Friday, June 19, 2009

iPhone Wind Meter


I thought I had seen it all but now there is a Wind Meter app for the iPhone. It works by measuring the volume of the wind on the iPhone microphone and converts it into a wind speed reading. To use, you simply point the microphone into the wind and push Get Wind, wait a few seconds and push Got Wind. The final reading is the average of the period.

Hmmm. I wonder if this is at all accurate?

And what next? An app to calculate the current at the windward mark while I am hanging out in the start area? An app to automatically generate a Rule 42 protest form against that kid and email it to the protest committee? The possibilities are endless. Watch this space.

Update: According to Panbo: The Marine Electronics Weblog it really works.

3 comments:

harrymvt said...

There's also a similar app called "Wind Speed" (http://www.sis.si/iphone/wind-speed) that works on the same principle. Haven't tried either yet, as I'm reluctant to take my iPhone out of its waterproof bag to expose the microphone!

Anonymous said...

It looks like a nice app, I haven't tried it yet. Unfortunitely the makers of it are scraping email addresses from every wind-sport-related website they can find. Good to get the word out, but that's not a good business practice and violates laws in several countries.

Anonymous said...

I tried Wind Sensor (http://itunes.apple.com/app/wind-sensor/id398101772), it has fine accuracy in comparison with my dedicated anemometer.

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