Ad-free and offered at an introductory rate of $1.99 USD, WeatherBug Elite is a steal for those Palm Pre owners needing to stay in tune with what is transpiring outside.

WeatherBug Elite functionality provided includes:

• Current local weather conditions
• 7-day and hourly forecasts
• Satellite, Temperature, Humidity, Air Pressure, Wind Speed, Forecast Hi and Forecast Lo detailed map overlays
• Radar Animation*
• Severe Weather Alerts* (NWS alerts)
• Unlimited saved locations
• GPS “Track Me” will update weather conditions based on the location of the user
  (* U.S. locations only)

Where can you get WeatherBug Elite for the Palm Pre?

Interested in buying the app? You can purchase it via the Palm App Catalog. There is no monthly fee to access the data, just the one time cost of $1.99 for the software.

WeatherBug Elite for other mobile platforms?

Yes, you will find that WeatherBug Elite is available on multiple mobile platforms, as is the freely available ad supported version. More info about each option is available at this link.

Below is the full explanation as to why the map changes were needed in the first place, as you will plainly see, it was not a decision taken lightly. It was overdue and the changes actually mean good things for WeatherBug users in the months to come.

So why the switch?

First off the system we had was over 6 years old built on SGI technology. It crashed several times a day and was becoming impossible to support given that the hardware is no longer supported. I guess people never noticed but there would be times when our radars would be 20-30 minutes old. With the current system, our update rates are well under 6 minutes at all times.

Secondly, our old system was built for broadcast TV graphics. The only way we got it to work was by running a bunch of timed scripts which generated the images. The images looked nice because they were similar to what you would see on TV, but the BIG down-side is that there is a limit to how many images we can generate every 6 minutes. Because of that limit, you cannot generate an image that is personal for every location.

Our ultimate goal here (which is beginning to be realized by our new mobile web and WAP sites) is to have a radar for every visitor that is centered exactly on their zip code. We tried working with our old provider of radars to get that kind of system and they could just not provide it for us. http://dev.m.weatherbug.com/ is the new site that has maps centered on zip. We serve thousands of radar images per second and so we are currently working on and measuring performance of the system before we get it rolled out to our web site and our desktop application.

So were new technology changes a driving force for the switch?

The new maps are tied into a new technology we have developed that we call our “real time GIS” system. This system allows us to ingest any GIS data and present it on a map quite easily and is very scalable. Our ultimate goal is to be able to provide weather data for every point on the earth in as much detail as possible. This new system has improved timeliness of data because it is event triggered when new data arrives. For example, a new radar image coming in, fires a trigger to process that data, load it into one of our real time GIS systems and then notify the GIS viewer to update it on the web so that we get radar data to our end users very quickly.

Then it is safe to say that this changing of the maps is actually going to mean that WeatherBug can provide even more control over appearance and functionality?

Most important, this change puts us in the driver’s seat with respect to updating and improving the system. Before we were at the mercy of our provider to make changes and improvements (which they weren’t). We can actually act on all the feedback we are getting.

Will there be eventual integration with the WeatherBug API?

Eventually the calls for any of our GIS data will become an API that we can allow other developers to use. In fact, we already have some partners using that data.

And there you have it. The actual thought behind the change in the maps and how WeatherBug came to the conclusion that a switch was badly needed. If you have any questions on the maps, feel free to hit the forums link above to share your thoughts.

Well in this post I am proud to announce that WeatherBug has launched WeatherBug Elite for the Palm Pre. Designed to bring the very best that WeatherBug has to offer to the WebOS platform, Palm Pre owners can now enjoy the following fantastic functionality.

• Current local weather conditions
• 7-day and hourly forecasts
• Satellite, Temperature, Humidity, Air Pressure, Wind Speed, Forecast Hi and Forecast Lo detailed map overlays
• Radar Animation*
• Severe Weather Alerts* (NWS alerts)
• Unlimited saved locations
• GPS “Track Me” will update weather conditions based on the location of the user
  (* U.S. locations only)

Where can you get it?

Available for an introductory price of $1.99, you will find WeatherBug Elite on the Palm App Catalog from within your Pre’s user interface. And for the low price, it’s a tough thing to beat as the competition simply is unable to offer anything near what WeatherBug is providing. Choosing your most local based weather station vs your nearest airport is a no brainer for most people these days.

WeatherBug Elite For other phones?

Yes, there are in fact other WeatherBug Elite options out there for other smart phones available. We have WeatherBug Elite on the iPhone, BlackBerry and Android as well.

Well now it seems I have yet another reason to investigate upgrading to Verizon TV service to complement my FiOS Internet. Widgets! WeatherBug is among the available widgets provided to FiOS TV customers, along with familiar titles such as Twitter and Facebook.

With WeatherBug already being so popular on the desktop and various mobile platforms, seeing a widget available on the TV was a great benefit for existing WeatherBug fans.

Features

• Hourly forecasts
• A full seven day forecast
• On screen radar (Internet required)
• Hi and Low temps for the day
• Precipitation and level of humidity for the day
• Store up to ten different zip codes for additional weather info for other locales
• Check out WeatherBug’s forecast without interrupting your current TV viewing
• WeatherBug widget is available for each TV hooked up to Verizon FiOS
  

Want a WeatherBug widget of your very own?

For those of you living in a part of the US that does not have FiOS TV available, WeatherBug does have a great widget option available to you. WeatherBug Web Widgets. Just follow this link and you can embed these widgets to share your local weather with your friends in your own Web space.

Key Features

• Real-time weather alerts with BlackBerry Push
• Delivers lightning alerts using the WeatherBug Total Lightning Network (WTLN)
• Current temperature next to the time on the home screen (changes in the event of a weather alert)
• Enhanced contour weather maps with 10 overlays: Temperature, Radar, Humidity, Pressure, Wind Speed, Forecast Hi, Forecast Lo, Satellite, NWS Alerts* and Lightning Strikes
• Deep integration with BlackBerry OS, such as forecast for events in BlackBerry Calendar, current weather for BlackBerry Contacts and weather within BlackBerry Maps
• Weather alerts delivered to BlackBerry Inbox
• Enhanced customization: English/Metric units, show/hide alerts in Inbox and Calendar, turn on/off “my location,” set update interval, show/hide forecast hi or lo on home screen and turn on/off real-time alerts
• Precise weather conditions for GPS, saved locations and an unlimited number of static locations
• Detailed alert maps with vector polygons and full NWS alert messages
• Three forecast levels: 7-day forecast summary, 7-day detailed forecast, 7-day hourly forecast
• Forecast graphs: 7-day hi/lo, hourly feels like, hourly humidity, hourly wind speed, hourly dew point
• More features listed here

Potentially life saving features

• Integration with WeatherBug Total Lightning Network
• Push Weather Alerts/email notifications of weather alerts
• Precise weather conditions for GPS
• Detailed alert maps

Best Mobile Consumer Application

WeatherBug Elite is the arguably the best weather application offered from BlackBerry’s AppWorld. So if agree that WeatherBug Elite is the best mobile consumer application out there, we would encourage you to express this by voting “Mark as a favorite” on the CTIA contest website.

WeatherBug believes the features and overall value to the end user speaks for itself. Now all we need is you to be our voice to let others know this as well by voting “Mark as a favorite”.

Thanks for your participation!