InfoEx AutoWx (IEAW)
=============
-This program fetches data from an NRCS SNOTEL or MesoWest station and
-pushes it into the InfoEx system using the new automated weather system
-implementation.
+This program fetches data from an NRCS SNOTEL or MesoWest station, or
+your own custom data source, and pushes it into the InfoEx system using
+the new automated weather system implementation.
Licensed under the ISC license (see file: LICENSE).
`station_id = # the NRCS/MesoWest identifier for a particular station #`
`desired_data = # a comma-delimited list of fields you're interested in #`
`units = # either english or metric -- only applies when type is mesowest #`
+`tz = # any entry from the Olson tz database e.g. America/Denver #`
`path = # the filesystem path to the Python program -- only applies when type is python #`
`[infoex]`
to specify the path to an external Python program. The external Python
program should emit its data in the form expected by infoex-autowx.
+This is a powerful feature which enables the user to upload data from
+any source imaginable into InfoEx. Common examples are a local database
+or a remote web page which requires some custom parsing.
+
+Please see the program located at examples/custom-wx.example.py for a
+complete description of what's required.
+
+A note on time zones
+--------------------
+
+This program is aware of time zones via the pytz library. The way in
+which NRCS and MesoWest deal with time zones differs as follows:
+
+NRCS expects the request to come in the appropriate time zone, and the
+data retrieved will be in the same time zone (no transformation
+required before sending to InfoEx).
+
+MesoWest expects the request to come in UTC, and the data retrieved will
+be in the same time zone (transformation from UTC to the desired time
+zone is required before sending to InfoEx).
+
+As long as you specify the correct timezone in your configuration file,
+all will be handled correctly. The list of time zones comes from the
+Olson tz database. See that for more information.
+
+If you specify an invalid time zone, the program will exit and inform
+you of such.
+
+Lastly, InfoEx itself is timezone aware. If you notice that the data
+which makes it into your operation is inaccurate, start your
+investigation with time zone-related issues and move on only once you've
+ruled this out as a cause of the inaccuracy.
+
A note on supported measurements
--------------------------------
be ignored (i.e. it will NOT log "0" when there's no measurement
available).
-
InfoEx provides a mechanism for inspecting your automated weather
station data, so use that after setting this program up and compare it
with the data you see in your web browser.
wind\_direction
wind\_gust
+**Custom Wx program**
+*infoex-autowx expects a custom Wx data provider to provide at least one
+of the following:*
+precipitationGauge
+tempPres
+tempMaxHour
+tempMinHour
+hS
+baro
+rH
+windSpeedNum
+windDirectionNum
+windGustSpeedNum
+
Future plans
------------
-- Improve the documentation
- Implement unit conversion for NRCS stations
Version history
---------------
+- 3.1.0 (Jan 2021)
+
+ Implement time zone support.
+
+- 3.0.2 (Jan 2021)
+
+ Use UTC time when asking MesoWest for data.
+
+- 3.0.1 (Jan 2021)
+
+ General fixes.
+
+ - MesoWest wind data (speed and gust speed) units are now transformed
+ from their origin unit (meters per second) to the unit expected by
+ InfoEx (miles per hour).
+
+ - Relative humidity is now rounded to one decimal place, preventing
+ InfoEx from reddening the auto-filled value.
+
+- 3.0.0 (Nov 2020)
+
+ Implement Custom Wx data providers.
+
+ This release enables the user to write their own Python programs and
+ specify them to infoex-autowx as a data provider.
+
+ This in turn enables the user to pull data from e.g. a local database
+ or an HTML page and push it into their InfoEx auto station data,
+ limited only by the imagination.
+
- 2.2.0 (Nov 2020)
Add support for Tmin/Tmax values (directly from MesoWest/NRCS).
wylark / infoex-autowx.git / blobdiff