Episode 28

One of the value power sources for an IoT application is external data, that when piped in, can be used to augment its functionality. Of all sources of external data, weather is probably the most ubiquitous and useful. Like many data services, the API is built on a tiered billing system. Come in for free as a developer or hobbyist but once you get over 500 hits per day you start paying.

Through its API, the Weather Company provides access to weather data from over 130,000 weather stations from around the world, each updated every 2.5 seconds. For perspective, that’s more weather stations than there are McDonalds and Starbucks combined. Early adopters were sprinkler companies but one of the most popular apps is Weather Kitty. Why am I not surprised?

Watch this video to hear Brendan Hayes describe the Weather Company’s API and business model to access it.

Mentioned in this Episode and Other Useful Links