[Rhodes22-list] NOAA weather privatized?

[Steve Alm]

Hmmm...I'm a little sorry I asked, although I know you're just trying to
help.  8-)  So what does all that mean for the likes of me?  Does it mean
better, clearer wx web sites?  What tools does this give me?
Sorry so dumb,
Slim

On 5/19/05 1:17 PM, "Mark Kaynor" <mkaynor at gmail.com> wrote:

> Slim,
> 
> Hoo boy. Another one that's a bit tricky to explain w/ out speaking Geek.
> Like they say, it's all Geek to me....
> 
> XML stands for Extensible Markup Language - it's a markup language (kind of,
> but not really like HTML), that's primarily used to describe and contain
> data for publishing on the WWW. Unlike HTML, however, which uses predefined
> tags, the programmer defines XML tags, making it very powerful for handling
> data - like weather or Amazon or eBay, or insurance info, etc. I know that
> sounds a bit obtuse, so I did a quick Google search and came up w/ this site
> which probably says it a bit better:
> http://www.w3schools.com/xml/xml_whatis.asp
> 
> And here: http://www.htmlgoodies.com/beyond/xml/article.php/3473531
> 
> Mark
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
> [mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Steve Alm
> Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 2:03 PM
> To: Rhodes
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] NOAA weather privatized?
> 
> Mark,
> 
> What is an XML interface?
> 
> Slim
> 
> On 5/19/05 8:00 AM, "Mark Kaynor" <mkaynor at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Folks,
>> 
>> I've been hearing about this for a couple of weeks and thought I'd
>> pass it along.
>> 
>> Mark
>> 
>> The National Weather Service recently began publishing weather data to
>> the public via an easy to access XML interface. Previously NOAA
>> released data in an arcane and complicated format created over 40 years
> ago.
>> 
>> This is a great boon for everyone, as the XML feeds allow for
>> integration of weather data into personal homepages & computer
>> applications, and makes it easier for scientists, meteorology students
>> and people interested in the weather to use industry-standard tools to
> access weather data.
>> 
>> Well, its not great for everyone, particularly companies like
>> Accuweather, who make their money reselling weather data to the public and
> media outlets.
>> Apparently they managed to lobby Senator Santorum of Pennsylvania to
>> introduce a bill, S.786.1, which would prevent the National Weather
>> Service from competing with for-pay weather companies. The language of
>> the bill is very broad and if passed may jeopardize the XML Data Feed,
>> the NOAA website, and even NOAA weather radio.
>> 
>> The following link makes sending a letter to your senators easy -
>> please take the time to do so if you want NOAA to be able to continue
>> to provide free services (the ones we already pay for with our taxes).
>> 
>> https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr003=uio7mzb8p1.app
>> 8a&pag
>> e=UserAction&cmd=display&id=123
>> 
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