API url: http://weather.sun.ac.za/api/getlivedata.php?tag&tag&tag
add as many &tag's as you like

The API returns a html page with the values you specified separated by the specified delimiter 
or a html break (<br />) if none was given. The last value is always followed by the delimiter.

The values are returned in the same order as the tags. If you use the same tag more than once 
in the same request, only the first one will be used and the rest ignored.

It is possible to choose from which weather station the returned values should come by adding 
the setstation tag to the request as shown below.

All special characters will be returned as html entities. Thus, even if this document displays
incorrectly, the returned values will be correct.

If you request a value that is not available, three hyphens will be returned (---). This is also 
applicable to times.

This API does not have any fail-over or backup whatsoever. If the power goes down the API will 
not work. Use the API at your own risk. Neither The University of Stellenbosch, the Administrator 
of the server, nor the webmaster can be held responsible for any damage caused by the use of this 
website or the API.

DELIMITER
---------

delimiter
Character or string of characters to separate the results of queries. Defaults to <br /> if none 
is specified. Please note that special characters might cause weird behaviour and in such a case
the url encoded character should rather be supplied.
Url: ...?tag&tag&delimiter=<br />
Returns: 24.5<br />68<br />

WEATHER STATION
---------------

setstation
The weather station from which the measurements must be taken. EE or MM. If none is specified the 
best one is automatically chosen. Do note the difference between the setstation and station tags.
URL: ...?tag&tag&setstation=EE&delimiter=<br />

OTHER TAGS
----------
+-------------------------------+
| Possible values for "tag"     |
+-------------------------------+
| tag                           |
| description                   |
| example of returned value     |
+-------------------------------+

Only tags marked with a - are currently available. Ignore the -, * and $ when using the tag. Those are only to keep record of what still needs to be done.


GENERAL INFO
------------

-about
Normal about message.
Copyright JP Meijers 2010

-version
The version of this API. It returns the date on which the last change was made.
2010-12-05

-*date
Date of the last measurement received from the weather station.
18/03/10

-*time
Time of the last measurement.
14:17

-locationname
Town where the weather station are located.
Stellenbosch

(coordinates...)

-*station
Weather Station Name. MM is for the weather station at mechanical engineering, EE for the one at 
E&E engineering. This name is an indication from which station the current record came. Due to 
automatic fail-over this might change a lot.
MM

-sunrise
Today's sunrise time computed with php like this: 
date_sunrise(time(), SUNFUNCS_RET_STRING, -33.928, 18.866, 90+50/60, 2);
6:46

-sunset
Today's sunset time computed with php: 
date_sunset(time(), SUNFUNCS_RET_STRING, -33.928, 18.866, 90+50/60, 2);
18:59

-quickforecast
The current weather trend according to the barometer, humidity and temperature.
Increasing clouds with little temperature change.

If there is a need for it, I can add data about the moon. But you can easily enough compute it 
yourself. If someone has a algorithm to calculate moonrise and moonset times, please let me know.


OUTSIDE TEMPERATURE - all temperatures are in degrees Celsius
-------------------

-*temperature
Outside Temperature <- updated every minute from the weather station. Last update is given by 
"date" & "time".
39: 21.2

-maxtemp
High outside Temperature
41: 21.2

-maxtemptime
The time today at which the maxtemp occurred.
41: 0:00

-mintemp
Low outside Temperature
43: 21.2

-mintemptime
The time today at which it was the coldest.
43: 0:00


OUTSIDE HUMIDITY - unit is percentage
----------------

-*humidity
Outside humidity
67: 44

-maxhum
High humidity
69: 44

-maxhumtime:
time
00:00

-minhum
Low humidity
71: 44

-minhumtime:
time
00:00


BAROMETER - unit is hectopascal (hPa) or millibar
---------

-*baro
Barometer
81: 1012.2

-barotrend
Barometer Trend
83: Steady

-maxbaro
High barometer
85: ---

-maxbarotime:
time
85: ----

-minbaro
Low barometer
87: ---

-minbarotime:
time
87: ----


WIND - unit is kilometre per hour
----

-*wind
The windspeed at the instant the sample was take. That is at the time given by the "time" tag.
97: 11.3

-*winddir
Wind direction sector in degrees

-*windsec
Wind direction sector
109: NNW

-windavg
10 minute average wind speed
99: 12.9

-windavgdir
10 minute average wind direction in degrees. Maximum two decimal places.
329.45

-windavgdirsec
10 minute average wind direction sector.
NNW

-maxwind
High wind speed
101: 16.1

-maxwindtime:
time
0:00

-*windrun

-*windchill
Wind chill - degrees Celsius
111: 20.9

minwindchill
Low wind chill
113: 21.1

minwindchilltime:
time
113: 0:00

Nobody needs the maximum wind chill, but if somebody really wants it let me know.


OUTSIDE DEW POINT
-----------------

-*dew
Outside dew point
159: 8.4 °C

maxdew
High dew point
161: 8.3 °C at 0:00

maxdewtime:

mindew
Low dew point
163: 8.3 °C at 0:00

mindewtime: 


OUTSIDE - OTHER
---------------

-*heat
Outside heat index <- "aanvoelbare temperatuur", alhoewel "windchill" 'n beter waarde sal gee
175: 19.9 °C

maxheat
High heat index
177: 20.0 °C at 0:00

maxheattime

-*thw
High thsw index <- Ook 'n vorm van "aanvoelbare temperatuur", maar neem temperatuur, humiditeit, 
son en wind in ag. Gewoonlik 'n baie beter waarde om verskillende dorpe se "warmte" te vergelyk.
183: 17.8 °C at 0:00

maxthw

maxthwtime

-$*thsw

$maxthsw

$maxthswtime


PRECIPITATION
-------------

-dayrain
Daily rain
0.2

-monthrain
Ammount of rain since the beginning of this month.
9

-yearrain
Ammount of rain since 1 January.
61.6

-*rainrate
Rain rate <- currently raining if >0
127: 0.0 mm/hr

maxrainrate
High rain rate
129: 0.0 mm/hr at ----

maxrainratetime:


$dayet
Daily et <- evapotranspiration - go and wiki it.
137: 0.00 mm


SUNLIGHT INTENSITY
------------------

-$*solarrad
Solar radiation
143: 0 W/m²

$maxsolarrad
High solar rad
145: 0 W/m² at ----

$maxsolarradtime

-$*solarenergy

$maxsolarenergy

$maxsolarenergytime

-$*uvindex
Uv <- current value
151: 0.0 index

$maxuvindex
High uv
153: 0.0 index at ----

$maxuvindextime

-$*uvdose

$maxuvdose

$maxuvdosetime


MEASUREMENTS INSIDE BUILDING
----------------------------

-*insidetemp
Inside temperature
25: 25.4 °C

-*insidehum
Inside humidity
53: 33 %

-*insidedew
Inside dew point
173: 7.9 °C

-*insideheat
Inside heat index
189: 24.7 °C


UNITS
-----

All of the following returns the appropriate unit encoded with html entities.

-rainunit

-rainrateunit

-tempunit

-windunit

-humidunit

-barounit



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If anything is missing, unclear or malfunctioning, 
please contact me.   web<at>jpmeijers.com
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