Replace Dark Sky API

[genebean]

According to https://blog.darksky.net, Apple has purchased Dark Sky and will shut down the api at the end of 2021. Thus, we need a new data source.

[MarticusH]

@genebean - potentially weather.gov? They have an open API.

I discovered that the original project died when piwapi stopped working due to weather.com, so I'm following any replacement pretty closely.

[genebean]

@genebean - potentially weather.gov? They have an open API.

I looked at that last night but it looked to only have weather for the US

[MarticusH]

Perhaps OpenWeatherMap? Seems the free tier is limited to 1 API call / sec, which is (in my opinion) way more than necessary - my own weatherpi was querying once per 5min.

Looks like they have current forecast API and 5-day forecast API that would likely emulate the previous functionality, and looks like it supports a lot of different localization capabilities.

I'm currently waiting on the API key to get activated (apparently it takes a few hours) to try some testing with those two endpoints:

Within the next couple of hours, it will be activated and ready to use.

I am also apparently very impatient 😆

[MarticusH]

Alright, API key got activated, looks like we also have the ability to use icons from their site itself (or write something to use the existing icons); example output is below from their site:
https://samples.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/forecast?id=524901&appid=b6907d289e10d714a6e88b30761fae22

Icon info is here.

So far, looks pretty reasonable - thoughts?

[fraser386]

Please do let us know if you can get that API working. I literally bought a screen in a case for this to wall mount it on the 28th, arrived today. I checked on here to start working at setting up my new weather display! To my dismay its over with...

[genebean]

That really sucks @fraser386! I'll absolutely get it working and will keep this issue updated with progress. I am certainly considering Open Weather Map @MarticusH. I am also checking with two other sources that look like they may have more to offer too in hopes that one of them will pan out.

[fraser386]

Thank you @genebean!

[MarticusH]

Cool cool, thank you @genebean - let us know what you decide on!

[genebean]

I contacted Foreca at a users suggestion but it seems they don’t currently offer anything free or near-free. I have a meeting scheduled for today though that I’m hoping pans out.🤞More info soon.

[genebean]

Just had a great call with Climacell and found out that in a matter of days they will have a free tier for their weather api that has limits similar to what Apply just killed off for Dark Sky. This is what I plan to move us to. They directed me at the right set of api docs and are checking to see if there will be free air quality info available too. I hope to get this turned around pretty quickly but want to do it in conjunction with merging in some contributions from @metaMMA as that work will make this work easier.

[genebean]

Just a quick update to say I haven’t forgotten about this. I’m still working with @metaMMA to get their enhancements merged in. Hopefully I’ll have more news soon.

[fraser386]

Thanks!

…

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 25, 2020, at 1:23 AM, Gene Liverman ***@***.***> wrote:  Just a quick update to say I haven’t forgotten about this. I’m still working with @metaMMA to get their enhancements merged in. Hopefully I’ll have more news soon. — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.

[genebean]

Tonight I started writing the actual Python module to pull forecast data from ClimaCell. Prior to this I’ve been wrapped up in other improvements and some unrelated work. It feels good to start interacting with the new api. 👋 Darksky

_{Sent with GitHawk}

[jmertic]

@genebean - Thank you for this! Is this work on a branch somewhere that one could preview/test?

[Stone-Hedge]

It makes me really happy to see this integration happening. Such a good project. Keeping my eye out for anything I can help with.