Location Based Weather Forecast Application

Abstract

The idea of the Final Year Project (FYP) comes from protean weather. On every day, observatories around the world publish their weather forecast report to public for their planning. However, there is a disadvantage that the report do not tell the actual time and location that will be raining. It is not convenient that the people only know it will rain today, but do not know "when", "where" and "how". In addition, existing propagation method of weather information is lack of interaction and communication between users and the media. For example, the users must actively query the information what they want in an application. The objective is to solve the above problems with high quality. It is to develop a Weather Forecast Mobile Application with a Precipitation Forecast System and a Weather Data Collection System. The both systems are to support the operation of the mobile app. For the Precipitation Forecast System, it is to predict precipitation based on radar weather images from Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) by using a new Precipitation Forecast Methodology. The method contains image processing, patter recognition, and data analysis. The radar images clearly shows current precipitation and will be published by every 12 minutes. The rainfall areas in the images will be analyzed to get their motion pattern. By following the motion pattern, the precipitation can be predicted. The expected forecast result can reach up to 2 hours. For the Weather Data Collection System, it is to collect and integrate weather data from a third-party interface Open Weather Map. The API provides comprehensive weather data which is from more than 40,000 weather stations around the world. It is expected that the weather information should be comprehensive and accurate. For the Weather Forecast Mobile Application, it is to interact and communicate with the users. The app is developed by using hybrid techniques to achieve cross-platform feature and rapid development feature. The weather information from the both systems will be presented in this mobile app. To be smart and convenient, smart features are added such as outdoor facilities suggestion function, location and route weather monitor, rain notification, etc. The solution can provide a more comprehensive weather forecast report to remedy lack of precipitation information issue. It also can provide a more intelligent method to interact with the users. There is a number of areas can be improved. On everyday life, people tend to plan their itinerary depend on the weather. People can decide whether should they bring an umbrella, or what kind of transport should be taken in. People also can plan their activities on a rainy day as they know the exact time and location that will be raining. On transportation, as road situation depends a lot on weather, drivers can make a better choice of route to save more time with the help of improved weather report. On outdoor activities, the organization can be well-prepared for the function to prevent the impact of protean weather. As long as our daily lives affected by weather, the mobile app can bring convenience to our life by letting us have a better plan.