Clear Outside Astronomy Weather App for Android

[Steve-O]

Just downloaded the app, looks really good on first impressions

[Shelster1973]

Also just donwloaded here.

Running great so far on Galaxy Note 4 with Lollipop installed.

Will have a play and report any issues back

Many thanks and internet cookies to all at FLO for the great stuff they are giving away...they jjst now need to give away an Atik 314L+ to a budding astroimager loacted in Plymouth and all will be good   :tongue:        

[NEM]

I'm impressed with the Android app, but how do I save a location?  I've tried going to the Locations tab, 'Add Saved Locations', entering my town and pressing the 'Search For Location' button, but I always get 'Network problem, please try again'.

[Grant_FLO]

When you search, it uses Google geo location service to produce a list of place names, this requires internet access to retrieve.

 

I've just tested it and it works OK here so it could be a permissions or settings issue on your device or, perhaps you didn't have an active Internet connection at the time.

 

It could even be a firewall issue, if you are using say a works internet connection and they have blocked access to Googles geo servers for some reason.

[Piero]

Very useful app! It is on my phone screen and checked regularly. So far, it has worked properly. 

Many thanks for your work!

[NEM]

Ah, I had Google geo location service turned off, so that might be it.  It's still not working, but I'm at work now, so I'll try from home.

Thanks,

Noel

[NEM]

It's working well now, except it's showing 100% cloud.  Unfortunately, that's also what I see outside the window.

Thanks,

Noel

[OneEyedSam]

Any chance of a port to win phone ?

[Grant_FLO]

Any chance of a port to win phone ?

Sorry but it's unlikely we will build a version for Windows Phone - this currently makes up around 1% of our mobile traffic and around 0.4% of our overall traffic so it's very hard to justify the time investment required to build the app when so few people would benefit.

I am planning some improvements to Clear Outsides mobile template which will assist anybody who uses the website through a mobile device outside of the apps.

[noah4x4]

What is the realistic lead time as regards APP accuracy? I have read post #3 and I do realise that conditions can change very fast and there will always be unpredictable extremes, but in normal circumstances?.......

Just two hours ago the APP was predicting zero cloud in Colchester this evening lasting for about four hours, which did seem optimistic when at other nearby locations around Essex its prediction was heavy cloud. But as there was a fair amount of blue sky, I optimistically I put out my scope to cool. Now the sky is like a biblical cloud scene with the APP now correctly confirming heavy cloud. 

Quite obviously there are limits to forecasts and the weather can fast change,  but I regularly drive 60 miles to my nearest 'Milky Way' dark site.  On two of the last three occasions, the APP has predicted clear skies there and there have been clear skies here. But I have wasted a 120 mile journey only to find skies like porridge.  One then optimistically set up and wait, but this hobby can be more disappointing than fishing e.g. wait two hours and still nothing hooked, go home.

I still think it's a great APP on the basis that if it says "cloud tonight"  it is ALWAYS correct. But how far ahead might accuracy be reasonably be "guaranteed" for those planning long journeys to distant dark sites? Or have I simply been unfortunate and/or is Autumn simply too unpredictable? 

[ChrisLX200]

37 minutes ago, noah4x4 said:

What is the realistic lead time as regards APP accuracy? I have read post #3 and I do realise that conditions can change very fast and there will always be unpredictable extremes, but in normal circumstances?.......

Just two hours ago the APP was predicting zero cloud in Colchester this evening lasting for about four hours, which did seem optimistic when at other nearby locations around Essex its prediction was heavy cloud. But as there was a fair amount of blue sky, I optimistically I put out my scope to cool. Now the sky is like a biblical cloud scene with the APP now correctly confirming heavy cloud. 

Quite obviously there are limits to forecasts and the weather can fast change,  but I regularly drive 60 miles to my nearest 'Milky Way' dark site.  On two of the last three occasions, the APP has predicted clear skies there and there have been clear skies here. But I have wasted a 120 mile journey only to find skies like porridge.  One then optimistically set up and wait, but this hobby can be more disappointing than fishing e.g. wait two hours and still nothing hooked, go home.

I still think it's a great APP on the basis that if it says "cloud tonight"  it is ALWAYS correct. But how far ahead might accuracy be reasonably be "guaranteed" for those planning long journeys to distant dark sites? Or have I simply been unfortunate and/or is Autumn simply too unpredictable? 

You would be crazy to rely on this - or any other forecast come to that, as a single information source on which to decide on a long drive to a dark site. Not one of them (alone) is worth a damn IMHO.  I've seen many situations where the Met Office and CO have been completely at odds as to whether it will be cloudy or clear, usually the Met are less optimistic (and often more nearly correct) but it also sometimes swings the other way. Instead, use Sat24 IR images in combination with Rain Alarm (radar) and - yes - all the forecasts you can lay your hands on, then use your own intuition. I'm afraid it takes a lot of practice reading the signs - which will include temperature, wind and barrometric pressure - before you become reasonably proficient at forecasting local weather events, and even then you will get caught out sometimes.

ChrisH

[noah4x4]

That was my view, notably as a weather frustrated cricketer. But when an APP purports to be this detailed on an hour by hour basis I was curious.

[Paul M]

I'd say it's a bit of fun at best.

To the best of my knowledge these apps just display raw numerical model data in a graphical format. There may well be a useful statistical skill in the output but (again, to the best of my knowledge) no forecasting intelligence is applied.

Even when a highly skilled and experienced human forecaster  produces a forecast it is limited in its application. What level of accuracy is achievable? Will it be clear at a particular time or place? At what timescale? The next hour, in three hour's time, a week next Wednesday? Where? My back garden, my town, my county? What is "clear". Clear enough to call the sky "blue" during the day may well be next to useless for astronomy that night.

As Chris says above, it comes with a lot of experience.  That and an equal amount of luck.

An app that predicts cloud will be correct much more often than one that predicts clear skies in the UK

 

[ChrisLX200]

1 hour ago, Paul M said:

...

An app that predicts cloud will be correct much more often than one that predicts clear skies in the UK

 

I'd go further and say that an app that predicts cloud 100% of the time would be right for 90% - and 90% accuracy is pretty good

ChrisH

[Geoff_L]

I downloaded the Android app to my Huawei Honor 7 but can't add any locations. I go to the Locations tab, tap Add Saved Location, type in the name of my town, then tap Search for Location. Clear Outside respondes with the error message, "Network problem, please try again". The phone can connect to the Internet via both mobile broadband and WiFi and I've tried using Clear Outside via both media. Also, when I go the Current tab, it shows the forecast for Hounslow, Greater London TW6 1LA, UK rather than my actual current location. To check, I went to Google Maps and that app shows my correct location, indicating that the Location service is working correctly. All help gratefully received.

Edited to add that this has now been resolved. I re-installed Clear Outside, restarted the phone and it all now works.