Weather APIs enable developers to create interactive apps that provide customers with valuable information. They are helpful not just for forecasting future weather conditions but also for storing historical weather data. Weather forecasting has long been a valuable service for both consumers and businesses. It is an essential service of search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Airlines, for example, utilize weather forecasts to predict turbulence. Insurance firms use it to calculate actuarial risk. It is also used in agriculture to estimate crop yields. As a result, a precise weather forecast in real-time is incredibly valuable.
The weatherstack API gives accurate weather data for any application and use case, from real-time and historical meteorological data to 14-day weather forecasts. It supports all major programming languages. In addition, its straightforward design architecture makes it easy to use the API. This article will outline three significant reasons why your weather JSON API is faulty and how to repair them.
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Does Your Weather JSON API Have all the Required Features?
Most weather JSON APIs fail because they lack one or more features required for a successful API. For example, if the weather API delivers accurate, current data, it is likely that it does not provide enough historical data. Another may offer both of these capabilities but not provide reliable forecasts or weather details for enough locations. We recommend you check out this article on the expectations and realities of weather forecast APIs.
But you don’t have to worry because weatherstack has you covered. The API is intuitive and easy to master, delivering up-to-date weather information updated in real-time. Simply attach your selected location to the API’s current endpoint to query the weatherstack API for real-time weather data at a location of your choice.
Depending on your subscription, you can get comprehensive and detailed worldwide historical weather data dating back to 2008. To get historical weather data dating back to 2008, use the historical date parameter to pass one date (later than July 2008) or multiple semicolon-separated dates to the weatherstack API’s historical endpoint.
Furthermore, weatherstack can provide weather forecast data up to 14 days in advance. To obtain weather forecasts, simply utilize the API’s forecast and specify the number of forecast days you want using the forecast days option.
Following is a code example in Python:
# coding: utf-8import requests
params = {'access_key': 'YOUR_ACCESS_KEY','query': 'New York', ‘forecast_days’ = 1,‘hourly’ = 1}
api_result = requests.get('https://api.weatherstack.com/current', params)
api_response = api_result.json()
print(u'Current temperature in %s is %d℃' % (api_response['location']['name'], api_response['current']['temperature']))
Users can also use weatherstack’s flexible search & autocomplete API endpoint to pinpoint any city or region of their choice by name, ZIP code, coordinates, or even IP. Check out the official documentation to learn more about weatherstack.
Does the Weather JSON API Offer Enough Options?
An API’s options are just as vital as its functionality. For example, it is a failure if you wish to get the current temperature of a particular location in Kelvin, but the weather API only delivers it in Celsius. Likewise, your weather JSON API may be faulty if you can’t conduct a query on many places simultaneously. Similarly, a broken API does not support JSONP callbacks. Furthermore, if your API exclusively exposes data in English, it may fail in countries where English is not the first language.
However, if one uses weatherstack, this is easily avoided. When making queries to one of the API’s weather data endpoints, the query parameter can be used in various ways to pass a single or several locations to the API. In addition, the query parameter is most commonly used to pass a single location to the API when performing a weather data request. You can, however, supply several semicolon-separated sites to the API to exploit its bulk query feature.
By default, the weatherstack API returns results in metrics units. In addition, the API also supports other standard unit formats in addition to metric units. You can use the units argument to swap between metric, scientific, and Fahrenheit unit systems. Thus, when utilizing weatherstack, you have a lot of freedom and versatility.
Furthermore, the JSON weather API may return information in 40 other languages, including Arabic, Bengali, Dutch, French, Italian, Japanese, and Urdu. Attach the language parameter to your API URL and set it to the 2-letter ISO Code of your preferred language to modify the default value (English).
Weatherstack also supports JSONP Callbacks. To use this feature, simply include the API’s callback parameter to your API request URL and set it to the name of your desired function. The API will then deliver your API results set wrapped in the selected function tags.
Below is a j.Query example for JSONP callbacks:
$.ajax({url: 'https://api.weatherstack.com/current',data: {access_key: 'YOUR_ACCESS_KEY',query: 'New York'callback = ‘FUNCTION_NAME’},dataType: 'json',success: function(apiResponse) {console.log(Current temperature in ${apiResponse.location.name} is ${apiResponse.current.temperature}℃);}});
Is There Sufficient Documentation and Customer Service Offered by the Weather API?
API documentation is crucial for many reasons, one of which is to boost API adoption. Comprehensive documentation on all of the functionality, how to use and integrate it, and updates on the API lifecycle improve the user experience. A manual would also provide users with code examples to help them understand how to use the API and what error codes to expect when making API requests. So, if an API fails to provide an effective and extensive API, it will undoubtedly fail.
Weatherstack provides excellent documentation! You will be able to make API calls in minutes by following its instructions and interactive code examples (PHP, Python, Nodejs, jQuery, Go, Ruby).
Error codes in the response stage of an API are the most basic way for a developer to indicate failure to a user. This step follows the initial request stage and is a direct contact between the client and the API. Whenever an API call fails, the weatherstack API will provide an error object in lightweight JSON format. Each error object has an error code, an error type, and an info object that contains information about the error. The manual also includes a table listing all possible error codes.
If you already have an account and want to skip our thorough documentation, you can go straight to their 3-Step Quickstart Guide. Furthermore, weatherstack has good contact support if you need assistance or have any questions (other than the thorough FAQ sections).
Should You Use Weatherstack in Your Next Application?
Using weather APIs has numerous advantages over developing your weather application. They are cost-effective, automated, and save time. Weatherstack is a superb weather API with real-time weather metrics and historical data trusted by over 75,000 organizations globally, including Microsoft, Schneider Electric, and Warner Bros. Their API has weather data ranging from a multi-year history to the most recent prediction.
