|
|
|
Virtual Weather Station Software
Virtual Weather Station is a software package that
allows you to connect your personal computer to your weather station to
display, plot and store data for comprehensive monitoring and analysis.
|
|
Virtual
Weather Station brings your PC to life with a rich array of dynamic
and colorful gauges, dials, graphs and charts. The desktop is
completely customizable - you can arrange the virtual instruments based on
your own personal preferences or application. You have literally over 1000
ways to display your data.
You do not have to own a weather station to operate
Virtual Weather Station. The data can be collected across a network,
or downloaded from a METAR compatible weather station.
With the Virtual Weather Station Pro Edition, you can generate NOAA
monthly and yearly reports, daily, monthly and yearly high and low summary
reports, record data by the minute, generate .csv files for Excel
spreadsheet analysis and much more.
Virtual Weather Station runs on
any
Windows 32 or 64 bit operating system, including 95/98/NT/2000/2003/ME/XP/Vista/Windows7
Virtual Weather Station Internet Edition features Email, FTP File
Transfer, and HTTP file transfer. You can automatically send files to an
FTP server or automatically send e-mail when alarm conditions occur.
The software converts display panels into jpeg images that any client
using a World Wide Web (WWW or Web) browser can access. The software is
compatible with standard Web browsers and requires no additional
networking software or configuration. And you don't even need a web
server. With Ambient's Weather Underground project, you can share your
data with the rest of the weather community with a simple web browser.
|
Virtual
Weather Station comes in three editions: Base Edition, Pro
Edition, and Internet Edition. You can view the features
comparison here.
| Ambient
Virtual Weather Station Features Comparison |
Base
Edition |
Pro
Edition |
Internet
Edition |
| Unit
Conversions |
X |
X |
X |
| End-to-End
Software Calibration |
X |
X |
X |
| Celestial
Calendar (Sunrise/Sunset & Moonrise/Moonset |
X |
X |
X |
| Air Data
Calculator (Air Density, Corrected Pressure and Temperature) |
X |
X |
X |
| Customized
Displays (Graphs, Gauges, Strip Charts, Distribution Charts,
Windrose, Thermometers, Tanks, Moonphase, Broadcast, weather
icons) |
X |
X |
X |
| Display
Values, Rates of Change, Filtered Averages, Daily Monthly
and Yearly Avgs. |
X |
X |
X |
| Database
for plotting graphics |
X |
X |
X |
| JPEG File
Generation |
X |
X |
X |
| Daily,
yearly and monthly Summaries (Highs, Lows, Averages and Rates) |
X |
X |
X |
| Audible
Alarms |
X |
X |
X |
| Synchronizing
Computer Date and Time |
X |
X |
X |
| Downloading
Logged Data |
X |
X |
X |
| Real-time
CSV File Export |
X |
X |
X |
| Text File
Data Logging (Daily Time Stamped Formatted and csv files) |
|
X |
X |
| Daily,
Monthly and Yearly Archive Text Files (Highs, Lows, Averages and
Rates) |
|
X |
X |
| Monthly
and Yearly Climate Reports |
|
X |
X |
| Weather
Website Builder |
|
|
X |
| Dial-up
and Network Connections and Automation |
|
|
X |
| Automated
FTP Functions (send, retrieve, create directories, etc) |
|
|
X |
| Web Page
Templates |
|
|
X |
| HTML Tags |
|
|
X |
| HTML File
Tags |
|
|
X |
| Uploading
HTTP and FTP Files |
|
|
X |
| EMail
Weather Reports |
|
|
X |
| EMail
Alarms |
|
|
X |
| METAR
Downloads |
|
|
X |
| METAR
Icon Generation |
|
|
X |
| METAR
Generator |
|
|
X |
| METAR
Text Reports |
|
|
X |
| Upload to
Weather Servers (WeatherUnderground.com and Weatherforyou.com) |
|
|
X |
| APRS File
Generation |
|
|
X |
Ambient's
Virtual Weather Station FAQ
|
|
What Weather Stations
does VWS Work With?
- All Davis Weather
Stations, including the Vantage Pro, Vantage Pro Plus,
Vantage Pro2, Vantage Pro2 Plus, Wizard III, Monitor
II, and Perception
- All Oregon Scientific
Weather Stations, including the WMR-918, WMR-928N,
WMR-968 and WM-918
- La Crosse WS-2300,
WS-2305, WS-2310, WS-2315, WS-3610
- All Radio Shack Weather
Stations, including the WX-200 and Accuweather
Wireless Station 63-1016
- Huger WM-918 (same as
the Oregon Scientific WM-918)
- Rainwise MKIII, WT-2000
and MH-1 Hazmat
- WeatherHawk Weather
Stations
- Peet Bros Weather
Stations
- Kestrel 4000
- Texas Weather
Instruments Stations
- Columbia Weather Systems
Weather Stations
What are the Hardware and
Software Requirements?
The following hardware is required for communicating to
the Weather Station:
- PC running Windows 95,
98, NT4.0 or greater, 2000, ME, or XP. VWS also
requires Internet Explorer Version 4.0 or greater. You
do not need to run Internet Explorer, but Virtual
Weather Station Internet Edition requires some of the
internet tools included with Internet Explorer.
- 8MB RAM (Minimum)
- Serial Communication
Port
- Serial Cable (some
weather stations require special cables which may be
provided with the station or may need to be purchased
separately)
Display Preferences:
Virtual Weather Station prefers high resolution or 16-bit
color. Some images may result in poor quality at
lower resolution settings.
- Virtual Weather Station
is best viewed at 800 x 600 pixels or greater.
- Power or Energy saving
features may result in distorted jpeg images.
What is Virtual Weather
Station?
Virtual Weather Station is a software package that allows
you to connect your personal computer to your weather
station to display, plot and store data for comprehensive
monitoring and analysis.
What kinds of Reports does
VWS Generate?
With the Virtual Weather Station Pro Edition, you can
generate NOAA monthly and yearly reports, daily, monthly
and yearly high and low summary reports, record data by
the minute, generate csv files for Excel spreadsheet
analysis and much more.
How does the Internet
Edition Differ?
Virtual Weather Station Internet Edition features Email,
FTP File Transfer, and HTTP file transfer. You can
automatically send files to an FTP server or automatically
send e-mail when alarm conditions occur. The software
converts display panels into jpeg images that any client
using a World Wide Web (WWW or Web) browser can access.
The software is compatible with standard Web browsers and
requires no additional networking software or
configuration. And you don't even need a web server. With
Ambient's Weather Underground project, you can share your
data with the rest of the weather community with a simple
web browser.
Are Reports Backward
Compatible with Earlier Versions?
No. The new Virtual Weather Station's summary reports are
not compatible with the summary reports for Virtual
Weather Station Classic and Weather Lab. When upgrading,
you will not be able to access your previous NOAA and
summary reports.
Virtual Weather Station Versions 10.00 and greater is NOT
compatible with Virtual Weather Station Versions 9.07 or
less and Weather Lab. Do not upgrade unless you are
willing to lose all historical data.
Why does VWS Require
Dial-up Networking accounts?
Virtual Weather Station requires some of the Remote Access
Service (RAS) tools included with Dial-up Networking. To
install Dial-up Networking, select the Dial-up Networking
Folder and Make a new Connection... Follow the wizard
until the RAS components are loaded on your computer.
Do I need any special
hardware to connect VWS to my Weather Station?
This depends entirely on what weather station you own. If
you own a Davis Instruments weather station, such as the
Vantage Pro™ or Pro Plus™, you must also buy the
WeatherLink module, no matter which VWS software package
you wish to purchase.
Is Virtual Weather
Station available for the Macintosh?
No.
|
|
|
