{"id":10650,"date":"2013-03-30T03:00:06","date_gmt":"2013-03-30T09:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/?p=10650"},"modified":"2013-03-30T06:04:57","modified_gmt":"2013-03-30T12:04:57","slug":"android-weather-apps-and-widgets-for-displaying-thorntonweather-com-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/thornton-weather\/android-weather-apps-and-widgets-for-displaying-thorntonweather-com-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Basic Android weather apps and widgets for displaying ThorntonWeather.com data"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most common requests we receive is for a ThorntonWeather.com app for mobile devices.\u00a0 Unfortunately, short of a lot of donations to fund it<\/a>, development of one is prohibitively expensive.\u00a0 However, there are third party programs that will allow you to get Thornton\u2019s weather with data from our station.<\/p>\n

The choices range from the basic to major name apps that display ThorntonWeather.com data.\u00a0 This article will detail the simpler ones that do little more than display weather conditions from our site as an app and as a widget. \u00a0While basic, they all do a good job and keep it simple.<\/p>\n

Weather Station for Cumulus<\/strong><\/p>\n

Download on Google Play<\/a> (free)<\/p>\n

\"Widget-Cumulus.jpg\"<\/a>
Weather Station for Cumulus is basic but has a very nice display in the app and widget. You will need to configure the 'weather station data URL' to point to ThorntonWeather.com's file. Click the image for a larger view.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This app and widget are very nice and probably our favorite due to the simplicity of the display.<\/p>\n

Once downloaded, start up the app and choose \u201cSet Location URL.\u201d\u00a0 On the next screen you will enter the location of a file on our server that is constantly updated with current conditions.\u00a0 In the URL box enter:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/cumulus\/realtime.xml<\/em><\/p>\n

Note that the entry is case-sensitive so be sure to enter it in all lowercase.<\/p>\n

Once done, click Save.\u00a0 You then will shown the current conditions from our station.\u00a0 Scrolling down displays more information such as today\u2019s and yesterday\u2019s highs and lows and more.<\/p>\n

Using the setting menu, you will want to update the \u2018Widget refresh time interval\u2019.\u00a0 This determines how often the widget polls our site for the latest conditions.\u00a0 We ask that you please select 30 minutes or longer<\/span> so as to not cause an undue burden to our site server.<\/p>\n

Adding the widget to one of your devices screens is done in the Apps menu.\u00a0 Select Widgets, then scroll to the right to find \u201cWeather Station.\u201d\u00a0 Two sizes are available.<\/p>\n

Note that the weather icon displayed is the forecast as generated by our Davis Instruments weather station.\u00a0 Unfortunately this is not a particularly accurate forecast so it should largely be disregarded.<\/p>\n

Weather Station by Draco Systems<\/strong><\/p>\n

Download on Google Play<\/a> ($3.07)<\/p>\n

\"widget-weatherstation.jpg\"<\/a>
Weather Station is a nice app and widget but the varying font sizes and data layouts can be a bit odd. You will need to configure the app to use pull data from ThorntonWeather.com's Weather Underground feed. Click the image for a larger view.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We have a lot of hope for Weather Station and think that someday it will improve and be one of the better ones.\u00a0 The developer is active and issues regular updates however the displays are a bit \u2018off\u2019 with some versions of the program due to odd font sizes and layouts (particularly with the widgets).<\/p>\n

For tablet devices, this does have one of the nicest and full featured displays of any and is probably the best choice for those.<\/p>\n

Once downloaded, the program tries to pick the closest station using stations that upload to Weather Underground.\u00a0 However it likely will not choose ThorntonWeather.com\u2019s station as there are many others in the area (most far less accurate).<\/p>\n

Click the wrench at the top to open the settings menu.\u00a0 Start by choosing Select Display Units.\u00a0 You will want to change them all to their English \/ Imperial settings.\u00a0 For temperature choose F, Pressure inHG, rain inch, and wind mph.<\/p>\n

Then select Weather Station List.\u00a0 Scroll down under the PWS heading, select KCOTHORN6.\u00a0 That is our station\u2019s identifier on Weather Underground.\u00a0 When you touch it, you will receive confirmation it is activated.<\/p>\n

Use the back button to return to the main screen and the conditions should update with data from ThorntonWeather.com.\u00a0 As for widgets, the program has four of them available to choose from.<\/p>\n

Pocket PWS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Download on Google Play<\/a> (free)<\/p>\n

\"widget-pocketpws.jpg\"<\/a>
Pocket PWS is the newest app \/ widget and a bit basic but that makes it easy to view. You will need to configure the 'XML file url' to point to ThorntonWeather.com's data file. Click the image for a larger view.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is the newest app that we have found and while it is a bit Spartan, it is functional and free.<\/p>\n

Once downloaded you will be prompted to set the URL for the file with the current conditions.\u00a0 Go into the settings and select XML file url.\u00a0 In the entry box, enter:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/weatherdisplay.xml<\/em><\/p>\n

Note that the entry is case-sensitive so be sure to enter it in all lowercase.<\/p>\n

Click OK and the app will start displaying current conditions from our station.\u00a0 There is also a Pocket PWS widget you can add to one of your Android device\u2019s home screens.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a future story we will detail the more extensive Android weather apps that can be used to display ThorntonWeather.com data.\u00a0 Should you have any problems getting any of the above listed apps configured, do let us know and we will try to help you<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you have an Apple device, well, we can\u2019t help you much as we only own Android devices.\u00a0 However if you find an app in the Apple app store that can read data from a Personal Weather Station (PWS), let us know and we will take a look and see if we can help you configure it.<\/p>\n

Remember that we do have a mobile web site optimized for all smartphones that has live conditions, forecasts and more.\u00a0 Check it out and bookmark it here: http:\/\/m.thorntonweather.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most common requests we receive is for a ThorntonWeather.com app for mobile devices.\u00a0 Unfortunately, short of a lot of donations to fund it, development of one is prohibitively expensive.\u00a0 However, there are third party programs that will allow you to get Thornton\u2019s weather with data from our station. The choices range from … Continue reading Basic Android weather apps and widgets for displaying ThorntonWeather.com data<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[624],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10650"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10650"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10686,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10650\/revisions\/10686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}