Indian Meteorological Dept launches ‘Indian-Weather’ app for Android
Finally, India's Meteorological Department has its smartphone app. Called Indian-Weather, the app is available free for Android-based devices.
Commemorating its 138th Foundation Day, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has launched its mobile application called ‘Indian-Weather’ for the Android devices. The app is available for free on Google Play store.
Currently in its initial phase, IMD’s mobile app will be showing forecasts for major cities of the country for the next four days, along with updates on current weather observations. In the next 8-10 months, the department intends to expand the domain of the app by including weather bulletins and alerts for significant events, Agromet advisories etc. on smartphones, as well as phones running other platforms.
Inaugurating the new service, Science and Technology Minister S. Jaipal Reddy said, “I would urge IMD to make further efforts for more precise prediction, particularly for severe weather phenomenon. We should also provide location and user specific forecast in different time scales.”
Speaking about the application, Rahul Saxena, the IMD scientist in charge of the project, said: “IMD wants to tap the reach of smartphones to provide the latest weather information and other value added services.”
IMD’s new app may be quite late to tap the smartphone users as the Google Play store already features a range of weather apps for the Indian users. App stores on other platforms such as Apple’s iTunes and RIM’s BlackBerry App World also feature weather apps. However, the IMD app will be more credible for the Indian users and if launched for feature phones, it could be of great help for farmers and people in far-flung areas of the country.