Weather Underground as part of The Weather Company, an IBM business, now offers a series of Data Packages that tap into the breadth and depth of weather data to provide current and forecast conditions, seasonal and sub-seasonal forecasts, lifestyle indices, severe weather and historical weather data. With The Weather Company, you can take advantage of these packages quickly and easily, accessing weather data APIs via the Cloud. The packages are curated to give you only what you need in the format you need it. You can Incorporate weather data into your applications or combine business data with weather data such as alerts and notifications, forecast data, and weather imagery, then apply advanced analytics to build the foundation for informed enterprise decision-making. Learn more
To improve our services and enhance the relationship with our users, we will no longer provide free weather API keys as part of our program. If you have been directed to download our Weather Underground free API key by a third party provider, please contact your vendor for resolution.
To improve our services and enhance the relationship with our users, we will no longer provide free weather API keys as part of our program. If you have been directed to download our Weather Underground free API key by a third party provider, please contact your vendor for resolution.
Tim Roche, Official Rep
Posted 2 years ago
Will existing free keys still work? And if not, when will they be turned off?
Tim Roche, Official Rep
for the time being, free keys will continue to work. We will update you if that changes.
Thanks... It would be nice to know if there are plans for the existing keys to go away, and get some advance notice, just so people have a chance to make alternative arrangements.
My API key stopped working around 6/18/2018 and I usually check stats every day during the week to make sure none of my DIY devices are running crazy. I had just made some updates fine tuning a query just over the weekend so a banner across the page warning people about the change would have been good.
Follow up . My key seems to be working again! Still pushing my data to wunderground. I can log in again and looking at the analytics page I see number of calls hit 0 on the 19th but it's been going up. Need to see about restarting my DIY projects to see if they will still work.
(Edited)
Switched to weather from DTN Weather. OMG! Great service. Real people to talk to. Help with API calls, Friendly. Wish I would have changed two years ago when Wunderground stopped caring. www.dtn.com
@Tim Roche, this is really sad. You should still offer a limited API for free for individuals and enthusiasts. You should definitely give free access to contributing PWS users since they have invested in expensive equipment and are providing data to you.
I have no problem with the idea of Wunderground making money but it should be from businesses not individuals (and developers) working on personal projects.
I have no problem with the idea of Wunderground making money but it should be from businesses not individuals (and developers) working on personal projects.
Indeed. Plenty of other sites do the similar things. supply Aircraft Data (ADS-B) to FlightAware and FlightRadar. both give Enterprise and Business accounts for me supplying them with data.
Agreed. And to confirm, I have "$90 a month Enterprise Account" https://flightaware.com/adsb/stats/user/gellenb#stats-65930 with FlightAware for supplying them data. It costs me $0.00 Only difference is, they provided the equipment at no cost. All I had to do is mount it, and provide it power. Now if I just has a plane to fly...
(Edited)
i can update my existing key to pay user? how? we " providing you with the data you need to run your business " another users says and its true ! you need users data!!!
(Edited)
I don't think you can. Even current paying users cannot change what plan they are on.
We were unable to upgrade our paid plan, instead being moved to new IBM/Weather company plans and different API.....
https://www.pwsweather.com/ & AerisWeather.com
Yeah this AerisWeather.com looks like a winner for me. I have a sprinkler system controller that currently uses the WU API to predict water demand for our vegetation. It was hard coded into the firmware by the manufacturer which is no longer in business. It's just a simple micro so I may see if I can change the WU calls to point to AerisWeather instead.
Your Location Is Restricted
Because one of the following reasons.
Your Country, State, City, Zipcode or IP Address
Is Not Allowed On This
Private Weather Page
Because one of the following reasons.
Your Country, State, City, Zipcode or IP Address
Is Not Allowed On This
Private Weather Page
Will users who connect a personal weather station to your system have access to an API? These people are providing you with the data you need to run your business at their own expense, paying for weather station equipment from their own pocket. I should hope that anyone who registers a PWS is given an API key for free.
Asking because I'm currently looking at purchasing a station from Ambient Weather.
Asking because I'm currently looking at purchasing a station from Ambient Weather.
Tim Roche, Official Rep
You will no longer have access to the PWS data through the API. You will however have access to the data on your PWS page if you click the table view, you will see a download option.
hope this helps
tim
hope this helps
tim
I always love the “to serve you better” crap. So you’ll take my data for free but charge me for the api key. I’m feeling so much better knowing this is enhancing our relationship.
What an utterly repugnant way to rebuff the people who are creating your product for you, at their own expense.
I hope the word of this spreads and I would encourage everyone to disconnect and cease sending data to wunderground. When your left with an empty, worthless platform, maybe you'll reconsider this despicable attitude you've taken.
I hope the word of this spreads and I would encourage everyone to disconnect and cease sending data to wunderground. When your left with an empty, worthless platform, maybe you'll reconsider this despicable attitude you've taken.
(Edited)
This x1000. I will be pulling my weather station from WU as soon as this happens. FYI, one of my stations is the only station in a 15 mile radius and right off a major lake and highway. WU needs to rethink this strategy if it continues to get free data, it should expect to give free data.
That crummy CSV file on the table view is not a good substitute for XML or JSON.
Can that file be used by third-party apps?
Can that file be used by third-party apps?
@Matt : haha, obviously not. CVS is crap...
No surprise here with WU, and I don't believe they care about the PWS owners. Hey, don't want to send it, no problem, they will just "take" it from those that also send it up to cwop. The only thing they would lose would be the rapid updates.
Looked at the Aeris Weather and their site looks good, just nothing for PWS from what I saw. If I can't find another site, I think I just dump all the uploads and setup my own page. Not what I want to do, but I've been abused by WU far too long now!
Looked at the Aeris Weather and their site looks good, just nothing for PWS from what I saw. If I can't find another site, I think I just dump all the uploads and setup my own page. Not what I want to do, but I've been abused by WU far too long now!
THANKS for the info!Just setup an account with Aeris and started sending data! KPAMINER2 will be gone on 5/24 from WU! Enough is enough! And if you think you can still get the data from CWOP/APRS...turning that off too.
(Edited)
Well WU, you won the battle, for now. Webcam gone, station gone, just what you wanted. Sad to see what WU has become, and unfortunately, you have not learned from your mistakes in the past, so your doomed to continue to make them. It's all about greed or shortsightedness. You have had many PWS owners provide you data for years, that you profited from. But now you treat them like dirt. I don't know for certain, but I bet, no PWS owner ever got a check or even a thank you from you for providing that free data to you. The PWS owners invested their time and dollars into purchasing, setting up and maintaining their weather stations for you, to make WU better, and to help allow you to be profitable. It's just one thing after another that you take away from the station owner. So what's on the chopping block next. Is that you continue to let services fail like you are now..hoping more go away. Or do you finally decide to turn of the web cams? How about the free weather/no ads subscriptions you provided to owners in the past? I'm sure someone already has that on the list. Like other companies that lose focus of their business, their doomed to fail. or parts of the business that still have value will be sold off. So congratulations are in order! You have successfully pushed another PWS owner out the door!
How about fixing the obvious bugs the people are complaining about in the problems section, instead of asking for money for a service that will fail because of these bugs?
I'd love to know if they're even aware of the problem. Cause we've seen zero WU responses on any of those threads. And my own email and support ticket have gone unanswered.
Same like Murphy. We're paying them $600 a month and no reaction at all, since 10 days.
It's sad in which direction this is heading, the service and quality was a lot better some years ago when we first started using WU. Currently I'm checking out aerisweather.com as an alternative.
It's sad in which direction this is heading, the service and quality was a lot better some years ago when we first started using WU. Currently I'm checking out aerisweather.com as an alternative.
They must be aware. The forum is blowing up with problems and bugs. They just don't care
AerisWeather.com
Hello Tim.
Just to understand more clearly what you said: is it impacting PWS owners who push data to your services and want to access their own (current) data via your apis?
Thanks.
Pierre
Just to understand more clearly what you said: is it impacting PWS owners who push data to your services and want to access their own (current) data via your apis?
Thanks.
Pierre
(Edited)
Tim Roche, Official Rep
You will no longer have access to the PWS data through the API. You will however have access to the data on your PWS page if you click the table view, you will see a download option.
hope this helps
tim
hope this helps
tim
Hello Tim. It helps. But this it is totally unfair to weather enthusiasts who send you data from their PWS. It's even totally unjustifiable, from my point of view. I can not even believe you can answer that...
Tim Roche, Official Rep
Thats a fair point. We did have long hard discussions about this, and PWS owners in particular. The hope was that the data download from the site, would be a sufficient replacement. Please be aware that we are following this thread, and everyone's concerns are being noted.
If WU is following this thread, do you think we could get an update on the intermittent problem of API requests returning forecasting data from January 3rd? No one seems to be getting any responses from WU and a lot of us are paying pretty handsomely for this service.
Hi, Tim. Why, if you thought about us, the PWS owners, why you didn’t send a notice to let us know about your plans. Anyway, I deleted my PWS from your network, but so you know, it is still showing on the map. I will wait a day or two to see if it will be completely removed from your system.
Tim Roche, Official Rep
What is your PWS id? I will look into why it is still showing up
-tim
-tim
I just don’t want to share my location PWS here, right now. You can find it using my ID in your system, or I can send it privately. Thanks.
Thats a fair point. We did have long hard discussions about this, and
PWS owners in particular. The hope was that the data download from the
site, would be a sufficient replacement. Please be aware that we are
following this thread, and everyone's concerns are being noted.
I don't care about pulling my own weather data. I have that already. My home automation uses the forecasts and weather radar for events. That's all I need from the api key that I have. If I can't get that, then I see no incentive for continuing to send you weather data.
I don't care about pulling my own weather data. I have that already. My home automation uses the forecasts and weather radar for events. That's all I need from the api key that I have. If I can't get that, then I see no incentive for continuing to send you weather data.
Hi, @Tim Roche - my PWS is still on your system and provide data... this is not good. I already delete it from my dashboard. You are braking my privacy now. Please advise!
According to WU the delete option only works if you haven’t uploaded any data. Once you’ve uploaded data you can stop sending them data and eventually your station will not show up on maps or search results but if you go directly to your pws page it will still be there. Once you’ve sent them data they own it and can do whatever they like.
Hi, Roger. Thanks. I don’t care what they do with my PWS old data, I’m talking about my PWS showing on WU map and keep sending them data. I delete it from my account, but it is still available with high and low temps on WU map.
If they are showing new, current, data it’s because you are sending it to them. WU cannot pull data from your weather station. You need to go into your software and delete the upload to WU.
True, Roger, but not exactly. I deleted my station from WU system and this way my station WU upload service should “knock” on a closed door, right? Then why you, WU, give me the option to delete my station, but in the background you’re keeping the door open for data? It doesn’t make sense to me...
Id imagine the delete option only works if you stop sending the data. YOUR software is sending data.
If or when my API key stops working, I will stop sending WU weather data, as there would no longer be any benefit for me to do so.
I already did that. Deleted my PWS and I got no confirmation asking me if I'm sure about that...
The responses have plainly laid out that they commercialized the service. Period. This archaic business model is now free to go ahead and fold up.
This is a part of their current (IBM) business approach with some important "players" that make products with big investments and look to kill competition that relies on the WU service so they can be the only one that uses the WU users PWS network. This is all about money. IBM currently advertise about some hyper-local weather <- this is simply from our PWS they are using the data from... this is the perfect opportunity...
I understand things can’t be free. Testing things with an app without paying is avoiding it the cost of doing business. What I am upset with is the fact that PWS owners that upload to WU have get no credit in terms of having a preferential API that they can use for personal, non-profit uses. My use is simply to optimize my RainMachine forecast for irrigation needs of my lawn. There are no reliable data sources so my Davis station locally feeds RainMachine with my uploaded data. At the end of the day it would be nice for WU to be more transparent. What are the API numbers? How many free APIs? Maybe that would explain to the users that their model is not working.
It won't matter because people will just scrape the data anyway so what's the point of charging for it? Answer: NONE.
I submitted a request via the form and got a call today from The Weather Company. Date Core package (the smallest one) is $850/mo.
I laughed so hard.
I am literally writing code to switch to Aeris right now.
I am literally writing code to switch to Aeris right now.
And did they give you any feedback about the usage of the - still functional - free API keys WU provided until this point? (e.g. should we expect any restrictions soon?)
Wow! $850 a month to access my PWS data ... what a bargain and twice the price - (sarcasm)
So- you (WU) are monetizing our data, which we are fine with, but you want us to PAY YOU for the luxury of being screwed?
So- you (WU) are monetizing our data, which we are fine with, but you want us to PAY YOU for the luxury of being screwed?
I am an app developer - a week ago I decided to use weather underground and I subscribed and have spent the last week coding. Today I was ready to try it out and I discover this change.
I wasn't told about this upcoming change when I got my key a week ago not was I told when the policy was changed. This is really shortsighted by IBM and weather underground.
IBM are you going to reimburse my lost week of development? If you behave like this now, no way will I want to invest more of my time and money in your product because I cannot trust you to be transparent about your intentions
I wasn't told about this upcoming change when I got my key a week ago not was I told when the policy was changed. This is really shortsighted by IBM and weather underground.
IBM are you going to reimburse my lost week of development? If you behave like this now, no way will I want to invest more of my time and money in your product because I cannot trust you to be transparent about your intentions
Don't feel bad I have 2 apps completely relying on Wunderground for the app and now they've screwed everyone.....
So, I have provided free, rapid-fire updates of data to WUnderground for years (PWS: KPAALBRI11), in trade for access to MY data in the API. If IBMWunderground now wants to charge me to access MY data the only option I have is to stop providing it.
I hope that if this comes to pass, all PWS owners move in this direction. There are alternatives available to us (Meteotemplate, WeeWX, etc) to run a weather site, as well as other aggregators to use APIs against.
I guess IBM wants to kill off this business unit - its hard to sell data when your data providers stop providing it for free
I could see a model where you can access your data via the API "X" times a day free and pay for other data, but this is a suicidal business model
I wonder if the "Right to be Forgotten" in the GDPR would include the deletion of ALL data that my account has uploaded ... time to talk to my GDPR folks at work
I hope that if this comes to pass, all PWS owners move in this direction. There are alternatives available to us (Meteotemplate, WeeWX, etc) to run a weather site, as well as other aggregators to use APIs against.
I guess IBM wants to kill off this business unit - its hard to sell data when your data providers stop providing it for free
I could see a model where you can access your data via the API "X" times a day free and pay for other data, but this is a suicidal business model
I wonder if the "Right to be Forgotten" in the GDPR would include the deletion of ALL data that my account has uploaded ... time to talk to my GDPR folks at work
(Edited)
Hi John!
First it is privacy data: your data is strongly geolocalized and associated with your account.
Second, GDPR makes no difference on the data type, in case of enabling its erasing.
So, yes, GDPR fully applies. Just wait for 7 days ;)
First it is privacy data: your data is strongly geolocalized and associated with your account.
Second, GDPR makes no difference on the data type, in case of enabling its erasing.
So, yes, GDPR fully applies. Just wait for 7 days ;)
(Edited)
Pierre Merci!
I got the same output from my GDPR folks... so I fully expect to request that all the data I provided over the years be purged and deleted once i finish writing my WeeWX based JSON files for my home automation system :)
I got the same output from my GDPR folks... so I fully expect to request that all the data I provided over the years be purged and deleted once i finish writing my WeeWX based JSON files for my home automation system :)
If you want more fun, you can query WU to provide a full copy of your data (GDPR inside ;))...
You sir want the internets :)
Is the pricing of the new Data Packages already available? If so, where can we find it?
I got a call from a rep - Core Data is $850/mo.
Ok. Thank you! Do you know if there is an official pricing table with all the plans?
@Jared do you happen to have any contact info for that rep?
Hi there,
What will happen with the current paid plans. We are on Cumulus - Drizzle 150usd. When will these be migrated and what are similar alternatives in the new model.
More info please, as we need time to prepare and look for alternatives.
Thanks.
What will happen with the current paid plans. We are on Cumulus - Drizzle 150usd. When will these be migrated and what are similar alternatives in the new model.
More info please, as we need time to prepare and look for alternatives.
Thanks.
We are also on Drizzle plan and using raindrops daily to cover overages. I want to upgrade our plan before my raindrops are depleted in a couple of weeks but the link they send me daily to do takes me to the right page but gives me absolutely no way to select a new plan. I have found no way to contact anyone other than through the information request form that nobody responds to.... would love to hear from anyone who has found a way to change their paid plan or make contact with anyone at WU who knows or cares...
Victoria Gardner, Official Rep
Now that I've gone through the expense of buying all the stuff and now can't use it for what i wanted it for how do I get my imfo off the map. I can stop feeding my station imfo but can't figure out how to remove my site. I can't believe I went through all this for nothing. I'm wondering if everyone stopped sending imfo what they would do?
Well, I too would like to think that us not sending them weather data anymore would make them rethink things. However, I think that the truth is that very few of the people sending them weather data use the API. Are they really going to care if they lose less then 1% (even if they were some of the more accurate ones) of the weather stations reporting?
Yes, I will stop sending data when my API key stops working.
I just got a email from them stating if I don't agree with the new rules they go into effect on may 25 th so if I don't want to agree cancel before then. That's just to bad Co don't care about people that help them get big like now. They got what they wanted. Even Alexa didn't know u can't get the API key anymore that makes there app work.
Oh I'm pretty sure they don't want to tangle with Amazon.....they'll lose.