MA
Early in 2005, the BBC Weather is getting a brand new look.
The following was written on the Digital Spy website:
Digital Spy Article: BBC Revamp
Weather forecast presentations on BBC television are to be revamped using technology more commonly associated with 3D gaming than meteorology.
The BBC Weather Centre is currently in the process of rolling out a version of Weatherscape XT, developed by Metra in New Zealand. Other versions of the software can already be seen on CNBC in the UK as well as other stations internationally including Nine Network in Australia.
The new system will replace the BBC's current six-year-old weather graphics. There will be less reliance on traditional maps, with weather forecasts instead feeling like a flight simulator game. Details revealed today indicate that forecasts will include a fly-over element with meteorologists being able to change "camera angles" to focus on particular parts of the UK. Rain and other weather conditions will be rendered in 3D, adding more of a realistic look to the on-air presentation.
Meteorologists at the BBC Weather Centre will work on PC workstations with relatively high specs: 2.6GHz P4, 1GB DDR SDRAM, 80GB hard drives, and the NVidia FX6800 Ultra 256MB graphics card to render meteorological data from the Met Office in real-time. The actual graphics servers that will be used to put forecasts on air are equipped with Dual 3.06GHz Zeon processors, 2GB DDR SDRAM, SCSI hard drives, and the NVidia graphics card.
"It thinks and works a bit like a computer game," said Colin Tregear, project manager, of the new software. "We are trying to take weather data and generate weather graphics on a 3D map that actually looks like the weather."
He continued: "We hope that by showing the weather that will actually go over your head, you will know whether it is going to be sunny or cloudy where you are."
So in other words, the weathermaps will appear more 3D, with rain and clouds moving across the landscape, other sources that I have read say that the viewer will see shadows on the ground cast by clouds. You will also see rain falling and it will appear more realistic. The forecaster can zoom in and out of the maps too.
: What do you think about this change?
The following was written on the Digital Spy website:
Digital Spy Article: BBC Revamp
Weather forecast presentations on BBC television are to be revamped using technology more commonly associated with 3D gaming than meteorology.
The BBC Weather Centre is currently in the process of rolling out a version of Weatherscape XT, developed by Metra in New Zealand. Other versions of the software can already be seen on CNBC in the UK as well as other stations internationally including Nine Network in Australia.
The new system will replace the BBC's current six-year-old weather graphics. There will be less reliance on traditional maps, with weather forecasts instead feeling like a flight simulator game. Details revealed today indicate that forecasts will include a fly-over element with meteorologists being able to change "camera angles" to focus on particular parts of the UK. Rain and other weather conditions will be rendered in 3D, adding more of a realistic look to the on-air presentation.
Meteorologists at the BBC Weather Centre will work on PC workstations with relatively high specs: 2.6GHz P4, 1GB DDR SDRAM, 80GB hard drives, and the NVidia FX6800 Ultra 256MB graphics card to render meteorological data from the Met Office in real-time. The actual graphics servers that will be used to put forecasts on air are equipped with Dual 3.06GHz Zeon processors, 2GB DDR SDRAM, SCSI hard drives, and the NVidia graphics card.
"It thinks and works a bit like a computer game," said Colin Tregear, project manager, of the new software. "We are trying to take weather data and generate weather graphics on a 3D map that actually looks like the weather."
He continued: "We hope that by showing the weather that will actually go over your head, you will know whether it is going to be sunny or cloudy where you are."
So in other words, the weathermaps will appear more 3D, with rain and clouds moving across the landscape, other sources that I have read say that the viewer will see shadows on the ground cast by clouds. You will also see rain falling and it will appear more realistic. The forecaster can zoom in and out of the maps too.
: What do you think about this change?