Kevin Key's Blog

Saturday, April 07, 2018

UPDATE: Why the Alexa skill is no longer reporting your specific station location name

Hi all,

In regards to my Alexa skill no longer reporting your specific station name, I just found out why this is the case. Here's what Weather Underground has to say about this issue:

Unfortunately for now, we are removing the PWS name (from the API).  This is in response to some new EU privacy rules which we are bound to follow to operate in Europe.  While taking the time to address the EU issues we decided to beef up our privacy protections for everyone everywhere.   

We want to make sure we maintain the right balance of protecting our users, and disseminating useful information, We expect this balance will evolve over time as our community of PWS owners weigh in on our stance.  

In the meantime, I've modified my Alexa skill to report your Station ID instead.

Kevin

2 Comments:

Blogger Julie said...

I was wondering why the weather station name was modified but the station ID was correct. Thanks for the update!

Thanks for the skill. I bought hubby a weather station for Christmas and he's turned it into an obsession. :)

Sat Apr 07, 12:31:00 PM PDT  
Blogger Julie said...

Hey Kevin -

Would it be possible to create an alias name for the station name somehow instead of having Alexa broadcast the station ID, so I could get it to say "backyard" or something to that effect?

Thu Apr 12, 10:22:00 AM PDT  

Post a Comment

<< Home