpret a pressure chart or care about wind speed or direction, but many people can and do. If you're not interested, don't watch and use (at absolute maximum) those three minutes for something else that interests you.

You'd probably be shouting about "dumbing down" if it was suggested that any other subject be reduced in depth of information, duration and quality.


Look there's really no point arguing- I quite shockingly believe that a weather forecast should do what it says- namely to predict the weather for the country. For all the glamour that is the isobars, I still maintain that most people are interested in the forecast of that data- e.g. the wind speed....and then they only want to hear about it if it's significant i.e. a gale.

If you really believe that people up and down the country are sitting down to weather forecasts saying "I wonder what those thermals of the west of Ireland are up to tonight"- I think you've lost touch with reality a tad.

I posted weeks ago the criteria that I believe should be used to determine the success or otherwise of the new graphics. I've quoted my post below- this is how I shall judge the efforts on screen on Monday:

Quote:
The basic test for the new graphics are two fold:

(1) Deliver the forcast with equal or better clarity.

(2) Deliver the same amount of information in equal or less time.

Failure on either of these accounts will indicate a step back for BBC Weather.

Time will tell.


When was the last time you saw a forecast that included information about "thermals of the west coast of Ireland"?
RU
russnet Founding member
marksi posted:
When was the last time you saw a forecast that included information about "thermals of the west coast of Ireland"?


Anything's possible with Dan Corbett so just give it time!
SC
scottishtv Founding member
Pootle5 posted:
From the clips I've just watched I am not at all impressed. Unless it's raining there's nothing else on the map!

It suddenly makes sense to me. I was critical at first, but you've just summed up the good thing about the system. Unless it's raining, there's no need for anything else on the map because it's either sunny or cloudy - illustrated perfectly by the new system.

When I first looked at the new maps, I was looking for 'more weather' but then I realised it's only because I'm used to symbols showing what might happen (like the 'cloudy with showers and brighter spells' symbol cat brought up). In the new weather you can see it all hour by hour. Much better, in my opinion.

I'm still concerned about it animating too fast though (ie. the viewer trying to watch the clock move on and watch their area at the same time could be a bit tricky to start with), and it's also hard to see the north of Scotland from the UK flyover - it seems to start in the Scottish central belt and then never goes back near the top of the country.

Wonder what a lightening storm looks like in the new system?
SP
Sput
There used to be a video on the site, here's what the Sydney version appeared like...

http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/lightning.gif

Time lapse with lots of strikes moving across that leave a kind of cloud of dust behind them. Reasonable to assume they use data from lightning detectors to plot them.

Also checking out the XT site, there's a lot of very fab devices that can be used like wind socks, a sort of cityscape view forecast and lots of posh lighting effects.

Let's hope they use some of these now and again. They'd be perfect for News 24.
NS
NickyS Founding member
gregmc posted:
I bet you, they will bring back the old graphics for a while, and during that time, proberly work on new ones, with the symbols on the new system. There wil be thousands of complaints

how much do you want to bet? The new maps have been months (if not years) in development and there is a big investment to make them work across all BBC platforms - once the old ones are gone, they'll be gone for good.
MO
Moz
NickyS posted:
gregmc posted:
I bet you, they will bring back the old graphics for a while, and during that time, proberly work on new ones, with the symbols on the new system. There wil be thousands of complaints

how much do you want to bet? The new maps have been months (if not years) in development and there is a big investment to make them work across all BBC platforms - once the old ones are gone, they'll be gone for good.

You say 'across all BBC platforms' but - as someone else asked - how will these work on Ceefax?

Personally I think they look as if they do work as well, if not better, than the old symbols (which were great if you lived underneath one but if you lived halfway between a sunny symbol and heavy rain symbol you were left clueless) but we're so used to the old ones that it'll take time.

I think older people are really going to struggle with this but progress has to be made despite them.
GR
gregmc
Moz posted:
NickyS posted:
gregmc posted:
I bet you, they will bring back the old graphics for a while, and during that time, proberly work on new ones, with the symbols on the new system. There wil be thousands of complaints

how much do you want to bet? The new maps have been months (if not years) in development and there is a big investment to make them work across all BBC platforms - once the old ones are gone, they'll be gone for good.

You say 'across all BBC platforms' but - as someone else asked - how will these work on Ceefax?

Personally I think they look as if they do work as well, if not better, than the old symbols (which were great if you lived underneath one but if you lived halfway between a sunny symbol and heavy rain symbol you were left clueless) but we're so used to the old ones that it'll take time.

I think older people are really going to struggle with this but progress has to be made despite them.


How about online to? You wont beable to see the "real rain" on there will you... bring back the symbols for the online i say....
GA
GoAround
Shame they're not using sound - like for wind, high speeds could be represented with louder whistling, or the sound of rain/thunder would add to it so much I feel!

Looks a bit sketchy, but from what I've seen national forecasts will zoom in to smaller areas like they do in other countries, eg Spain, where separate parts of the country are looked at individually.

Tomorrow will tell...
MA
marksi
Moz posted:
NickyS posted:
gregmc posted:
I bet you, they will bring back the old graphics for a while, and during that time, proberly work on new ones, with the symbols on the new system. There wil be thousands of complaints

how much do you want to bet? The new maps have been months (if not years) in development and there is a big investment to make them work across all BBC platforms - once the old ones are gone, they'll be gone for good.

You say 'across all BBC platforms' but - as someone else asked - how will these work on Ceefax?

Personally I think they look as if they do work as well, if not better, than the old symbols (which were great if you lived underneath one but if you lived halfway between a sunny symbol and heavy rain symbol you were left clueless) but we're so used to the old ones that it'll take time.

I think older people are really going to struggle with this but progress has to be made despite them.


The old ones didn't work on Ceefax either.
GA
GoAround
The summary pages on the first video on the Metra website are impressive - using an image of the weather against the temperature, eg a storm.

Subtle use of symbols there!
DU
Dunedin
Sput posted:
There used to be a video on the site, here's what the Sydney version appeared like...

http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/lightning.gif

Time lapse with lots of strikes moving across that leave a kind of cloud of dust behind them. Reasonable to assume they use data from lightning detectors to plot them.

Also checking out the XT site, there's a lot of very fab devices that can be used like wind socks, a sort of cityscape view forecast and lots of posh lighting effects.

Let's hope they use some of these now and again. They'd be perfect for News 24.


You see the landmass there looks realistic and progressive unlike the dirty brown images we've seen of Britain so far.

I agree that this new software may make News 24 weather forecasts more bearable, as long as they don't see it as an excuse to expand the amount of time they devote to the weather each hour.

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