Ilmataat
Visit the project at www.ilmataat.ee
Weather Forecast Application with Integrations
Ilmataat (‘Old man weather’) is a weather forecast application commissioned by Elion (the largest telecommunication company in Estonia, a subsidiary of TeliaSonera). It is designed to display weather information to customers on a number of different media. These include the ilmataat.ee main site, the portal hot.ee, the most used Estonian search engine neti.ee, the information section of Elion digital television and a variety of third-party sites where Ilmataat is used as an embeddable widget.
Key development points:
- Focus on usability and visual appeal
- Digital TV integrations
- Search integration (neti.ee)
Technologies used:
- PHP5
- Symphony framework
- GIS (geographic information system)
- OpenLayers
- Git
- Capistrano
- Weather forecast and location data from AccuWeather, Estonian Land Board, Estonian Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (EMHI) and Falck.
Usability and Design
Since many weather sites are not very enjoyable to look at, we focused specifically on usability and creating a pleasant appearance. We designed all the elements on the page in the greatest detail and everything is done in vector format, so it would be reusable in other media. All the weather icons are in vector shapes with texture patterns that are taken from the photograph of a given object. This means, for example, that an image of a cloud is given the visual texture of a real cloud. The maps on the website were drawn specially for this project and we followed the same method as with the icons. They also change according to the season.
- Focus on usability and visual appeal
- Reusable vector design elements
Digital TV integrations
We built ilmataat.ee completely into the Elion digital TV with an interface designed for TV screens and the ability to navigate easily through information using only the remote control. Because it is awkward to type with a TV remote, the application memorises the user’s last three searches, so they would not have to search again and can quickly access the location of their choice. This feature was also introduced for the web portal.
- Remote controllable easy navigation
- Built in user search memory
Widgetized Search integration (neti.ee)
llmataat.ee weather information is completely integrated into the neti.ee search engine. When you search a specific location and add the word ‘ilm’ (‘weather’), it will bring up the additional widget with the current and two-day weather forecast for that location.
Visit the project at www.ilmataat.ee
