Discuss Scratch

Block_Point_Studios
Scratcher
100+ posts

Weather Sensing Block

Hi! I'm currently developing a game with a title screen that changes depending on the time of day. I realized that the clouds could be raining if it was raining outside! These block ideas could either be in an extension or the sensing category.

([today's v] [weather v] in [Boston, Massachusetts, US v]:: sensing)

([tomorrow's v] [common temperature v] in [Boston, Massachusetts, US v]:: sensing)

This would also be useful for weather detecting projects. For example, Scratchers could create a weather app!

Last edited by Block_Point_Studios (Aug. 13, 2020 00:48:17)

scratchastroLOL
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Weather Sensing Block

what will be their source?
Basic88
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Weather Sensing Block

Where will the weather readings come from?
Yeetoburro1
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Weather Sensing Block

Basic88 wrote:

Where will the weather readings come from?
There is something called a weather api.
GOSH 60 SECOND RULE I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU
god286
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Weather Sensing Block

That would be really useful!
LilGloGlo_76
Scratcher
100 posts

Weather Sensing Block

Yeetoburro1 wrote:

Basic88 wrote:

Where will the weather readings come from?
There is something called a weather api.
GOSH 60 SECOND RULE I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU

Yes, but the apps are different depending on your location, device, etc..
-Rex-
Scratcher
500+ posts

Weather Sensing Block

Support as an extension, why not. I do think the location input would work better as coordinates.

We already have Amazon-powered text-to-speech and Google-powered translation.
-InsanityPlays-
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Weather Sensing Block

scratchastroLOL wrote:

what will be their source?
Google Weather;.
nerdiebirdy
Scratcher
500+ posts

Weather Sensing Block

Interesting idea, but how many things would be on the dropdown list? There are a crazy number of towns in the world, all with varying sizes. For large cities, you would need to list the surrounding suburbs as well to get an accurate idea of the weather.
In your example of how it could be used, you would need to make code for every single town in the world, which would make the code ridiculously long and would probably end up crashing the project.
I don't really think these blocks are worth it. They would have very little uses, and it would be simply impractical to use them to match the weather in the project with the real weather outside, which is probably the only interesting thing they would be able to do.
bananaandchoc1
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Weather Sensing Block

nerdiebirdy wrote:

Interesting idea, but how many things would be on the dropdown list? There are a crazy number of towns in the world, all with varying sizes. For large cities, you would need to list the surrounding suburbs as well to get an accurate idea of the weather.
In your example of how it could be used, you would need to make code for every single town in the world, which would make the code ridiculously long and would probably end up crashing the project.
I don't really think these blocks are worth it. They would have very little uses, and it would be simply impractical to use them to match the weather in the project with the real weather outside, which is probably the only interesting thing they would be able to do.
No support for this reason. This is exactly what I thought.
Gipthepig424
Scratcher
500+ posts

Weather Sensing Block

Hi there! Nice suggestion, but I really don’t think this will be the best idea. I think this would put more traffic on the website and there are loads of town in the world, so the drop down with all of the towns would be tricky. This block would not be very useful, unless somebody wanted to make a project saying ‘your weather is blah blah blah today’. If you really want to know the weather, just search it up on google or something. No support.
pavcato
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Weather Sensing Block

I would support this as a exstension because i think this would be helpful like the clock projects. As a weather enthusiast, I think there should be a reporter block for watches and warnings like Flash Flood Watch or Tornado Warning because that would give you a sense of what's happening and know when you need to head to a shelter, which is good. A great source for US weather is the National Weather Service because it is government owned.
_RareScratch2_
Scratcher
100+ posts

Weather Sensing Block

Block_Point_Studios wrote:

Hi! I'm currently developing a game with a title screen that changes depending on the time of day. I realized that the clouds could be raining if it was raining outside! These block ideas could either be in an extension or the sensing category.

([today's v] [weather v] in [Boston, Massachusetts, US v]:: sensing)

([tomorrow's v] [common temperature v] in [Boston, Massachusetts, US v]:: sensing)

This would also be useful for weather detecting projects. For example, Scratchers could create a weather app!
Useful but would require getting resources from weather examples like weather.com if they didnt have it so even more useful
([past week's v] [humidity v] in [Pick a location v]:: sensing)
↑ You mean like this? ↑

Last edited by _RareScratch2_ (Aug. 13, 2020 13:36:30)

geometric_ghast
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Weather Sensing Block

Basic88 wrote:

Where will the weather readings come from?
Pretty sure there is an api that you can use. I've made commands on twitch that can tell the weather using that api
thr565ono
Scratcher
100+ posts

Weather Sensing Block

Support
Also, why not just simplify the block:
(current weather [humidity v] ::#00aa00)

I think having a weather history is not very useful and having one like this makes it easier for new scratchers, and the location will be the project viewer's location, but it would only give approximate readings, otherwise you could get weather data via the cloud data, and see what matches up with Google Weather.
pavcato
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Weather Sensing Block

thr565ono wrote:

~snip~ otherwise you could get weather data via the cloud data, and see what matches up with Google Weather.
Data from the National Weather Service would be more accurate.
ioton
Scratcher
500+ posts

Weather Sensing Block

pavcato wrote:

thr565ono wrote:

~snip~ otherwise you could get weather data via the cloud data, and see what matches up with Google Weather.
Data from the National Weather Service would be more accurate.
National.
How about other countries?
DownsGameClub
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Weather Sensing Block

pavcato wrote:

thr565ono wrote:

~snip~ otherwise you could get weather data via the cloud data, and see what matches up with Google Weather.
Data from the National Weather Service would be more accurate.
The only problem with this is that NWS operates only in the US. It might be easier to go with a third party source like The Weather Channel since they have readings from all over the world.

I'd also like to bring up the issue of units. Are we going to use the SI units (i.e. Celsius) that are used around the world, or will we use Fahrenheit? I think it might be easier to just stick with SI units and have people figure out how to convert that to the terrible American units.
pavcato
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Weather Sensing Block

ioton wrote:

pavcato wrote:

thr565ono wrote:

~snip~ otherwise you could get weather data via the cloud data, and see what matches up with Google Weather.
Data from the National Weather Service would be more accurate.
National.
How about other countries?
The World Meteorological Organization is global. We could use NWS for the US and WMO for the rest of the world.
Basic88
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Weather Sensing Block

Support! Would look cool and would expand the limits. But as @-Rex- said, I think it would work better as coordinates. Or instead of one big dropdown, maybe a search bar for the town.

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