anyawos

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Feb 23, 2005
Messages
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west Texas
Display Name
Display name:
Dave Taylor
What happened to anyawos? I used to be able to dial any site and get the wx (617-262-3825) but now very few if any places I go to are recognized. I checked their website and it is no longer free but I can still call in without a pw etc.
Have I forgotten the instructions? Or is there an alternate these days?
 
IIRC they made the service a pay service tons of folks lost interest and I wasn't even aware it was still around.
 
Hmmm, that might be a good Droid/iPhone app. I can probably come up with a mobile friendly page tonight that took an airport ID and produced a phone number.

I wonder if there's an easy way to call a phone number on a web page. Anybody have any ideas?

Joe
ok start the clock at 2020
 
I used them when they first started but found the fee to be an annoyance when there are numerous other free services available without the multiple advertisements.
 
sometimes you want the wx at destination and surrounding places but no puter, don't feel like bothering fss....
You'd need a source for all those sites and their ph #s, not well advertised.
 
Areeda said:
Hmmm, that might be a good Droid/iPhone app. I can probably come up with a mobile friendly page tonight that took an airport ID and produced a phone number.

I wonder if there's an easy way to call a phone number on a web page. Anybody have any ideas?

Joe
ok start the clock at 2020
Click to expand...
Most phones when the numbers are highlighted will make a call. Had it on my Win smartphone and both my current BBs.
 
Areeda said:
Hmmm, that might be a good Droid/iPhone app. I can probably come up with a mobile friendly page tonight that took an airport ID and produced a phone number.

I wonder if there's an easy way to call a phone number on a web page. Anybody have any ideas?

Joe
ok start the clock at 2020
Click to expand...

On droid, you just long-press the phone number on the page and voila, it transfers to the phone.
 
Well it's going to take longer than I thought.
I thought I had imported the proper data file but nooo.
More like tomorrow.

Joe
 
Areeda said:
Hmmm, that might be a good Droid/iPhone app. I can probably come up with a mobile friendly page tonight that took an airport ID and produced a phone number.

I wonder if there's an easy way to call a phone number on a web page. Anybody have any ideas?

Joe
ok start the clock at 2020
Click to expand...
If you don't want to bother with the iPhone verison I can do it if you have the data. Should be a rather simple app. There is an API to initiate the phone call.
 
I totally forgot about 1-800-anyawos.

Wow, that brings back some memories.
 
jesse said:
If you don't want to bother with the iPhone verison I can do it if you have the data. Should be a rather simple app. There is an API to initiate the phone call.
Click to expand...
I should have a mobile friendly web page ready in a day or so. One advantage of an app over a web page is you don't need service to look up the numbers.

I'll let you know when the db tables are in good shape. They are updated every 56 days.

Joe
 
Well I should know better than estimate times for things like this.

There is a mobile friendly (I hope) page for looking up ATIS and AWOS/ASOS phone numbers at http://www.areeda.com/m.awos. Or read the bar code below.

It's kind of small on a Droid but I want to hear from those with lower res screens before I make it much bigger (it's using 32px fonts).

As Jeff said, just long press on the phone number on a Droid to call it.

I'm still wondering if there's much advantage to an app vs a web page. I think I will do a Droid app but not until I return from vacation in Sept.

Jesse, what's the easiest format for an iPhone app? Droid like sqlite databases.

Joe

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Areeda said:
Jesse, what's the easiest format for an iPhone app? Droid like sqlite databases.
Click to expand...
There are a few options but a sqlite database would be fine.
 
If you want an enhancement request, make it location aware and have an option to return all within x nm or something, sorted by distance.
 
JeffDG said:
If you want an enhancement request, make it location aware and have an option to return all within x nm or something, sorted by distance.
Click to expand...
I've got most of that function working in a test project (the one that does those GoogleEarth maps of airports).

I can see using the GPS/cell tower locators in the phone app but I wonder what the best way to do that for the website. I can lookup IP's but all I got is the free GeoIP which is OK most of the time. Any better ways?

I suppose I could have a choice that says get the ones close to the ID you enter.

One issue is that there are a lot of NWS ASOS stations that don't have a lat/lon position stored. I have to check to see how many of those have phone numbers.

Joe
 
You guys amaze me. When I grow up I want to know how to do stuff like that.

It's cool for me on a Nexus One. Yes, the print's a little small, but a quick pinch to zoom in is no big deal. Probably better to be small and zoom in that be too big for the screen.
Click and dial worked like a champ,
 
JeffDG said:
If you want an enhancement request, make it location aware and have an option to return all within x nm or something, sorted by distance.
Click to expand...

Areeda said:
I've got most of that function working in a test project (the one that does those GoogleEarth maps of airports).

I can see using the GPS/cell tower locators in the phone app but I wonder what the best way to do that for the website. I can lookup IP's but all I got is the free GeoIP which is OK most of the time. Any better ways?

I suppose I could have a choice that says get the ones close to the ID you enter.

One issue is that there are a lot of NWS ASOS stations that don't have a lat/lon position stored. I have to check to see how many of those have phone numbers.

Joe
Click to expand...

AirWX already does this on my Droid. Love it.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Will this be useable for a stupid phone? Or will we need net access?
Click to expand...
I did have an app a while ago that let you text a list of airport ids to an email address and it would text back metars and tafs. Kind of klunky but worked.

What would you want to do?

I don't have plans to have a phone bank to connect you to an AWOS. I think that was the problem with anyawos, it just cost too much to provide for free. Especially if you have an 800#

Joe
 
anyAWOS is indeed still alive and doing well. I know because I am part owner. While it is possible to program a smart phone with all the AWOS numbers, there are around 2200 and the list is updated every 56 days by the FAA. But what that won't get you that we have added is voiced TAFs and 7 day forecasts. PIREPs are coming very soon for locations and routes, and it all works on any phone. Hope this helps.

In case anyone cares, in the old days we were free with AWOS's only and tried to support the operation with advertising. That was a horrible failure, so we went to a subscription model.
 
Areeda said:
I've got most of that function working in a test project (the one that does those GoogleEarth maps of airports).

I can see using the GPS/cell tower locators in the phone app but I wonder what the best way to do that for the website. I can lookup IP's but all I got is the free GeoIP which is OK most of the time. Any better ways?

I suppose I could have a choice that says get the ones close to the ID you enter.

One issue is that there are a lot of NWS ASOS stations that don't have a lat/lon position stored. I have to check to see how many of those have phone numbers.

Joe
Click to expand...

No real need for more precise than cell-tower resolution for closest airport...I mean it might flip-flop the closest and next closest that you would get with GPS, but still close enough for 99% of purposes.

Me, I like when I'm out driving and see some weather to find the closest awos and just get a "professional" assessment of visibility and ceiling to compare to my estimate.
 
billmc said:
anyAWOS is indeed still alive and doing well. I know because I am part owner. While it is possible to program a smart phone with all the AWOS numbers, there are around 2200 and the list is updated every 56 days by the FAA. But what that won't get you that we have added is voiced TAFs and 7 day forecasts. PIREPs are coming very soon for locations and routes, and it all works on any phone. Hope this helps.

In case anyone cares, in the old days we were free with AWOS's only and tried to support the operation with advertising. That was a horrible failure, so we went to a subscription model.
Click to expand...
A database with 2,200 rows that needs to be updated every 56 days is not a problem for a smart phone...
 
jesse said:
A database with 2,200 rows that needs to be updated every 56 days is not a problem for a smart phone...
Click to expand...

If you just have an airport ID (KABC) plus a phone number, that's only about 30k of data.
 
JeffDG said:
If you just have an airport ID (KABC) plus a phone number, that's only about 30k of data.
Click to expand...
Point taken but I'm thinking of a few more things in the app.

Somebody wants nearest airports:wink2: so we need lat/lon and in this app I would include ATIS/AWOS/ASOS frequencies also.

Troy has suggested all radio frequencies and the FAA databases contain Manager and Owner phone numbers.

I'm thinking more like 1MB for the database.

Some numbers from my db:

Airports 19,897 (public and private)
AWOS/ASOS 2,268
Frequencies (tower, ground, approach, departure..) 3,894

Joe
 
JeffDG said:
It doesn't seem to have AWOS unless there's a METAR for the airport.
Click to expand...

Actually, there are a lot of AWOSs, with voice outlets, that do not have reported METARs. I know this because we have another part of the business that sends data from AWOSs to the FAA and there are a lot yet we'd like to have.
 
billmc said:
Actually, there are a lot of AWOSs, with voice outlets, that do not have reported METARs. I know this because we have another part of the business that sends data from AWOSs to the FAA and there are a lot yet we'd like to have.
Click to expand...

No, I meant the AirWX app...

If I punch in a few close ones to me, KTYS has the AWOS number and a METAR. Same for KCSV. KRKW has an AWOS (I have it on speed dial), but when I try and access it via AirWX, I get AWOS phone number for KRKW is not available"
 
You can get a METAR by sending a text to "GOOGLE" and typing in METAR followed by the ICAO code for your airports.
 
infotango said:
You can get a METAR by sending a text to "GOOGLE" and typing in METAR followed by the ICAO code for your airports.
Click to expand...

so, type in metar_kxxx and send to 466453 will get you a text sent back with the current wx?
Is there a space between metar and kxxx?
 
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