Comments on: The i-ball report http://www.driftsurfing.eu/index.php/archives/3946 Perspective(s) in Surfing Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:48:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Surfing http://www.driftsurfing.eu/index.php/archives/3946#comment-1256 Surfing Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:54:41 +0000 http://www.driftsurfing.eu/?p=3946#comment-1256 Kill Me Kill Me

]]> By: David http://www.driftsurfing.eu/index.php/archives/3946#comment-1213 David Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:41:19 +0000 http://www.driftsurfing.eu/?p=3946#comment-1213 Twitter is indeed useful to get live tweets from people you follow who have checked the surf (although also frustrating when you're stuck in the office and everyone is tweeting about how good it is, and then uploading a pic to really rub it in). However it's worth mentioning that many 'surf report sites', such as A1Surf.com, Eyeball-Surfcheck and Magicseaweed do also have 'live human surf checks', as well as displaying automated forecasts or other data sources. At A1Surf.com we are always looking for people to give us live surf checks, plus our users can 'comment' live on the report pages to update fellow users.if conditions change throughout the day. Any way of getting more waves (however you do it) is a good thing, although no doubt some feel that more ways to check the surf = more crowds. Twitter is indeed useful to get live tweets from people you follow who have checked the surf (although also frustrating when you’re stuck in the office and everyone is tweeting about how good it is, and then uploading a pic to really rub it in).

However it’s worth mentioning that many ‘surf report sites’, such as A1Surf.com, Eyeball-Surfcheck and Magicseaweed do also have ‘live human surf checks’, as well as displaying automated forecasts or other data sources.

At A1Surf.com we are always looking for people to give us live surf checks, plus our users can ‘comment’ live on the report pages to update fellow users.if conditions change throughout the day.

Any way of getting more waves (however you do it) is a good thing, although no doubt some feel that more ways to check the surf = more crowds.

]]> By: Ben http://www.driftsurfing.eu/index.php/archives/3946#comment-1209 Ben Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:27:15 +0000 http://www.driftsurfing.eu/?p=3946#comment-1209 Thanks for the feedback Clare - we spend a lot of time working on the forecast on magicseaweed and sometimes you can get a little too close for your own good, so always useful to step back and hear an unbiased opinion (we tend to get love or hate and less objective critique between the two). We introduced a new feature a while back which we called the 'multiswell' view, which in a nutshell showed you that low period wind swell that won't make a wave on the beach AND the sneaky incoming groundswell that would - we've been using pretty much nothing else since then ourselves and scoring some sessions we know we'd have missed otherwise. It's given us the continued confidence that the forecast data IS really very very reliable, but our presentation of it is missing a beat and with that in mind we've spent the last six months working on a new version which intelligently picks the swell it thinks most likely to make a decent wave and displays this first. Your forecast still looks very similar (and you can still drill down and see all the swell running) but it gets round the problem you mention here and makes for, we hope, a much easier to use forecast that more regularly gets you to the right place at the right time. Great timing for us that your (justified) critisism hits when we hope to have the issue fixed in the next couple of weeks. Interesting also the Twitter writeup - we've just built and are testing an addition to Magicseaweed which allows you to snap the surf with your phone, upload it instantly and then share it online. Where I think we're different to Twitter for surf forecasting is that while we run a busy 'public' forecast we do recognise that a great many surfers won't want to share their sessions with whole world, with the magicseaweed version you will be able to if you choose (although only tied to one of our main listed spots) - but probably more relevant for most of us is you'll be able to share your eyeballs with just your friends (via MSW or facebook) or a group and tie them to the actual spots you're surfing (which of course might be ones you don't want to broadcast) which I think is closer to the way most of us would want to do it. Thanks for the feedback Clare – we spend a lot of time working on the forecast on magicseaweed and sometimes you can get a little too close for your own good, so always useful to step back and hear an unbiased opinion (we tend to get love or hate and less objective critique between the two). We introduced a new feature a while back which we called the ‘multiswell’ view, which in a nutshell showed you that low period wind swell that won’t make a wave on the beach AND the sneaky incoming groundswell that would – we’ve been using pretty much nothing else since then ourselves and scoring some sessions we know we’d have missed otherwise. It’s given us the continued confidence that the forecast data IS really very very reliable, but our presentation of it is missing a beat and with that in mind we’ve spent the last six months working on a new version which intelligently picks the swell it thinks most likely to make a decent wave and displays this first. Your forecast still looks very similar (and you can still drill down and see all the swell running) but it gets round the problem you mention here and makes for, we hope, a much easier to use forecast that more regularly gets you to the right place at the right time. Great timing for us that your (justified) critisism hits when we hope to have the issue fixed in the next couple of weeks.

Interesting also the Twitter writeup – we’ve just built and are testing an addition to Magicseaweed which allows you to snap the surf with your phone, upload it instantly and then share it online. Where I think we’re different to Twitter for surf forecasting is that while we run a busy ‘public’ forecast we do recognise that a great many surfers won’t want to share their sessions with whole world, with the magicseaweed version you will be able to if you choose (although only tied to one of our main listed spots) – but probably more relevant for most of us is you’ll be able to share your eyeballs with just your friends (via MSW or facebook) or a group and tie them to the actual spots you’re surfing (which of course might be ones you don’t want to broadcast) which I think is closer to the way most of us would want to do it.

]]> By: Kat http://www.driftsurfing.eu/index.php/archives/3946#comment-1208 Kat Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:18:42 +0000 http://www.driftsurfing.eu/?p=3946#comment-1208 I'm doing it for two twitter accounts (@carvemag and @surfgirlmag); it's then fed into the websites and blogs. And facebook, when HootSuite integrates that. I don't know that I'd do it as a personal thing…or only, again, for main beaches. The MagicSeaweed app lets you upload reports to their eyeball pages - I do this for Fistral. Walking the dog anyway, so why not? Sometimes I have an old-school reaction - sod the tweeting, I'm just getting in there. Sometimes I get sick of pulling my iPhone out at every snappable/tweetable opportunity. Techno-boring myself! Today it's so misty I can't tell how big it is. I can hear waves…but I can't get to them… I’m doing it for two twitter accounts (@carvemag and @surfgirlmag); it’s then fed into the websites and blogs. And facebook, when HootSuite integrates that. I don’t know that I’d do it as a personal thing…or only, again, for main beaches. The MagicSeaweed app lets you upload reports to their eyeball pages – I do this for Fistral. Walking the dog anyway, so why not?

Sometimes I have an old-school reaction – sod the tweeting, I’m just getting in there. Sometimes I get sick of pulling my iPhone out at every snappable/tweetable opportunity. Techno-boring myself!

Today it’s so misty I can’t tell how big it is. I can hear waves…but I can’t get to them…

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