[Discodog]

So I phoned the HO of ME & got no reply
Tried several times & still no reply.
So I dialled the forecasting division & asked to be put thorough to the department responsible for the website. The reply was as follows:

"I'll just see if someone is interested in talking to you" - I was so shocked that I wrote it down.

Long pause

You need to speak to our public liaison - gave me the number & no reply !. Apparently us mere customers who pay the wages are not worthy enough to be allowed to talk to the website people.

Then the forecasting guy asked why I was calling. He had assumed that I was a web developer trying to sell them something.

He said that the new radar image is a higher resolution but he too was not aware that it was being changed !

[BEASTERLY]

Originally Posted by Discodog

He said that the new radar image is a higher resolution but he too was not aware that it was being changed !

It is not a higher resolution, it's lower than the last. Plus the way they spoke to you was horrendous.

EDIT: In fact, i just checked and it does seem to be at a higher res than yesterday, they must be still tweaking it!

[Lumi]

I sent Met Eireann an email about the new radar viewer yesterday evening and received a prompt response this morning

'Thank you for your comments regarding the updated radar viewer on www.met.ie. Please be assured we will consider your views and do our best to implement them as we continue to develop our service.'

It looks like it's very much a work in progress and that further modifications are planned.

They appear to have made a few minor changes already today and I'll reserve judgement until I see the final product

[thetonynator]

Originally Posted by Discodog

So I phoned the HO of ME & got no reply
Tried several times & still no reply.
So I dialled the forecasting division & asked to be put thorough to the department responsible for the website. The reply was as follows:

"I'll just see if someone is interested in talking to you" - I was so shocked that I wrote it down.

Long pause

You need to speak to our public liaison - gave me the number & no reply !. Apparently us mere customers who pay the wages are not worthy enough to be allowed to talk to the website people.

Then the forecasting guy asked why I was calling. He had assumed that I was a web developer trying to sell them something.

He said that the new radar image is a higher resolution but he too was not aware that it was being changed !

In fairness, most of us are guilty of speaking to people in a less than polite manner when we think they are trying to sell us something over the phone, so they can probably be excused for that.

[gbee]

I think it is useful for all the contacts that have been made, I bet they did not expect this reaction so soon.

One comment on website people ~ if they are anything like the people I've had to work with, they are part time apart from updating data, any changes made [even mistakes] would not be fixed until they were in the office again.

[BEASTERLY]

They definitely have been reading this thread, on the radar page there is a link to the old page.

[thetonynator]

Originally Posted by BEASTERLY

They definitely have been reading this thread, on the radar page there is a link to the old page.

Well they do have a boards account . . .http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/member.php?u=251837

[Joe Public]

They should at least have given us an option to view the trial version and left the original where it was until they have debugged it.

I have problems getting it to move to the latest view if I have been viewing it a few hours earlier, I've tried pushing all the buttons. The only way I have gotten it to work is to start a new browser session and go to met.ie again.

[Discodog]

Originally Posted by BEASTERLY

They definitely have been reading this thread, on the radar page there is a link to the old page.

But like the image on Mobile Met it won't animate so it's useless. When you click on "animation" the page reverts to the new radar.

I am applying quite a lot of herbicide at the moment & I rely on accessing the radar on my mobile & viewing the animation to select dry slots. So I am totally stuck.

Brian Delaney ME Customer liaison has emailed me & suggested the mobile met page but he doesn't seem to realise that it doesn't animate so it's pretty pointless. What I find disappointing is that, in a recession, every business is anxious to know the needs of customers. But ME have done this without any consultation or trial. It's also annoying that we cannot speak to a person who understands the problem.

I reckon that we should scrap ME & give the job to our own MT - bet he could do a super job on half the ME budget !

[wild handlin]

Heck! When I first read thru this thread I thought that there was an announcement that Ireland was to get rain this winter instead of snow!!

Fair play to Met Eireann for upgrading their rainfall radar, I found their older radar (while nice and green!) hard to pin-point where exactly the heavy rain was falling in any given area; this new radar gives more clarity to the counties/borders; if a little bright. (Maybe darkening Ireland to a light grey or brown perhaps?)

I certainly echo the comments to have a zoom feature added to the radar; the pause, rewind and play buttons are a useful addition to the map.

My only real quibble with the improved radar is the difference in values for 'rainfall density'.
0.1 - 0.5 = Blue
0.5 - 1.5 = Lime Green
1.5 - 4.0 = Orange
4.0 - 32 = Red
32+ = Pink

There is a big difference between 4mm and 32mm per hour, yet the colour remains the same; personally I would have thought something like this maybe a little more useful for the user to gain a more accurate reading:

0.1 - 0.5 = Blue
0.5 - 1.5 = Green
1.5 - 4.0 = Orange
4.0 - 8.0 = Pink
8.0 - 16.0= Red
16.0 -32.0=Purple
32+ =Bright Yellow

Hopefully once the radar has been tweaked it will be better for all - oh! Before I go I wonder..... wouldn't it be great if ME were to add a black X (marks the spot) for any lightning strikes which happen during storms; ie. whenever the radar is updated every 15 mins it shows up any new strikes which have occured since the image was taken; replacing any old strikes which may have occured.........just a thought/dream!!

[Discodog]

The other disappointing aspect is that with all these changes they haven't found a way to avoid the outline of Ireland being hard to see under the rain.

[dexter647]

They have the old animated radar back now as a link under the new one... The new one today was definitely overcooking some of the early precip... A lot of tweaking needed yet imo..

[BEASTERLY]

They've also got rid of that stupid blurry animation on the new one, it is slowly improving and growing on me i must say!

[Harps]

Still far too small to really compete with raintoday for me but at least theyre improving it as they go along. Dont like it at the moment but I'll reserve my judgement for now

[thetonynator]

Originally Posted by Harps

Still far too small to really compete with raintoday for me but at least theyre improving it as they go along. Dont like it at the moment but I'll reserve my judgement for now

and the fact that they won't use the belfast radar must be really annoying for ye too . . .