Geysers.Net

Strokkur Webcam

2011-10-25T01:06:00.000-07:00

Here is a key image for the Geysir, Iceland, webcam. Click the image for a larger version.

V0.93: Copy to SD Card and Common Predictions

2011-08-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

Geyser Notebook v0.93 is now available in the Android Market. New stuff: The app can now be copied to your device's SD card. The release also includes more precise eruption windows on the common predictions page. One experimental feature has been included; a "Share" option has been added to each observation (accessible via long pressing an eruption within the Timeline). If chosen, you can share/export eruption via Twitter, GMail, and many other apps. Facebook might appear on your menu, but it doesn't work -- it's a bug on the Facebook side. That's the main reason the "Share" feature is only experimental.

Except for bug fixes, project energy is currently geared toward offline reporting and maps. I hope you enjoy the app!

Small bug fix with webcam-related flags

2011-08-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

I noticed and fixed a minor bug associated with better/less flags on webcam observations. Please send a note (geysers at gmail.com) if you notice any unexpected flagging behavior.

A few new things, v0.92

2011-08-12T15:44:00.000-07:00

From field testing the app during my latest Yellowstone visit, I added a few incremental functions to Geyser Notebook. First, when a report form is open for Old Faithful, it will now show "long" & "short" instead of "major" & "minor". Second, when you long press an eruption in the Timeline, "I saw it too" has been replaced with "Report Similar". The function takes you to the report menu with the form in the same state as the selected eruption. If you have changes--like you'd like to add a comment or change the time by a minute or two--it's much easier to do. These two small functions are now available as Geyser Notebook moves from v0.9 to v0.92. As usual, the app is available for free in the Android Market. Regards!

Database Restoration

2011-08-02T06:26:00.000-07:00

The main database messed up during synchronization. There's a backup, but since I'm in Yellowstone right now, it will take until next week for me to restore old reports. Update: I'm back and working on restoring the old reports. Synchronization with GeyserTimes is already back up and running.

Geyser Notebook v0.9

2011-07-28T01:30:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to announce the latest beta release of Geyser Notebook, v0.9. Eruption reporting now allows observation comments and the Timeline user interface has been revamped to show observers, comments, and better/less flags. Overall, the app is now much more closely integrated with http://geysers.net/mobile. The Timeline code is a little tangled though, so hopefully the app will remain stable. If you notice any problems or strange behaviors, send me a note. Thanks for using the app!

Plugging away...

2011-07-23T22:25:00.000-07:00

Jake and I are coding away at the app and sites. Jake's working on sync and I'm working on making the app do everything the site can do (concentrating on observation comments right now). The geysers.net server could have some spotty connections over the next week. UCSB, home of the server, is reworking the electrics near the server room.

Feature Requests

2011-07-09T16:41:00.000-07:00

The project has been getting a lot of features requests for the app, and we haven't had a central repository for them. For now, feel free to add them as a comment here.

Happy Fourth of July

2011-07-03T21:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy weekend for geyser data. Just today, there's been 101 observations submitted (July 3rd). Jake and I are working hard to make more features available, and do send a note if you have any ideas to make the apps or project better. For my side of things, priorities are geysertimes-geysers.net/mobile database synchronization and offline reporting functionality for Geyser Notebook. After those bases are covered, I'll be working on features for data sharing and export. Thanks for all the reports! ~Alan Glennon

Geyser Notebook v0.8

2011-06-23T03:03:00.000-07:00

This next version is just an incremental update with better geyser predictions. I hope to roll it out before the weekend.

Update (6/24): Version 0.8 has been released and is now available in the Android Market: http://bit.ly/Geysers. The update includes numerous minor upgrades to the prediction engine, two additional reporting states ('initial' eruption and 'unsure'/questionable), and numerous minor design fixes.

Growing

2011-06-13T14:16:00.000-07:00

The geyser database project keeps growing and getting better. Geysers.Net/mobile and Geyser Notebook now have a sister, GeyserTimes.org. GeyserTimes was created by Jake Young and has been particularly popular with Old Faithful webcam viewers. Jake and I are now working together to sync data and bring together all the best parts of the projects.

Geysers.Net Mobile

2011-05-18T09:39:00.000-07:00

A basic, mobile-friendly webpage is up at http://geysers.net/mobile. It offers simple geyser reporting, basic summaries, and a few predictions.

Geysers.Net Database License

2011-05-01T14:05:00.001-07:00

The following is the proposed Geysers.Net data license. In the next Geyser Notebook release (and Geysers.Net/mobile), it will be placed in a prominent location in the app's end user license agreement and the app's data exports. Send a note if you have suggestions or comments.

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Copyright and License

The Geysers.Net eruption database is "open source", with a license based on the Open Database License (ODbL): http://www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/summary/. If you alter or build upon any Geysers.Net data, you may distribute the result only under the same licence.

How to credit Geysers.Net
We request that you use “Data © Geysers.Net under ODbL”.

Where possible, Geysers.Net should be hyperlinked to http://www.geysers.net/ and the Open Database License to http://www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1.0/. If you are using a medium where links are not possible (e.g. a printed work), we suggest you direct your readers to www.geysers.net and to www.opendatacommons.org.

Contributors
Geysers.Net contributors are reminded never to add data from any copyrighted sources without explicit permission from the copyright holders.

Inclusion of data in Geysers.Net does not imply that its users and data providers endorse GeysersNet, provide any warranty, or accept any liability.

Although Geysers.Net is "open data", the project does not yet have adequate infrastructure to provide a data API (real time or otherwise) for third-party developers. Functionality to better facilitate data exporting is under development. Please contact us if you have questions.

Incremental update released

2011-04-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

Geyser Notebook v0.7 has just been released to the Android Market. The update includes more geyser descriptions and several user interface upgrades. By request, the 'webcam' report type has been added.

Spotty Internet

2011-04-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

Since Yellowstone has poor or no Internet at many of the geyser basins, I am starting work on offline reporting. My ordered priorities will be functions: to save personal reports offline, to have offline reports upload next time Internet is available, to cache the Timeline at the last state that existed before going offline, and to provide simple offline predictions. I intend to release off-line reporting with a future version (update: perhaps 0.9?); version 0.7 will be some user interface updates.

Geyser Notebook graduates to beta!

2011-04-14T01:39:00.000-07:00

Geyser Notebook v0.6 is now available at the Android Market. I created the app to replace my Yellowstone geyser gazing notebook, and I'm hopeful that others find it useful as well. Plus, I like the idea of being able to get real-time eruption reports even when I'm far from the geysers.

The most prominent feature upgrade in this release is the ability to flag and delete reports. If you submit a report and later decide it was in error, go to the Timeline and long press the observation. A context menu will appear with the option "Flag / Delete Observation". When selected, and if it's your report, the observation will be deleted. If the option is chosen for someone else's report, the observation will be flagged for administrative review.

"My Reports" has also been upgraded. Any reports made from your app will go into that special Timeline area. Further, if you notice an eruption in the Timeline that you also observed, just long press it and you will get the option to copy it to "My Reports".

There's still a lot of work to do before the app completely replaces my physical field notebook, but I consider this release a solid step forward.

See you at the geysers!
Alan Glennon

Flagging Observations

2011-04-10T02:06:00.000-07:00

I spent a few hours creating an API to flag questionable and erroneous observations. It's one of those significant things that needed to happen before the app moves from alpha to beta. Also, in preparation for Yellowstone's season opening, I'm in the process of updating the geyser behavioral models. Everything's happening on the server and database side for now, but I expect to deliver an app update to the Android Market before the end of April. It's also nearing time to open discussions with the community about the nature of the observations' data license. The intent is to make the database open source; it's just a matter of the best approach for that.

Improved Timeline

2011-03-25T00:21:00.000-07:00

The app's main timeline function now removes duplicate observations. Before, if two people reported the same eruption, the timeline would list both reports as separate records. Now, if multiple reports are received, the timeline displays only one. The app, however, doesn't go very far in its guesses of what is unique; eruptions reported over a minute apart or with different descriptive modifiers (ie. near start, major, minor, etc.), will be shown as distinct timeline observations. "My Reports" and "Filter by Geyser" are unaffected. The functionality was created on the server, is active now, and automatically works on v0.04 without the need for an app upgrade.

Geyser Notebook v0.04

2011-03-16T02:16:00.001-07:00

This is the place where you can find the latest information about the Geyser Notebook Android app. The current version is v0.04, and it's still in alpha. The code base is reasonably robust and rarely crashes. However, the app does not account for many of the realities of the field, like intermittent Internet connectivity, duplicate reports, and erroneous reports. I'm working to correct those issues and will be pushing out solutions as they are coded. Feel free to contact me if you have questions or suggestions. Alan Glennon, email: geysers [at] gmail dot com