Uploading to WOW - site ID and authentication key **solved**

[benlankamp]

I just signed up to the Met Office WOW website. Now I want to connect our Meteobridge Pro to WOW. It seems there have been significant changes to the set-up of WOW, which is causing trouble to get the data flowing. Two things:

1. What is the 'site ID' that Meteobridge requires? I have an ID shown between braces displayed below the station name, in a mixed numeric/literal format with dashes: for example aa00bb11-cc22-dd33-ee44-ff55gg66hh77. There is also an 'observation id', which also has a mixed numeric/literal format but does not contain dashes: for example 20160705abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyza

2. There is no AWS PIN on the 'Edit site' page under [Site details], only an 'authentication key'. This field accepts both numerical and literal characters and is not limited to 6 digits/characters.

I have tried numerous combinations of both id's and a 6-digit PIN code or a random password as authentication key. It appears sometimes the input is accepted, as indicated by the green ticks on the 'Weather Nets' tab, but then 1 minute later there are red ticks again. No data is visible on the WOW website.

[admin]

The site ID you tried with is for sure not correct.
Please get in touch with WOW to get your right credentials, I cannot offer much help in this.

[Mattk]

Site ID is a 9 digit number created when you set up the site. Look under the "My Sites" tab, under the image there is the site name and immediately under that is ID you require for MB. The Authentication Key is a six (6) digit number which you should have input when you created the site. You need to go into "Edit Site", Authentication Key box is located under Site Details. Your WOW User ID is the (5) five digit number, this is not used in MB

"20160705abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyza" This is the observation id and has nothing to do with setting up WOW in MB

[admin]

@Mattk: thanks for providing details.

[benlankamp]

Site ID is a 9 digit number created when you set up the site. Look under the "My Sites" tab, under the image there is the site name and immediately under that is ID you require for MB. The Authentication Key is a six (6) digit number which you should have input when you created the site. You need to go into "Edit Site", Authentication Key box is located under Site Details. Your WOW User ID is the (5) five digit number, this is not used in MB

"20160705abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyza" This is the observation id and has nothing to do with setting up WOW in MB

This has changed for new users, I suspect:

1. Under 'My Sites' on the right hand side, there is an 'id' between braces in the format I previously mentioned:



2. Under 'Edit site' I can enter an authentication key, but there is no restriction on characters (numerical or literal). I currently entered a six-digit umber to be sure, but it makes no difference.

I did send an e-mail to WOW but they have yet to get back to me. I will let you know what the response was.

[Mattk]

Ok then we are dealing with different country modifications then of the UK system?

That ID in brackets would be the equiv to the ID I see and use for stations in MBP.

Yes Authentication key is User input and for some reason mine are 6 digit numbers but have been setup for some time. I also see the WOW site presentation has changed since the last time I logged in.

[Mattk]

An example/comparison of what the BOM (AU) Site ID

WOW Site ID example BOM AU

WOW-Test.jpg (4.68 KiB) Viewed 7941 times

[benlankamp]

I got this response from the MetOffice:

Hi Ben

Thank you for your email.

Yes the site ID has changed for new sites created, however old site ID's will stay as a 9 digit number.

Could you confirm if you are able to change it in Meteobridge or if it always needs to be 9 digits. If the latter is the case I will work with the developers to find a solution.

For the authorisation key I shall double check.

Adam – can you advise please on the authorisation key and on the site ID?

Many Thanks
Maria

Maria Dorothy
Project Manager - Observations
Met Office FitzRoy Road Exeter EX1 3PB United Kingdom
Tel: 07920767336
E-mail: maria.dorothy@metoffice.gov.uk
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/

@Admin: I don't know if the MeteoBridge software has to be changed to support these new ID's.

[admin]

I don't think this can be a problem. It is just text fields Meteobridge is taking data from and sending as is to WOW. Does anybody tried and failed?

[Mattk]

Yes created a new WOW Site today which created the Site ID as a 36 character string, 5 groups separated by hyphens containing a mix of numeric & lower case

Error on the Weather nets page when saved as follows
Error: UK Met Office WOW / WOW-NL: Site ID or PIN incorrect

Error on the Live data tab
(red cross) UK Met Office WOW / WOW-NL: 2016-07-13 15:12:55 Error: Please check Site ID and PIN!

[benlankamp]

This page describes how data can be uploaded automatically: http://wow.metoffice.gov.uk/support/dat ... #automatic
Perhaps it contains pointers on how to solve the problem. In the mean time, I will try to intercept the HTTP request that Meteobridge makes to WOW, to see what can be changed to make it work. If a solution presents itself, I will update this topic.

[admin]

I did setup a new site with the long site id (which is in brackets underneath the google maps snippet of the site page) and NOT the user ID also displayed at the bottom of the site page. Don't forget to give it an "Authentication Key" as well on "edit site" page. Setup is a bit complicated and not very straight forward. I have no idea why they made it so complex...

However it is working fine...

[Mattk]

Yes it does appear to be working today? Different result from 2 days ago. Made no changes to what I had configured 2 days ago, just did a new Save and came up green ticks on the Weather nets page. Waiting now for the first upload to check.

Edit: Yep all good. Using Jun 28 build 9993 but something I have noticed is the Weather Nets tab displays "Error: UK Met Office WOW / WOW-NL: Site ID or PIN incorrect" with red crosses beside Site ID & AWS Pin but the live data tab displays a green tick beside "UK Met Office WOW / WOW-NL: 2016-07-17 20:16:29 Success!" and confirmed to be uploading on WOW

[benlankamp]

One upload succeeeded, after that, the same result: errors on both the Weather Nets and Live Data tabs. I changed the frequency from 1 Minute to 10 Minutes, perhaps that works.

Edit 09:59:
It works when you keep the frequency at 10 Minutes or less.

[admin]

ok, thanks for finding out. Then I should change options not to go below 10 mins for this network.