StormPredator - Intelligent NEXRAD Doppler Radar Display, Tracking, and Alerting

Version 3.22 Maintenance release 10/24/07

3.22 Release Notes

Bug fixes:

-- The VCP interpreter has been fixed and updated with new VCPs 212 and 221

-- Updated the Warnings legend dialog for new NWS colors and added an "Extreme Wind" warning legend.

-- Fixed a bug where the program would not re-initialize properly when an unavailable site was detected.

This manifested itself by showing a "Radar unavailable" message even when the site was changed.

New Features:

-- The Tracker icon image is now user-modifiable. This is a manual process and simply involves editing the PNG image file for the tracker.

The image is stored in the Data/Masks folder and is named tracker_icon.png.

The image must be any single color on a black background.

The color will be translated by the program to the current Distance Tool color (see the help file Color Options for more details).

Image sizes larger than 64x64 have not been tested and are not recommended.

Apologies:

There have been some good suggestions and feature requests made by our customers (see the Feature Requests forum for details - notably a Favorites and/or Most Recently Visited sites button, and the ability to preserve user options settings between versions, and there are other valuable suggestions as well). We regret that we haven't been able to implement them all in the short time required for this release.

Version 3.21 Maintenance release 07/10/07

These bugs are fixed in version 3.21

-- Tracking windows would display the wrong image (a white background radar image) when the Composite Layers option is enabled.
-- Scan zone alerts didn't work correctly due to a coordinate system error.

-- The precipitation level description popup (right-clicking on a cell to get its intensity) didn't work correctly.
-- The skin file selection was not preserved when the program was updated, resulting in a "Can't get header info for image file" message

Version 3.2 Maintenance release 06/28/07

New Features

-- Composite Layer mode

When the Composite Layers box is checked in the Location or Layers dialogs, the program will, when each image is published or processed, assemble the other checked layers into a single image. This is basically an attempt to improve the rotating beam performance on lower-end machines. When the program is in Composite Layer mode, changing layers will trigger re-scan (not a re-retch) of images just as changing the colors does. The user selects Composite Layer mode by checking the box in the Layers or Locations dialogs.

-- Proxy support

Support for Internet proxy servers is implemented. The user may specify a proxy server by domain name or IP address, and also may specify the communications port for the server. The proxy information may be entered in the Display Options dialog.

-- Radar image smoothing

We've re-added image smoothing. This is classic blur-type smoothing, and is in addition to the contour smoothing feature.

The blurring effect can be controlled with a slider bar in the Display Options dialog.

-- Adjustable loop delay

The amount of delay at the end of a loop is adjustable. The delay is set in the Display Options dialog and has a range from None (no delay), to Max (max delay).

Changes to existing features

-- The Warnings maps are now served by the NWS instead of the IntelliWeather server. This provides faster updates.

-- The lightning imagery feature has been removed as the supplier of lightning data (NLDN) raised prices beyond which we could afford.

Bug fixes

-- Entering a comma (",") in some fields of dialogs in the program would cause a database error.

Known issues

-- The Logitech SetPoint program interferes with StormPredator somehow. We're still investigation a solution for this. One workaround is to unload SetPoint, it is an unnecessary program.

Notes

-- We have improved performance of the rotating beam display when using the Composite Layers feature, but the beam is still quite a resource hog and the program will still not perform well when the feature is enabled.

-- When installing the program under Windows Vista, we recommend that the user right-click on the desktop icon for the installer and select Run As Administrator. When the program is installed, do the same for the desktop icon and/or Start Menu icon for StormPredator. This will ensure that the database can be correctly decompressed and that email and cell phone alerts will function correctly.

Version 3.12 Minor Maintenance release 02/26/07

Added new URL's to internal database to reference the NWS "universal" web server which has failover and load balance features to improve chances that SP won't go down when problems happen with regional NWS servers (particularly the Southern Region HQ.) Of course if the NWS servers go offline there is nothing that can be done.

Added alerting feature to advise users of the program with a popup window if there are any operational issue with the program or with the NWS data feeds that serve it. User can disable the popup window if desired.

Other minor cosmetic and bug fixes.

Version 3.11 Minor maintenance release 9/19/06

Bugs fixed in this release:

The program registration would fail when a machine was moved from one network interface to another (wired vs. wireless, docked vs. undocked, etc.).
Two independent network interfaces on the same machine are now supported.

The program would begin collecting history images when the location was changed, even if the setting for automatically loading history images was unchecked.
A custom alert sound file path would not persist between invocations of the program, it would revert to the default setting.

New features in release version 3.1 of

StormPredator:

-- Lightning strike image overlay is implemented.
(see additional info regarding lightning registration below)

This is the biggest new feature for StormPredator 3.1
Using private lightning data we have purchased from NLDN, we now offer strike imagery on our own server
free of charge for StormPredator Version 3.1 registered owners.

Users can now have lightning strikes for the last radar image update interval displayed like any other layer.
User controls are in place for color, and type of strike information to display, such as strike colors
changing over time, or strike colors represent intensity.

In this sample: http://imageigloo.com/images/1582ltgexample.JPG
Lightning colors get darker over time (about 2 hours) and you can clearly see where there are active thunderstorm cells and cell paths. In this sample, radar echoes were turned off, but you can control them and lightning just like any other layer.

Lightning imagery can be looped just like any other layer component.

-- Radar Echo Contour Smoothing is implemented

The radar echo layer can be smoothed with a contour shaper.
This displays a contoured radar echo similar to what has been in use in some TV Weather radar systems.
Here's examples...

Before contour smoothing http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/1318/beforelw9.png

After contour smoothing http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/7235/afterxu2.png

This has been requested by many of our users.
The biggest advantage to this countour method is that it provides better image quality when screen
magnification is used. Select the option in the Display Options dialog.
Please note that applying the contour smoothing will slow down the initial file processing.
The previous method of smoothing available in SP3.0x, which used gaussian pixel smoothing has been
replaced by this new and improved method.

-- The Location dialog has been overhauled to allow easier radar site selection.

The sites are now listed in a window that has columns.
The user may sort the list by any column by simply clicking on the column header in that window.
The list can be sorted by state, city, alternate city, or call sign.

The new dialog also sports an adjacent-site arrows control. The control is similar to the adjacent-site
arrows that one finds on the NWS RIDGE web pages. Each arrow represents the adjacent site in that
direction. Place your mouse over the arrows to see text describing the adjacent sites. Clicking
on an arrow will cause that site to be selected in the list window. Press Ok to visit the selected
site, or Cancel to continue viewing the current site.

-- Palette file Save and Load features are implemented

The user may save the current color scheme to a specified file, and load other schemes or themes.
The data that is saved and loaded is all of the precipitation colors, plus the text colors (normal
and highlighted), the distance tool color, the marker color, the button color, and the skin files.

-- Automatic program update notification

The program now detects when a new version is available and informs the user via a popup dialog
That dialog may be semi-permanently dismissed with a "Don't show me this again" button.
The dialog will re-appear if a version different than the last acknowledged version becomes available.

-- Ground clutter filter changed

Before the advent of RIDGE, the NWS images would display ground clutter as high range reflections.
Now, with the addition of new VCPs, ground clutter is displayed (more correctly) as low range reflections.
The Display Options filter feature now allows the user to filter out reflections at 0 dbZ and less in Clear Air modes and, optionally, in all modes.

!!! IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING lightning imagery REGISTRATION !!!

Contractual obligations require us to ask you to register with our server to receive the lightning imagery.
We are providing this imagery (updated approximately at 5 minute intervals on the SP3.1 display) at
our own expense free to our valued customers. Unlike the public domain radar imagery offered by the NWS,
the lightning imagery is from a private company, and is subject to their control.
Users should not have the same expectations for this imagery that they have for the public domain NWS imagery.

During installation, you will be asked for your name and email address in addition to your serial number.
You will also be given the opportunity to edit your name and email during the registration process.

This information is stored in the database and is used during the lightning imagery registration process.
We will use this information to validate your eligibility to receive the lightning imagery only.
Your name and email adddress will never be shared except when required by law.

It is important that the information you provide is accurate!
Inaccurate information will result in your account being disabled.

One effect of the registration process is that it enforces the rule of one copy of the software per license. We realize that this may be perceived as a policy change by some customers, but the rules haven't really changed, we are just enforcing them now because it has come to our attention that our generosity was being abused by a few unscrupulous individuals and even companies.

If you attempt to register more than one copy of the software with our server per serial number, you will find that it reports
the serial number already in use.

If you believe that message to be in error, you may contact Technical Support at here
and we will validate your serial number and other information, and reset the registration process.
At the same time we will also invalidate any other copy of the software that was previously registered with that serial number.

We understand that some users may need to reformat their machine hard drive in the future or will mistakenly delete previous versions of the software before updating, and we have taken that into consideration. We have put measures in place that allow our users to re-install the software without having to re-register.

As with Microsoft Windows, if too much hardware has changed between registrations, the software will determine that the program is being installed on a new machine. In that case, you must contact technical support to reset your registration data.

You may reset your registration a maximum of three times.
After that, we will ask that you purchase an additional license for $9.95

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Bugs fixed in this release:

-- Pager port setting would not get saved.
-- Pager image size did not get saved.
-- Some precipitation levels were reported incorrectly in alert messages.
-- Color changes to pure black were not transparent in the main display.
-- There were some typos in the precipitation level reports (commas where periods should be).
-- Changing button or skin color could crash the program in the download version.
-- The initial placement of the main window was calculated incorrectly and the window could be off-center on initial startup.
-- The program now resumes looping if it was interrupted for a rescan.
-- The Save Image function no longer appends extraneous extensions when a file is selected to be overwritten.
-- The distance tool calculation is fixed for long range radar products.
-- The ETA tool has been corrected. It is more accurate now.
-- Replaying history when the save image format was set to JPG didn't work.
-- Added a delay at the end of the replay sequence.
-- VCPs 31 and 32 could be reported as 11 or 12, respectively, in some cases.
-- Longitude was offset in the marker placement feature for some maps.
-- Loop could "zoom" forward after a file fetch
-- Markers and scan zones could be displayed prematurely when starting up or switching sites
-- Status messages have been expanded to indicate data fetching from the Internet vs. reading from local disk, and to indicate image processing

Other known issues:
-- The program will slow down, and even stop on some machines. This is very rare and is probably related to slow hardware.
-- The program will show a black screen for some layers or products on some machines. This appears to be a hardware issue, also rare, we are still investigating.
We cannot reproduce these problems, but we are investigating.

New features in StormPredator version 3.03 dated 7/13/06 (see more below for a complete list)

Fixed the Analyze tool not functioning on images that were paused in a loop.
Fixed the program crashing when a scan zone was loaded on some platforms.
Fixed the custom overlay dialog inverting image colors, and included a fixed set of range ring overlays
Fixed minor alignment problems with buttons and text in some dialogs.
Added new buttons for Minimize, and Layers
Revised the button panel layout for new buttons.
Added code to support upcoming Lightning Product, Lightning is not yet active, expect an August 06 release

Changed the default marker to a green flag.
Changed the default loop speed to a midrange speed to allow better startup on slow machines.
-- The loop speed range is the same, only the default starting speed is changed.
-- If the user changes the speed, the changes will be saved as usual

Added a Latitude/Longitude marker placement dialog. Press ALT-N to invoke the dialog.
-- The user enters a lat and lon in decimal form and a list box is populated with matching sites.
-- There will usually be more than one match, most maps overlap their neighbors.
-- The user may use the current marker or choose another from a browse button.
-- The user may elect to create a scan zone around the lat/lon point on the selected map as well, with a selectable radius of 1 to 100 miles.
-- The site need not be the site that is currently displayed, but if the currently active site is a match for the lat / lon, then it is automatically selected by default.
-- Again, one can choose any of the matching sites, it doesn't have to be the current site.

New features in StormPredator version 3.02 dated 6/20/06 (see more below for a complete list)

The beam center is variable. To use this feature:
-- Invoke the special radome marker with ALT-R.
-- Move the marker using ALT-left-click-and-drag.
-- The beam will emanate from the center of the marker.
-- Reset to default location by deleting data\zones\radome.mrk

Feature changes in this version:
-- The tracker plot icons are all visible in the main window. As you place each icon, it will become visible on the main screen regardless of which thumbnail is active. The active icon will be displayed in the distance tool color, and the inactive icons will be displayed in a gamma-reduced version of the distance tool color.
-- The text of email and pager/cell phone messages now includes the maximum dbZ level detected in the scan zone, as well as the user's selected threshold.

Bugs fixed in this version:
-- Fixed a message queue overflow error. This is the root cause of all of the programs crashes and unexplained exits.
-- Fixed a text error where the email and pager messages would report incorrect dbZ values.
-- Fixed a few typographic errors in various dialogs
-- Fixed the short range scan zone showing up on long range products.
-- Fixed an initialization error that would cause a Windows exception if the Analyze tool was invoked before an image was displayed.
-- Fixed distance calculation in long range products
-- Fixed email/cell phone SMTP port defaulting to 25 after change to something else
-- Fixed the ground clutter filter, its function was inverted, turning pixels to white instead of black to make them disappear

New features in StormPredator version 3.01 (see more below for a complete list)

Version 3.00 was released 6/1/06 and 3.01 is a minor maintenance release on 6/7/06 to fix some small bugs and oversights. All CD's purchased after June 1st get V3.01 Here is what is new in 3.01

Added a Radome icon to the standard markers, and also a special Radome marker for the radar site location (ALT-R toggles this on and off).
Fixed a bug where the Analyze tool was examining a smoothed image vs. a pre-smoothed image.
Fixed a typo in the Legends dialogs.
Fixed the long range distance and latitude/longitude tools.
Fixed the custom overlays, they are now site- and range-specific (two overlays per site, a long and a short range custom overlay).
Added range ring overlays to the cdrom version. Short range only.
Added brightness-adjusted topographic map sets to the cdrom version.
Added psuedo-greyscale and monotone (brown) topographic map sets to the cdrom version.

Overview:

Storm Predator (SP) is a program to allow you to monitor NEXRAD Doppler Weather Radar using the National Weather Service's nationwide NEXRAD network. It will automatically retrieve images and loops from the over 150 NEXRAD locations nationwide. It communicates directly with the National Weather Service Data Center in Silver Spring Maryland using any available Internet connection and uses the RIDGE GIS compatible radar data set available from the NWS. This enhanced view of NWS Doppler radar images allows interactivity with the display providing you with the ability to customize the way you "look" at weather. Called RIDGE (Radar Integrated Display with Geospatial Elements), the radar image can be layered with geospatial elements such as topography maps, highways, state/county boundaries and weather warnings.

RIDGE gives Storm Predator Version 3 is a huge improvement in weather radar visualization over SP versions 1.x and 2.x Most importantly, we have used our vast experience in creating weather maps for television to provide what we believe to be the best looking and most readable set of topographic basemaps ever presented on a desktop radar display. We also use enhanced color palettes to make the visualization of radar echoes easier and more natural to the human eye over the standard presentations offered by the NWS.

SP3 has the true GIS (Geographic Information Systems) compatibility, allowing it to use layered data with true latitude / longitude accuracy of the displayed elements. SP3 is designed to be fully automatic in operation. Once you choose the radar location you are interested in and define your local Scan Zone to scan for possible severe weather, its fully automatic after that. When SP3 detects a storm in your area, it will automatically popup an alert and optionally sound an alert to let you know severe weather is on the way! Scan Zones are fully customizable for size and location, plus thresholds for storm intensity are also customizable. Email and Pager/Cellphone bulletins can be sent from StormPredator also.

SP3 also has an exclusive powerful Storm Tracking Tool, which allows you to predict thunderstorm speed, direction, and Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) for any location on the map that may be in the path of an approaching thunderstorm. A distance measuring tool and Lat/Lon positioning tool are also included. These tools are far more accurate in SP3 thanks to the implementation of the GIS system.

SP3 is fully customizable in operation and looks. Skin templates can be applied, buttons can be changed, and settings can be modified to your liking. Almost everything can be set. New In SP3 is an optional square interface has been implemented in addition to the classic round radar PPI interface that has been the trademark look of SP. Try the ALT-Q hotkey to see it..

Additional topographic base maps can be applied to SP3 for greater detail, and custom base maps can be generated if needed. Multiple layers of roads, rivers, county lines, state and US boundaries, and other layers can also be customized using a paint program. See the \data folder for these map layers which are tied to each radar location using the radar ID code.

SP3 also includes weather content accessories to show you a national radar map with regional click through, state level weather bulletin watch/warning maps with satellite and radar overlays, and a powerful web forecasting engine to give you forecasts for any location in the USA and most parts of the world.

New features in SP3

SP3 now uses the latest RIDGE radar imagery
from the NWS
There are now nine NEXRAD radar display products where before there were two:

Short range base reflectivity

Short range composite reflectivity

Long range base reflectivity

One-hour precipitation

Storm total precipitation

Storm relative motion

Base velocity

Vertically Integrated Liquid

Echo Tops

Detailed, accurate, and photorealistic
topographic maps come standard for both long and short range display
projections and for all radar product types. These maps have been designed
using our extensive experience in broadcast TV weather, making maps that are
pleasing to the eye and easy to view on most any display, including NTSC video
Multiple overlay layers are supported
including roads, county borders, state/national borders, rivers/lakes, city
names, and weather warnings, all instantly and independently selectable.
Custom overlays can be added.
A new map key now exists to show weather
warnings that are overlaid on the radar map
Every map layer overlay exists on the disk as
a graphics file which can be modified/customized to your liking using third
party graphics editing programs
The program sports a new interface, and has a
instantly switchable rectangular mode in addition to the classic round PPI
radar scope mode try ALT-Q to see it.
SP3 now has a selectable "drop shadow" feature
to make the radar echoes more visible, especially when used with TV displays
that use S-Video or NTSC output
The program is now GIS accurate. A custom GIS
graphic overlay can be imported if desired
Thanks to the GIS capability, latitude and
longitude settings are much more accurate than before, making distance
measurement more accurate, and storm tracking more accurate
The GIS accuracy built into SP3 paves the way
for future product additions such as lightning strikes, surface weather data,
upper air data and more
Storm Predator now fetches all 24 frames of
radar loop images that are available upon startup or location change. No more
waiting to collect additional images
For low bandwidth (dialup) connections, the
fetch of loop images can be disabled
SP3 can now save and playback thousands of
history files, allowing for tracking entire days of storm events
The looping feature can now play back radar
loops at real-time speeds if the graphics card/CPU supports it
SP3 keeps track of six distinct Volume
Coverage Patterns (VCP) of the radar, and adjusts its operation accordingly
There are now 22 levels of radar echoes in the
radar images, each of which (including the end points) can now be adjusted
The program supports custom palettes. The user
can select a palette file from a list and the colors in the file will be
applied to the radar image and/or the user interface. This is useful for
creating a "winter" palette for snow for example
Email/Pager images can now be a custom size to
handle a wider variety of cell phones
The Email and Pager engine is now more robust,
supporting a wider variety of ISP's that have mailing restrictions
The full screen image caption can now have
custom elements you can choose
The user may now save individual images in
several common image formats including BMP, PNG, JPEG, and GIF
SP3 has a more robust communications engine,
and handles Internet errors better than before
SP3 also includes a manual "re-fetch" feature
to allow the end user to re-fetch all the images from the radar site
The "analyze" tool has been updated to support
the new radar products in SP3
A new tool for showing Latitude/Longitude on
the map has been added. By pressing the ALT key and simultaneously pressing
the left mouse button, lat/lon is continuously displayed as the mouse pointer
is moved over the map
The Help file has been significantly updated
The Analyse Tool can now work within the loop dialog using single stepped images

-- Some feature changes

Beam: the beam sweep speed and arc width can no longer be adjusted.
Beam: the beam is not available in full screen mode.
Range Ring: no longer a standard feature, may be an upgrade (file download) later
Overlays: a single custom overlay is available. More overlays may be added
in later versions if the market desires.
Tracker: image creation times are now displayed in local time vs. UTC
Mailer: for security reasons, HTML mail is no longer an option
Mailer: for technical reasons, the mailer has changed in favor of blat

-- System Requirements
Minimum:
1.0 GHz processor ("may" run on systems as slow as 600 Mhz)
256 Mb RAM
DirectX 9.0b compatible video card
Monitor capable of displaying 800x600x24
Internet connection
Windows 2000 (Win95,98,ME are no longer supported)

Recommended:
2.0 GHz or faster processor
512 Mb RAM
DirectX 9.0b compatible video card
Monitor capable of displaying 1024x768x24
Broadband Internet connection
Windows XP Pro or Home, or Windows Media Center Edition

-- Bugs fixed in this version

The Tracker would sometimes report odd ETAs -- fixed
The Tracker dialog displayed incorrect images in the thumbnail view -- fixed
The Tracker dialog would flash unnecessarily -- fixed
The Tracker dialog would not update the main display correctly -- fixed
The Save Image function would report no images to save - fixed
The Print Image function could crash on XP platforms - fixed
The Alert Delay timer would only send one alert - fixed
The distance tool and the latitude/longitude displays were incorrect -- fixed
The analyze feature would report incorrect values -- fixed
There was no convenient way to get the program version -- fixed
The program could crash on entry or exit due to un-initialized variables -- fixed
There was no visible indicator that the flash was on or off -- fixed

-- Coming soon

Automatic updates
A settable range for history image collection and display
Alerts for Weather bulletins issued that affect your scan zone

-- Hot Keys

As noted above, some new function keys have been assigned, and others have
changed. This is a current list of all of the keyboard shortcuts to which
StormPredator responds.

In fullscreen mode:
------------------
ESC or F4 toggles back to windowed mode
ALT-L toggles looping

In windowed mode:
----------------
Spacebar toggles Options panel
F1 invokes help
F2 invokes Forecast web page
F3 invokes Warnings web page
F4 invokes full screen mode
F5 invokes National Radar Map web page
F6 invokes Save History dialog
F7 invokes Replay Saved History dialog
F8 invokes Save Image dialog
F9 invokes Layer Selection dialog
F10 rescan history images (temporarily overrides options setting) and process as needed
ALT-F10 refetch all images from the Internet
F11 minimizes the program to the task bar
ALT-Spacebar invokes Thresholds dialog
ALT-Backspace rescans history for the current site
ALT-A invokes Analyze dialog
ALT-B toggles beam sweep (respects revs setting)
ALT-C invokes Color Options dialog
ALT-D invokes Display Options dialog
ALT-E invokes Beam Options dialog
ALT-F toggles flashing
ALT-I invokes About dialog
ALT-K invokes Color Bar dialog
ALT-L toggles looping
ALT-M invokes mini window mode
ALT-O invokes Location dialog
ALT-Q switches between round and rectangular interface
ALT-S invokes Scan Zone dialog
ALT-T invokes Tracker dialog
ALT-W toggles the Warnings color key
ALT-Z invokes magnification tool
ALT-F4 program exit

In the Tracker dialog:
---------------------

Up Arrow nudges the tracker icon up
Down Arrow nudges the tracker icon down
Left Arrow nudges the tracker icon to the left
Right Arrow nudges the tracker icon to the right