Displaying distance to and elevation difference of observation and forecast location

[shadkeene]

Feedback from a user: I liked that as I travel to locations and look at weather (Denver, Florida, etc), elevation is important for hiking and understanding oxygen levels.

If clear to the user, it is often helpful important to display the elevation of the forecast a user is looking at AND the elevation of the observation that is displayed. This is especially important in mountainous areas. It will be a challenge to make sure the user understands (if we are showing two elevations) which elevation is for the forecast point and which elevation is for the observation location. We did explore earlier the "learn more about this observation" to show metadata, like elevation, for observations.

Considerations:

• Show actual elevation of forecast point, observation, and difference
  • Use case, Shad's Forecast point is 2900 elevation, but his point is 2000
• Show distance between elevation and forecast point
• We have elevation for forecast grid (2.5KM) - hypothesis is it takes the average elevation

[colinmurphy01]

Confirmed that elevation data is available for:

• Observation station
• Grid (Forecast)

Consideration for design:

• Display observation elevation
• Display forecast elevation
• Display difference in elevation from observation?

[coreypieper]

In addition to elevation, distance to the observation location is desirable for the same reasons.