BBC buys NZ-made weather graphics

[quote="Barney Boo"][quote="Steviewizzywick"][quote="Whataday"]

Barney Boo asked me what, in my opinion, the BBC could use to improve their weather graphics without making it gimmicky.
I havn't really thought about it to be honest. I believe it would be best to wait and see what it will look like when it airs. We don't even know what sort of graphics will be used. Obviously we can can get an idea from the snippets available on this thread but one report emphasised that the BBC were using the NZ staff to update their weather graphics, so one wonders if it will be done to the BBC's preferences and specifications and I personally think it unlikely the beeb will want their weather reports to look tacky.

Also, using the NZ staff is probably part of the cost of the deal so in the long run this will save staff costs at the BBC thus saving our licence fee money.

Whether this is "media b.u.l.l.s.h.i.t" or not is something I am not going to worry too much about. I just think that we should wait and see what it looks like and then have fun ripping the results to shreds later in the year. It might even take our minds off worrying about this year's "Christmas Idents" but I seriously doubt that!

As I understand it the current symbol set (sun, rain snow etc) will not be changing much, but will be incorporated into the new graphics package.

Yes, I can't see the BBC ditching its trademark weather symbols. Such software is customisable by the client. Apparently this new system is capable of all sorts of flashy things - stuff that the current graphics can't do.... I think you should wait to see it rather than relying on a few dodgy captures from New Zealand TV,

Incidently the best weatehr I've seen are on one of the South African channels (not SABC, the newish commercial one); they're very similar to those on Scottish/Grampian; the graphics sweep across the country as if being taken from a plane,

I think Sky News weather has the worst graphics. Although they try to be more real by showing bands of rain sweeping across the country et al rather than symbols, I just find them impossible to follow.

As for the issue of the BBC paying out for software to produce weather graphics, I have to say it sounds like a waste of money. Even if this package cost exactly £1M, that's an awful lot of licence fees.

I don't really see what's wrong with the current graphics, but if they do want to change them then why can't they do it in house?

The article spoke of how this firm 'beat off opposition from North America and Europe' - am I right in thinking then the BBC, with all of it's resources, actually invited applicants for people to produce it's weather graphics? What's the point of maintaining a graphic design unit if you're then going to buy in graphics from another country?

I couldn't care less if they have all sorts of flashy flybys which can't be done with the current software, I see no reason why the BBC couldn't have developed this system themselves, and at the end of the day, all that matters with weather graphics is that they convey the information clearly. The current graphics unquestionably do that. Even if the new ones are more elaborate, I don't see how they can convey information in a better way than the current graphics do.

If they want to replace them, all well and good, but I see no reason to justify what they are doing. Fair enough, it may be quite a small fry deal compared to what the BBC has done, but I don't see it as a responsible use of the licence fee, and in a time when they are under greater and greater pressure to prove that the licence fee is worth retaining, this hardly seems the right way to go about it.

I've seen that 3D image on all forecasts I think. The first time I saw it was during the news updates in the morning.
For the record I'm happy with the current graphics but if they can improve them without ruining the overall look then fair enough. They probably haven't spent much of their allocated budget for this sort of thing much recently anyway.
I must say I find it quite amusing that some people have said 'It's only the weather' when a lot of people rush onto this forum to point out the smallest technical mistakes on N24 for example. What would those people say if I said 'It's only the news' (which I wouldn't, but other people's interests and opinions must be recognised)

Emm won't the BBC be changing aspects of the software or whatever they've bought to fit in with their themeing.

Those screenshots remind me of the Grampian Weather bulletins. The graphics on that aren't bad as it flies over - Only the map of scotland is a poor mix of green and brown to make it look real, when it's clearly not.

Yeah, but whilst Scottish's flyby weather is all very shiny, "Look - there's my house!" It's a lot slower and more confusing than just a MAP.

I think "6:00" nicked the dodgy zooming out map from the Daytime summaries, thats the first place it was used. I think the current weather system is fine, but then I though the balloon/globe idea was pretty good as well.

If they're done right, as the South African ones do you can cram in a lot of information. In a country the size of that they can give the viewer virtually everything; temperature, precipatation, tide heights/times etc etc in a couple of minutes

Flicking through some old videos today I found some weather broadcasts from the first computer generated BBC forecasts from 1985. It was much clearer and crisper than today's BBC graphics where there is too much detail on the background, why do we need to see the shading of the hills and oceans? I just hope they retain the same symbols.

When some things are well designed in the first place, they don't benefit from constant tinkering.

Even if it cost £10 million, that really isn't a lot of money these days.

They're also used on the bulletins in the morning, and also on the interactive weather loop.