Let's Kite - Predicting the future even better
by Contat Fred - Posted on 5/31/23 || Modifié le 2/19/24
It has been a few months since I have been working on a complete redesign of the weather forecasts on Let's Kite. Because yes, Let's Kite has a very powerful weather forecasting system for several years but it has been poorly highlighted.
The first part of the project was to find a reliable source for weather forecasts, but especially for all aspects of the weather including wave forecasts, tides, snow height,... For this, I must salute the incredible work of the Swiss (Hop Suisse!) Patrick Zippenfenig with his project open-meteo. Patrick aggregates all the freely available weather models and transforms them into an open data API (API = a standardized and highly facilitated access system).
But the most admirable aspect is that he combines multiple sources to achieve the most accurate and comprehensive forecast possible. So we get a forecast for a spot that combines short-term models with the latest trends and a long-term model for long-term trends (1 week). And for each region of the world, the short-term model is adapted based on the available sources.
Another function that is also very useful for us is that for each forecast location we can indicate the actual altitude of the spot, and open-meteo adjusts the forecasts, which is quite revolutionary especially in the Alps where altitude can vary significantly over just a few kilometers. The only small downside is that at the moment we cannot yet display the source of the model used for a specific location.
Once the reliable data is absorbed into our Let's Kite admin (4 times a day), it took me some time to find a simple and clear way to visualize the data. While I didn't have too much trouble finding solutions for the desktop display, as soon as I moved to the mobile display (70% of Let's Kite users), it became immediately more complicated. The graph I have used so far (which still displays weather station readings) does not always behave well with a small screen and big fingers ;-).
So instead of struggling to fit the desktop version on mobile, I made two versions, one for display on desktop and one that is significantly different for mobile. Try it out and you'll see :-) The forecasts now also adapt based on the type of spot (Lake, Sea, Snowkiting), and the most comprehensive version is, of course, a spot located at sea, which is subject to tidal patterns.
The new forecasting system is now online in Beta version, as we discover new bugs and chase them away ;-) For now, the tide information is temporarily implemented with a graph and some useful information, but in my opinion, it still needs to be worked on.
So those are the main points of this new stage, which completes the previous update with the introduction on the home map of simplified buttons for viewing rideable spots on D+1, D+2, D+3... Next step? Probably the implementation of tides in the alerts and forecasting system...