Thanks that is great!
Some improvements have been done to the bot to help with the “jamming” issue found in poor connectivity situations.
The three graphics functions
radar
satir
sferics
now return a lot smaller image, but with quality plenty good enough for the job. This makes it less likely to get “jammed up”.
Also there is a URL-only option on these
radar url
satir url
sferics url
which returns just the URL of an image, which you can then retrieve when convenient
The URLs will be valid for 1 month, so this is useful for getting a snapshot of the wx for later use, without filling up the medial storage on the client device.
Is there a possibility to prioritise responses in bot queue, e.g. send back shorter ones first from the stack? Is it worth to add some command for canceling requests?
There could be but I think the issue is that the outbound data stream is blocked by the inbound data stream. The Autorouter bot can get clogged up with just one wx image request and is totally useless until you land What might be possible is for the server, having received a request for an image, to do some sort of check for connectivity, but I don’t know if the bot functionality allows a quick query of the client, without the query being visible to the user. I will check. It might have to be implemented so that the server keeps checking periodically, but again I see a problem there: in flight, 3g/4g connectivity can be as brief as a few seconds only.
I just looked at this for the first time.
I’ve never used telegram; downloaded onto my PC, opened the app and all I get is an opportunity to send message.
What am I missing?
@Stickandrudderman If you type
@euroga-airports
into the Search box, it should take you to the bot. There is currently no authentication.
Are there any other functions which people here would like to see? Some things are easy, while some are complicated
I just looked at this for the first time.
I’ve never used telegram; downloaded onto my PC, opened the app and all I get is an opportunity to send message.
What am I missing?
Peter wrote:
that request will block all subsequent ones and it can remain blocked until you land
Is there a possibility to prioritise responses in bot queue, e.g. send back shorter ones first from the stack? Is it worth to add some command for canceling requests?
One bit of advice when using this bot (and this applies equally to any other telegram bot):
If you ask for wx only (tafs/metars) then you need only the most brief or poor quality internet connection, to get a load of tafs/metars.
But if you ask for a bigger object, say the radar/sferics/IR image, that needs more time to download, and if the connection is never good enough (say, over France, FL100, you may never get a usable connection for more than 1-2 secs) that request will block all subsequent ones and it can remain blocked until you land. I’ve had that many times with the Autorouter bot.
So if possible, get the bigger stuff before you get airborne, and when airborne use the bot for tafs/metars.
No news is good news
Except that it works, no other feedback from my side.
Does anyone have any feedback on the telegram bot?
Radar is now working.