Geysertimes App has launched

You can now grab the new Geysertimes app at the Google Play Store (link). The new app does a lot better job of caching data and so should be a lot more useful in Yellowstone. Geyser Notebook will continue to be available for a short while, but once all its functions have shifted over, it will be removed from the store. The predictions are still powered by my geysers.net server. The whole team is working on making the predictions infrastructure better, and it will be the next major push.

Known issues in the app

I've been testing the new app (v0.95d) and see lots of room for improvement -- not just for future features, but for things to tighten up in the current build.

• More descriptive actionbar icons; a new problem from the update.
• Eruptions do not give the year. This is fine on the normal timeline since it's the last 24 hours of eruptions, but falls apart on geysers that have not erupted this year. This problem existed in the previous versions of the app. The problem has become worse with more data contributions.
• Poor speed performance on the "guide to geysers" page (can lead to nonresponsive app); new problem with update. Particularly caused by the addition of small images next to the geyser name.
• Strange user experience on the timeline -- back button behavior is inconsistent (can lead to full blown app crash; this has been reported twice so far). Personally, I think the whole timeline page needs to be revamped. This problem existed in the previous versions of the app, but has become worse with more data.
• The time to interact with the server is so slow. This is an old problem; fixing it is straightforward and even fun, but requires lots of work.

If I can't fix these problems soon, I may remove the app from the Google Play store for a bit.

Geyser Notebook, v0.95d

An updated version of Geyser Notebook has been released. It's been uploaded to the Google Play Store and should be available for installation within hours. The release takes the user interface from old school Android to a place a bit more modern. This time around, I released with almost no bug testing, so submit crash reports so I can stamp out the problems. Explore around and see how it goes. The new release was made for really recent phones; if you have an old device, you probably won't see the app in the store. Make do with the older version.

The last few days are the first time I've looked at the code in ages. There's lots of room for improvement and Google has added a lot more tools to ease the development process. Speed and offline functionality remain high priorities.

I've also been advising a bit on the GeyserTimes app -- since those guys are making a serious Yellowstone gazer app, I suspect Geyser Notebook will increasingly focus on normal people.

Good luck with the app!

Alan Glennon

Spam Entries

As users of the site and app know, Geysertimes and I have been coordinating efforts since inception. Recently, Will B. let me know that the reporting form at geysers.net has been receiving spam entries. Starting immediately, visitors wishing to contribute data will be forwarded to geysertimes.

Will also has been working on a new Android app to support geyser observations. When Geysertimes' app is complete, the Geyser Notebook will be deprecated.

Server change

Geysers.net just moved from a server at UCSB to the Amazon cloud. Everything is operational in both locations right now, though I just changed the IP address. The old server will be taken offline once everything is stable. I'll be monitoring the services, but send a note if you notice anything peculiar.

The move is the first step in updating the Android app.

synchronization with Geysertimes

The recent synchronization problem is now fixed. It was caused by an upgrade to the geysers.net server. The new operating system has a new default location for prearranged recurring tasks (i.e., cron jobs), and it ignored the old location.

In other news, I made some minor user interface improvements to http://geysers.net/mobile. These were mostly geared toward making the site look consistent across various mobile browsers and devices.

Thanks for visiting!
Alan Glennon, Ph.D.

To do

The server seemed gummed up for the last two days, so I did a bit of maintenance and things appear back on track. As I have now finished writing my dissertation, it's time to start thinking about updates for Yellowstone's spring opening. Overall, I think Jake (geysertimes.org) will continue to work on the "web" side of things while I focus on mobile and non-gazer observers. It'd be good to get some of the core onto Github so others can think about building their own tools -- an iOS version geyser observation app would be great.