[Xastir] NWS Info

Fri Feb 16 07:34:11 PST 2018

On Fri, Feb 16, 2018 at 06:22:59AM -0600, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <kj5fa at sbcglobal.net> flavor, containing:
> Thanks Tom.
> 
> This looks promising. I have ran the get-NWSdata script, but it looked 
> like it errored out not being able to find the files. I went to the 
> webpage where the permanent location was supposed to 
> be(www.weather.gov/gis if my memory is good from last night) and could 
> not find a way to download a file?
> 
> With these new instructions I will try again this evening.

GROAN.  Yes, get-NWSdata is broken again.

It looks like NWS has *completely* revamped their entire GIS download site,
and the get-NWSdata script no longer works.  The links we used in
that script now return HTTP error pages instead of zip files.  This has 
happened sometime since Curt last updated the script, in September.

I do not have time to look into this until at least tonight or tomorrow.
Odds are good that even if I can hack the script up to obtain the newest 
files from NWS's reorganized site, they'll have changed the format again 
and Xastir will need additional adjustments.  This will take some time.
Yay.  

I just happen to have run get-NWSdata between the time that Curt updated it
last and the time NWS invalidated it, so I have all those shapefiles on my 
system.  I will try to zip them up and put them somewhere where they can be
downloaded as a temporary workaround.  That way you can bypass get-NWSdata 
and use a set of (possibly slightly outdate) zip files that worked at least 
as recently as September.  I might not get to that until tonight.  When I do,
I'll post updated instructions for the temporary workaround.

Thanks for calling this to my attention.  I very rarely update  my own 
NWS weather alert shapefiles, because the actual shapes in them for my area
of the country pretty much never change --- I can usually get away without
updating them for a few years at a stretch.  Luckily I had just done it before
get-NWSdata became borken.

> On 2/15/2018 11:34 PM, Tom Russo wrote:
> > On Thu, Feb 15, 2018 at 09:55:51PM -0700, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <russo at bogodyn.org> flavor, containing:
> >> On Thu, Feb 15, 2018 at 09:31:22PM -0600, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <kj5fa at sbcglobal.net> flavor, containing:
> >>> Can someone point me to the instructions of how to get NWS warnings to
> >>> show up on my map in Xastir?
> >> Looks like there is no one spot where all the instructions are clearly laid
> >> out.  Rather, it is scattered about in README.Getting-Started and other
> >> places.  Even the Wiki doesn't have it clearly stated in a single spot.  This
> >> is unfortunate and should be fixed.
> > I have tried.  There is a new "HowTo:Weather Alerts" page on the wiki, linked
> > to from the main HowTo page.
> >
> > Please let me know if this is not enough to get you going.
> >
> >> So here goes:
> >>
> >>    - You must have NWS shapefiles downloaded and installed in your
> >>      maps directory.  Get them using the script "get-NWSdata" included in the
> >>      Xastir scripts directory.  That's /usr/local/share/xastir/scripts if you
> >>      installed from source.  Leave out the "local" if you've gotten via a
> >>      binary package.
> >>
> >>      This script must be run as root (or better yet, with sudo).
> >>
> >>      NWS changes the format of their shapefiles often, and this requires us to
> >>      chase their file format a lot.  If you're not running a recent version of
> >>      Xastir, you might have trouble getting suitable shapefiles from NWS.  This
> >>      one script is the single most frequently updated file in Xastir.
> >>
> >>      The script in Xastir 2.1.0 or git master was updated recently enough that
> >>      it should work and get you the right files.
> >>
> >>    - Then, after you've downloaded the NWS shapefiles, you must get them indexed.
> >>      A restart of Xastir will do it, but you could also use the menu entry
> >>      "Map->Configure->Index: Add new maps"
> >>      
> >>    - You must be connected to an on-line APRS-IS source that sends weather
> >>      alerts.  Only those of a particularly high level of urgency are sent
> >>      on the normal rotate.aprs.net or rotate.aprs2.net servers.
> >>      Firenet.aprs2.net will have the lower level alerts (advisories and
> >>      watches, not just warnings).
> >>
> >>    - You must enable display of weather alerts in the map menu and NOT select
> >>      "Disable all maps"!
> >>
> >> That should be it.
> >>
> >> -- 
> >> Tom Russo    KM5VY
> >> Tijeras, NM
> >>
> >>   echo "prpv_a'rfg_cnf_har_cvcr" | sed -e 's/_/ /g' | tr [a-m][n-z] [n-z][a-m]
> >>
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> >> http://xastir.org/mailman/listinfo/xastir
> 
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-- 
Tom Russo    KM5VY
Tijeras, NM  

 echo "prpv_a'rfg_cnf_har_cvcr" | sed -e 's/_/ /g' | tr [a-m][n-z] [n-z][a-m]