[geofffox]

I am very unusual in that I'm comfortable on both sides of the camera. What I learned is building a studio is an IT project!

Maybe the most unusual part is, none of this would work unless I could run the show by myself. My TriCaster is programmable with macros which is what I've done. I am my own director while on the air.

Oh -- with a friend I created a map making system which runs on an i5 and produces ~ 40,000 maps a day. Here are some samples I threw together a few months ago. These are 100% produced using FOSS including the map databases and fonts! https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/172O4Xl35np8RnbRi07PD...

My last computer class was as a senior in high school, 1967-68 semester. This was BEFORE computers had screens.

[mxstbr]

Wow this is super interesting, you should do an AMA!

[voltagex_]

This doesn't look like any map system I've seen - can you share details on your renderer?

There's a lot of untapped potential in geospatial (even with Google taking most of the mindshare)

[geofffox]

Sure -- It's a multistage process making a graphics sandwich. The meteo data is done by GrADS. I render these at full HD resolution-- 1920x1080.

The base map and overlay are both produced in QGIS using the NaturalEarth database. Because GrADS can't read geographical info from graphics they are built by hand and the parameters are entered into GrADS by hand.

Animations are made from still png frames using ffmpeg.

OpenSans is my font.

All of this runs on an i5 with 8Gb of RAM under CentOS7. I make around 40,000 maps a day (one per frame in the animations).

I am 68 years old. My only computer training came 51 years ago. This is all self taught.

[FiveSquared]

AMA on Reddit please?

[Insanity]

That is really amazing! My hat off to you!

I agree with the others here that an AMA might be worth it :)

[bscphil]

I would be thrilled to see some of the code for your map system, if you feel like open sourcing it on Github or the like. Even a verbal description of it would be great. It looks really great!

[geofffox]

If you wrote code like mine you wouldn't want it seen. I have borrowed freely from others, especially the College of DuPage whose entire site (except satellites) is on github. Their code is well written and documented.

[jonathanpoulter]

Not meaning to be rude, it sounds like you're going strong and providing a great service. But if you retire in future do you plan on handing down your code and setup to someone?

[geofffox]

I haven't thought about it. I have a business in mind for the maps which would keep them in demand. More about that in my AMA I suppose.

I am very happy with my life and where we live. I really don't want develop a big business. Can I just be an artisinal meteorologist?

[softawre]

Heck yes you can, you do you, friend.

[HocusLocus]

Who is John Galt?