User Manual available

There is a User Manual for the Weather Wizard available at lulu.com.

Moving to Google Code

I'll be moving the code to the Subversion repository of Google Code.
We will have at least the following projects:
- javanmeaparser
- coreutilities
- chartcomponents
- weatherwizard
- fullnmeaconsole
This way, the code will be safe. I am using Oracle's JDeveloper and its Subversion extension, that works like a charm. The Weather Wizard is using a Swing graphical interface. This is not managed nicely by an IDE like Eclipse.
The last project is this NMEA Console I have been working on.

Externalizing the Look and Feel option

The possibility to apply a Swing Look and Feel on the UI has been externalized. You can apply any Look and Feel you want, its name will be mentioned in the command-line, or in the shortcut properties. That brings more flexibility to the user, and cuts the dependencies with the providers.
On the right is an example of what's possible, using the "Napkin" Look and Feel.
The default look and feel is the System one, not the Metal one (Java default).
Those who have already installed the program should re-install it, as some modifications in the launching script were made.

"What if" routing

Mostly dedicated to cruisers - not good for racing - here is a new feature.Think it like "What if I keep sailing at 50 degrees of the true wind, starboard tack, for 3 days?". Or "What if I keep heading 230 true for 5 days?".
This shows you where you would be! There are some limitations of course, like when you keep sailing head to wind, you wacky weirdo.

Becoming stable

It looks like the software has reached some stability, less and less updates are now showing up.
The last ones mostly concern some cosmetic details in the UI.
The routing features have also been improved, Bruce took benefit of them during the last leg of his trip, between Tonga and Auckland in New Zealand.
More parameters have been externalized. It's becoming more and more flexible.
The viewlet (animated how-to's) page keeps growing, it is available from the same page as the software, click on the How-to link, on top of the History section.

Next steps will be to have installers running for Linux and Mac.
Keep posted!

500mb in 3D

The GRIB files can also contain data related to the 500mb charts. A 500mb fax would typically look like this:

It is really supposed to represent the topography of the atmosphere...
Other rendering(s) of the same data might be helpful, like this one:

Plus it is really animated, you can orient it the way you want, just with the mouse.
The four lows are really easy to spot, notice that the one in the Gulf of Alaska is not that impressive, and look - it is not on the fax, it's beyond its edge - how much fun they're going to have in the south Japan...
Sea temperature and PRMSL (Pressure at Mean Sea Level) can also be represented the same way. I want to check if wave heights can be represented the same way...

Smoothing the GRIB

The smoothing algorhythm mentioned in an earlier post can be adapted to the GRIB Data.
It allows you to turn this:

into that:

This smoothing is spatial, in other words, it fills the gap between the points.
This can reduce substantially the size of the GRIB data to download, as it gives the possibility to rebuild the data between the actual points. This will need some validation, but that sounds promising. SailMail users might be concerned; on the example above, the size of the GRIB file is ~15 times smaller.
The next step will be to add a time dimension, smoothing the wind across several frames.
Keep posted!

Weather Assistant Software almost ready to be released

The Weather Assistant software is coming good, almost ready to be released as version 0.9...
The documentation - at least a first drop of the user manual - is already available.
Find it here.
In conjunction with SailFax, this will really help to read all the data we are able to receive from the boat.

SailFax, utility for SkedFile.txt

Almost done with SailFax. See a preview here.
Will soon be available for download.

More Software to come

Working on several applications around AirMail & GetFax.
The first one is a Graphical User Interface for SkedFile.txt, the one that is used by the automatic feature of GetMail.
The second is a viewer that will be able to stack the faxes received by GetFax, and a chart, on which you can display your position, way points, grib files, etc.
In other words, it gives the possibility to override a fax, with accurate geographical data, like position. You know in Lat and Long where you are on the fax.