Bloomsburg University Weather Viewer Quick Start Guide. Software Version 1.2 Date 4/7/2014

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1 Bloomsburg University Weather Viewer Quick Start Guide Software Version 1.2 Date 4/7/2014

2 Program Background / Objectives: The Bloomsburg Weather Viewer is a weather visualization program that is designed to enhance the educational value of the weather data and webcam imagery collected by K-12 schools and colleges for earth science courses.

3 Program Background / Objectives: The program consists of a data collection system and a graphical user interface. The data collection system acquires and stores observations from a school s weather station. It also acquires imagery from a school s weather webcam and internet weather sites (e.g., radar and satellite) and stores the images as timelapse videos.

4 Program Background / Objectives: The data collection system communicates with a user interface that can be loaded onto a Windows PC. The program enables users to search the data collection system for past weather and view the data streams in a synchronous manner.

5 Program Background / Objectives: In addition, the program includes several additional resources to support the analysis of the data streams. For example, the program allows users to bookmark past weather events, save daily diary weather entries, forecast changes in the weather and export imagery and videos for use in other programs.

6 Download and Installation: The BU Weather Viewer is available for free download. The program will run on a Windows PC with an operating system that is 64-bit Windows 7 or newer. The program requires VLC Media Player and Java JRE 7. These programs are installed by the weather viewer installation program, if needed. The most recent installer download is posted on the BU Weather Viewer website: A few things to keep in mind when running the weather viewer: 1. The program is being developed as an ongoing student project. As a result, you may find that some portions of the program are still under construction. We are continually upgrading the code, particularly in the spring semester. If you find a bug, or have a recommendation or question, please send a detailed description to Jeff Brunskill (jbrunski@bloomu.edu). 2. The program is currently optimized to run on Bloomsburg University campus computers. Off campus users with slower internet connection speeds will experience increased video load times. In addition, the video playback for users with older/slower PCs may be somewhat choppy.

7 Program Startup: Start the program by clicking the BU Weather Viewer icon in the Start Menu. A splash screen will appear next. Click on the splash screen or press any key to proceed to the login screen.

8 Program Startup: The weather viewer has four user types: guest, student, instructor and administrator. If you already have a weather viewer account enter your user name and password (Note: weather viewer accounts are NOT the same as standard BU accounts. You must request a program account see below.) If you do not have an account you may click the Login as Guest button. Students, instructors and users wishing to have higher-level functionality may request a weather viewer account by sending an to Jeff Brunskill (jbrunski@bloomu.edu). Please list your name, course, the type of account your are requesting (student, instructor or administrator), and the reason why you are requesting an account in your .

9 Program Startup: The BU Weather viewer is currently optimized for use on the BU campus for computers with a 64-bit Windows 7 operating system, at least 4 GB RAM, and an Intel HD2000-equivalent graphics card. Off campus users with slower internet connections will experience longer download times. And, users with slower machines may experience choppy video playback. To improve the performance of the program off campus, users may: Determine which data types should be loaded upon startup or choose to start the program without loading data, and/or Choose to load a low-quality movie format with smaller file sizes, as opposed to the high-quality data format that is used by default on campus.

10 Client Interface: The program should load in 5 to 15 seconds for on-campus users and in 1 to 3 minutes for off-campus users. By default, the program loads webcam videos, map/diagram videos, graphical weather station data, and notes for the four most recent hours in the panels below. Webcam Panel Map/Diagram Panel Weather Station Panel Notes Panel

11 Synchronous Playback: The client allows users to synchronize the display of webcam and map/diagram time-lapse movies with the observation data collected from a local weather stations and relevant notes. Click the play button or drag the scrollbar to view changes in the data streams. Webcam Panel Map/Diagram Panel Weather Station Panel Notes Panel

12 Data Resources: Users may modify the webcam, map/diagram and weather station imagery and data displayed in each panel (Note: Changing the webcam panel may automatically change the data displayed in the weather station data if a local weather station is associated with the webcam). Webcam Panel Map/Diagram Panel Weather Station Panel Notes Panel

13 Search for Historical Data: The weather viewer loads data for the four most recent hours by default. However, users may search for historical data using the tools in the central toolbar or the date range button on the Weather Station Panel (The storage system has Smaller File Size (mp4) format videos from November 2013 to the present, and Larger Files Size (.avi) videos from 2013 to the present). In addition, users may also search the bookmark database for noteworthy events identified by other users. Webcam Panel Map/Diagram Panel Weather Station Panel Notes Panel

14 Save and Export Videos/Images: Users may export images and videos by using the snapshot and print buttons located on each panel, or by clicking the export option on the file dropdown menu. In addition, users may export personal notes from the notes panel. Webcam Panel Map/Diagram Panel Weather Station Panel Notes Panel

15 Notes Panel: Users may store time-stamped personal notes for each day in the Notes Panel. The notes panel may also be used by instructors to post notes to the students in their classes. Webcam Panel Map/Diagram Panel Weather Station Panel Notes Panel

16 Lesson Resources: We are working develop lessons to enhance the educational value of the weather viewer program. We are currently working to complete a daily diary lesson and a weather forecasting lesson. The daily diary may be accessed on the notes panel. The forecasting lesson, based on Iowa State s Dynamic Weather Forecaster lesson, may be accessed from the lessons dropdown menu.

17 Questions/Comments/Bugs: The BU weather viewer is a work in progress. We welcome comments, questions, suggestions and bug reports. We are also open to the prospect of collaborating with other groups to improve the prototype and enhance its functionality. Please direct all related correspondence to Jeff Brunskill (jbrunski@bloomu.edu).

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