iFly GPS Forum

Cobra, it actually makes my case. Since the actual rain isn't close to the edge, then what little echo is removed by smoothing actually puts the lines closer to reality.

I understand perfectly your point and I agree with you100%, there's no way to algorythmically "unblur" a photo into focus. However, smoothing is not the same as bringing a photo into focus. There's no way to know what's in a photo, whereas precipitation follows a known pattern nearly all the time.

I'm trying myself to make the point that smoothing a 5-15 minute old, 1 sq mile block is not going to appreciably alter the accuracy of the block. As a pilot approaching the return, you've already made your decision to penetrate/not penetrate the echo from several miles away. If the echo has been there long enough, you've determined it's movement and picked your preferred route around or through it. By the time you actually reach the precipitation (should you decide to do so), the error introduced by any smoothing is negligible compared to the time lag and square-mile blocks.

On my last trip, the controller advised me of moderate precip and light chop ahead. It was only a few miles in width and I proceeded thru it. I encountered light rain and no chop, and flew out the other side a good mile or two before ADS- said I would. Based on my experience and the below track of my path, I'd say the smoothing was quite accurate especially coming out the southwestern side, whereas the ADS-B was, as always, "blurry".

[attachment]Smoothing.JPG[/attachment]

To pretty up the ADS-B on the device or "Client" to the point of a more visual pleasing experience, it would be a pretty dramatic performance drain, if even feasible. To process, smooth and pretty internet radar on our server and then push to the devices would not be nearly as impactful to performance. This brings about the issue of Internet Weather looking polished and pretty, yet ADS-B nexrad looking much more raw and blocky.

Walter and Brian have tried to keep them similar and reduce so much of a stark difference. If you look at Garmin, ForeFlight, etc, their Internet streamed nexrad is heavily processed to be smooth, polished, etc. But if you look at the ADS-B nexrad from a Stratux, FlightBox, etc, then you'll see it is very blocky and un-smoothed as well.

There is just so much more efficient ways to process, smooth the internet data since the power of our servers can be tapped. There are even means to buy already processed data from companies like Wunderground, Baron, and many more. With ADS-B, it's all raw data and really has to be processed "client side" on the ADS-B receiver or the display device.