Site Updates - August 2023
This details a major refresh of the site with many additions and changes to existing products.
Update 202308 - The Weather Chaser
This details a major refresh of the site with many additions and changes to existing products.
The Weather Chaser hasn’t seen a significant overhaul in quite a few years. There have been a number of new beta features quietly added, but many or most of these features have likely gone unnoticed as there has been limited highlighting of these changes.
We have now released a new version of the site that brings more attention to these features, adds some new ones, and restructures our free and subscription offerings.
Currently we provide access to over 200 million radar images and 2 billion observations from hundreds of terabytes of other data such as satellite imagery, map imagery and the raw data required to create all this. This dataset spans well over 20 years.
As you can imagine this requires a significant amount of computing resources and effort to maintain. Part of the changes made here do limit access to some data elements more than has been the case in the past.
You can perhaps see where this is going, and yes, we have had to put more data than before behind subscription, or pay-per-use access. This is to ensure that we can continue to be viable and provide this unique service.
We are a very small business based in Melbourne, but we have some significant costs in providing this service that have only continued to grow over the years. We understand that some of the changes, such as more restricted radar archive access, will be be upsetting for some users, but in order to make this continue to work it is an inevitable step we have to take.
Over the years we have had a strong relationship that has been mutually beneficial with the weather chaser/enthusiast community here in Australia, and we know that they have been active users of our extensive radar archives. As such, we would invite anyone who leads one of these groups to get in touch to work out how we can continue to provide this important resource to your members as has been the case for many years.
Major changes are :
We have now added a combined map based observation interface to all types of available observations. This consists of the BoM Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) observations as well as those from the national rain gauge and river height network.
Rainfall data observations are now available. 15 minute Rainfall
Linking from the map we now provide detailed observation graphs that allows you to see all available variables for any of the locations across the country.
As an additional on-demand purchase option, one minute AWS observations are also available to give the finest temporal resolution data possible from the extensive network of BoM AWS network.
The river height data provides a new element that can be valuable in seeing exactly where river heights are rising (or falling) and how high the reached.
The live weather map provides access to the very latest satellite imagery and country wide high resolution radar mosaic that uses our HD radar imagery to provide an interactive and animated view of the most recent weather.
The satellite imagery combines the highest resolution possible weather satellite data in both infrared and visible/infrared to give you the best possible view of cloud cover.
The main change that has been present on the site for some time now is the HD radar. This is currently accessed via the ‘HD’ button on the standard BoM radar page. This provides access to much higher resolution and precision imagery and does away with the need for separate dedicated image ranges as per the standard BoM imagery.
With a Pro subscription you can now also purchase a downloadable zip of BoM SD radar data that contains an animated GIF, Video and individual radar frames. A sample of it can be found here
As mentioned above, there are now options to download some data on demand. This currenty consists of radar and observational data. At this stage this is only available to Pro subscribers, though we are looking to expand the offering to all users of the site.
Additionally we are working to provide other types of data that can be accessed this way including our High Definition (HD) radar imagery, and historical satellite imagery.
Our Pro subscription is now much cheaper than before as we have moved the additional data access (downloadable gifs) to an on demand service that includes additional video and image data.
For now, our existing Personal and Pro subscribers will retain their existing access. We will, however be getting in touch with any customers using the platform for work who have subscribed to personal in order to get them to upgrade to Pro. Our personal plans cannot be used for commercial/business/government/work purposes.
We would also encourage our existing Pro subscribers to review the new arrangement, as it probably will be beneficial for them to move to the new plan. Please let us know if you would like to. We will be fully deprecating the old Pro and Personal plans at some stage within the next year.
If you would like multiple users within your organisation or require significant amounts of data, please contact us and we will be happy to discuss options including discounts.