Cloud Free Night - User survey & feedback

[cfn]

CFN service has been up for about three months now and we're wanting to gather some info on general use, feature requests and of course any issues you may have encountered while using the website.

This will helps us improve the service we provide, on an on-going basis, across a wider range of platforms and devices and deliver more features, to you all, within our existing resources.

At this stage, just a simple post to see if there is any interest. If there is, we will provide you with a quick survey on CFN so you can answer a few questions as well as leaving any feedback. We will look into any request.

Thank you for your time.

[casstony]

I've been using CFN regularly for a few weeks and it seems to predict fairly accurately when it will be clear or cloudy - helps to plan observing. It also shows when solar power will be available for running the washing machine/dishwasher :)

[el_draco]

Damn good app!

Change the poll header to "Cloud free night" and you'll probably get more hits. "CFN" is meaningless and I almost passed over the poll

[casstony]

Yeah I only looked because I wondered what 'CFN' was. Definitely change the header.

[AstroJunk]

Love it.

My 2c

1. It knows where I am, so why default to Victoria?
2. Times are the wrong way around for me. My clock goes: Now. +3, +6 etc.

Both are first world problems.

Thanks!

[Andy01]

Love it!
Last wed in Melbourne it predicted ckear skies until midnight, then clouds.
Sure enough, I set up, got 4-5 hrs imaging in, then the clouds rolled in at Midnight- you could almost set your watch by it!
Nice work :)

[cfranks]

Only just started to use it. Is the 'general' map (SA in my case) the only one available or can I narrow it down to the Adelaide region? Looks good though.

Charles

[marc4darkskies]

I swear by this app! It's very good and reliable in predicting conditions - especially in the short term forecast.

I'd like to be able to view a seeing map. While I realise this can be perceived as a bit of a fudge and would be based on information already available, doing a mental forecast based on other maps is inconvenient and requires some knowledge of the parameters that contribute to seeing.

[speach]

this is the first time I've known about it. Use Skippy's up to now but this looks a lot better.

[Luke.]

I was using a few different sites but since this uses the Access model I have been pretty much exclusively using CFN.

[cfn]

We only know where you are if you agree to let us know where you are. We don't automatically geocode you although we could. It is a user choice.

We don't use cookies so CFN defaults to Victoria/Melbourne. You can create a shortcut on your mobile device home screen or your desktop PC by bookmarking your location. Then CFN will remember you every time you use that shortcut.




The logic behind the placement and order of the buttons was based on frequency of use and ease of access. We felt that +3h/+6h were more often used than +12h/+1d so we kept them on the outside of the map edges.

Easier on mobile devices with small screens to "thumb in" rather than trying to aim in between NOW and other narrower buttons.

Also keep in mind they are increment values, not absolute times. The map time is easier to change by swiping the map picture horizontally in all cases once an increment has been locked in. By default it is 3h.

Still happy to revisit if it confuses other users.

[cfn]

There is a dedicated meteogram for Adelaide. If you wish to have a meteogram for your particular location in SA email us and we'll look into it. The regions for the maps are broader because we need to cater for all users that are not in metropolitan areas while also trying to overlap between states as not to leave any black spots. So the current map areas are a compromise between coverage and resolution. They will be refined and optimised based on feedback to make sure we don't leave anyone out.

[cfn]

We don't manufacture indexes or maps. We just present the raw data. Recently we have introduced map overlays. If you are after a seeing index you can overlay the jetstream on top of the wind map (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=1254570&postcount=8) and that will give you what you are after. More information on composite maps is available here (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=1256400&postcount=23).

[Shano592]

Wow, it looks pretty nice so far. I will have to try this out, as the new moon approacheth.

Are there any plans for phone apps in the future?

[cfn]

The CFN website experience on a mobile device is actually quite fluid, once you have worked out all the navigation/swiping options. But, there are currently no plans to release a CFN app.

[cfn]

27 users so far. Our user base is easily four times that number. Please do let us know your thoughts as it will drive the next batch of development and eventually deliver more features for you.

[AussieTrooper]

Can't find it in the app store for android.

[cfn]

It will run on any Android device running Chrome, Firefox or the native browser as an online web application. CFN is not a compiled app and it is free.

[Phil Hart]

Glad we've got you convinced Marcus ;)

I haven't imaged at long focal lengths so seeing has rarely bothered me and consequently I'm no expert on the topic. Do you notice a good correlation between seeing and other forecast parameters? It's easy to create a seeing index based on high altitude wind speeds but only worth doing if it yields meaningful results. What we don't want to do is create a black box formula which spits out impressive numbers without a good basis.

What else do you look at apart from 300hPa wind? Does good seeing correlate better with light winds, no wind or strong wind at ground level? This last point can probably vary a lot between sites.

Phil

[Phil Hart]

That's impressive but I wouldn't claim that kind of forecast accuracy is common. Can be very good with arrival of frontal systems but low cloud is incredibly hard to forecast well.

[sharptrack2]

If tonight has any basis to measure by, winds at 10m is extremely relevant to good seeing.

Last week I took note that the jet stream was westerly and reasonably steady, and tonight, while it is southerly over Sydney, it was again steady and the steadiness seems to be more relevant than the direction, given that the lower level winds last week were also steady, onshore at the time. Tonight the lower level winds are all over the shop, splitting across the Blue mountains and seemingly having a mind of their own all the way up the coast.

There was an evening recently where the lower level winds were calm but the jet stream was influenced by an upper level high and was a bit of a mess over Sydney. The seeing was still reasonable to me but maybe not good enough for photography.

Tonight the views were mediocre at best, disregarding the crescent moon. The late arriving clouds didn't help either... :(

[skysurfer]

Indeed, that is not needed when a website is properly designed (and CFN is). Website-replacing apps are just obsolete clutter-ups of your cellphone.
Is it a problem to get worldwide info ? There are now lots of sites such as Meteoblue which cover worldwide.

[speach]

I'm a convert to cfn from skippy

[cfn]

Most providers use the GFS model which is free. Wider coverage comes down to cost and resources. Contributions (https://www.paypal.com/au/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=3Re43KzKUAMJRf2WTEjXGuailVR 2Xq9n6squSQ9XpBB2yjvMtqykbob80t0&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3 faee8d64813b57e559a2578463e58274899 069)to help cover running costs are most welcome to help keep us cost neutral.

[marc4darkskies]

Hi Phil,

I confess I'm no expert on these matters either! I don't really know what parameters contribute to seeing conditions but just recently, as suggested above, I overlaid surface winds with jet-stream maps and that seemed OK. That is, low surface winds plus low jet-stream winds = good seeing (on two nights). I haven't tried this often enough to be sure it's a reasonable measure though but so far so good. I imagine it's not that simple though. EG: I'd guess perhaps convection from warm surface temperatures into a cold sky will throw a spanner in the works even when there is no wind (??). Also, even small amounts of intermittent high level cloud seem to mess up seeing - esp at a FL of 3.1m.

The great news is that so far CFN has produced very reliable short term cloud forecasts. Longer term maps aren't bad but I generally only look at the short term maps anyway so I know whether to bother going out.

[Phil Hart]

The unique feature that CFN offers is forecasts based on the BoM ACCESS model. The high resolution version is only available for Australian region so there's not really any point to expanding the service.

Also the BoM data is only available for non-commercial purposes so need to keep the focus on what is realistic with volunteer resources. Better to do one thing well than try to be all things to everyone in my book! ;)

Phil

[Phil Hart]

What do you mean by the jetstream being steady? I'm not sure that we can characterise what you mean from model data.

Your comments sound realistic in terms of the complexity of factors involved but also indicate that much is related to the synoptic situation and how it interacts with local factors. Very hard to boil down to a "seeing index" based on model parameters that can be used at all locations.

Phil

[multiweb]

+1 :thumbsup: I used the same technique for the SPSP2016 and it worked beautifully for me too. Seeing is probably depending on a whole lot more factors including local conditions but this overlay does the job to at least give you a good 'maybe' and certainly a strong 'no-no' when both wind vectors are too long.

[sharptrack2]

Simplistic term for all in one direction and equal velocity across a large area. No disturbances such as when the jet stream has drifted north and you get the less uniform flow under the curve when it exists. I guess the observation I was trying to illustrate was that as long as the upper level winds are of relatively constant velocity, in one direction, the next major contributor to seeing will most certainly be low level winds, as they would have a higher thermal variation from being close to the ground, and when unstable, would be very similar to thermal disturbances on a hot day. If moving at a relatively constant velocity and direction, the variations might be less apparent. All very subjective, based on recent observations.

I also agree that individual experiences will vary according to the micro-climates that exists. I'm slowly building a perception of which macro weather patterns positively influence my immediate micro-climate in the Gosford area. One day soon I'll actually start capturing daily data locally and correlating it to the larger area forecasts, to be able to make a go/no-go decision about setting up for a evening of observing.

[cfn]

Some very exciting news we'd like to share with our supporters in the upcoming survey in spring 2016 about the launch of myCFN (http://www.cloudfreenight.com/member.login), a totally new user experience on Cloud Free Night packed with new features and extensive customisation.