
Wind Map - sethbannon
http://hint.fm/wind/#
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cstuder
Previous discussion: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3767889>

Fun fact: I actually use this website in technical interviews and ask the
candidate, how they would go at implementing it. (I work at a meteorological
company.)

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th0ma5
I would've gone with MADIS data, although interpolating that data over the
area without sensors could be tricky, or perhaps could be worked in.
Additionally it would be better if it had a more traditional slippy maps
interface, was less "artsy," and like another poster on here had some labels.
It would be great to also explore if highlighting gusts or or other straight-
line wind type events could be shown as propagating and dispersing in areas
where higher resolution sensors are located. Anyway, now that I've typed this,
I guess you didn't really ask :P

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trafficlight
I'd also like to see an underlying topographic map. It'd be interesting to see
how the surface features affect the wind.

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lbotos
Along these lines I think it was interesting to see pretty much why "Tornado
Alley" works:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_alley>

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dfc
This would make a beautiful visualization of the hairy ball problem:

 _"The hairy ball theorem of algebraic topology states that there is no
nonvanishing continuous tangent vector field on even dimensional n-spheres.
For the ordinary sphere, or 2‑sphere, if f is a continuous function that
assigns a vector in R3 to every point p on a sphere such that f(p) is always
tangent to the sphere at p, then there is at least one p such that f(p) = 0.
In other words, whenever one attempts to comb a hairy ball flat, there will
always be at least one tuft of hair at one point on the ball. The theorem was
first stated by Henri Poincaré in the late 19th century."_

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hairy_ball_theorem>

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brownbat
Ah, the dilemma of Wikipedia math articles, which all kick off with mouthfuls
like "nonvanishing continuous tangent vector field."

If you don't have a PhD in mathematics, they're unreadable. And if you do,
they're unnecessary.

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gsteinb88
[Tangent about math articles on Wikipedia]

I'd like to respectfully disagree. 'Nonvanishing continuous tangent vector
field' is a phrase that can be understood after freshman level multivariable
calculus.

More generally, Wikipedia articles on math do tend to rely on the accepted
terminology of the field for the opening sentence. It's generally better,
however, to skim that bit, pick out the words you know to make sure you're in
generally the right place, and then skip around until you find something you
can latch onto. If you're really lost, you might need to click around a bit.

It's actually pretty amazing what you can pick up just from looking at the
pictures and trying to get the general gist of what's going on rather than
getting caught up in the details. But the details _have to_ be there --
without the precision and proper terminology, these articles would not only be
wrong; they would also be useless to anyone trying to actually apply them.

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th0ma5
This uses computer model predictions, not observations. While the forecast may
be more accurate towards the center of the hurricane, I can say that it isn't
very accurate in many other places. Particle simulations are great though! And
the general aesthetic is very pleasing, but I fear that such things trumping
good data understanding are going to be the norm going forward.

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willyt
Data presentations should always be both aesthetically considered and correct,
the right aesthetic can aid massively to help interpret the data. See
Envisioning information by Edward Tufte <http://www.edwardtufte.com/>

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arscan
I don't understand why news organizations haven't adopted this kind of
visualization yet for hurricanes. This has been around for awhile, and I
always pull it up when a hurricane hits the US. Its a far better way to
display wind than the standard precipitation-oriented maps.

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arbuge
This is pretty cool. You can actually see the impact of Sandy on the East
Coast live as the winds speed up... hopefully that one turns out to be less
bad than the forecasts are saying.

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dspeyer
It's hard to judge speeds from this, and they're often more important than
direction. It's beautiful, but it doesn't tell me if the next high tide will
have an even higher surge.

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MartinCron
This is beautiful, although it would be useful to mark a few more major cities
on the map.

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ggchappell
> ... it would be useful to mark a few more major cities on the map.

It would. And some of the ones that are marked are kinda pointless. Anyone
with any knowledge of U.S. geography can find New York, San Jose, and Seattle
by the shape of the coastline. But what about Salt Lake City, Kansas City,
Memphis, Omaha, Louisville, Indianapolis, St. Louis, etc.

Regardless, very nice visualization.

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michaelwww
Why is he wind going backwards on the East Coast?

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freehunter
There's a hurricane centered below New York right now that is drastically
altering the wind patterns.

Unless you're seeing something I'm not...

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michaelwww
The actual satellite view of Sandy shows most of the wind flow directly
onshore from New Jersey towards Philly. This app shows it flowing the opposite
direction, unless my eyes are playing tricks. The white areas are flowing
towards the East.

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josscrowcroft
Absolutely beautiful.

