How Warnspot works
By Tobias Müller. Published .
Warnspot watches measurement data and notifies the right people when something goes wrong. Data arrives as data sources. Notifications watch that data. When a rule matches, Warnspot records an event. Related events group into one incident. The incident emails the people on a distribution list.
Data sources
A data source holds the measurement channels for one station, one piece of equipment, or one feed. Public data sources are already in the app and carry real data, so you can build a chart or a notification without any setup. To track your own equipment, push measurements through the API, import a CSV file, or let Warnspot download a file on a schedule. You can also derive a new series from series that already exist.
Notifications
A notification is the rule that watches your data and decides when something needs attention. Warnspot has three kinds of rule. A threshold rule notifies you when a value crosses a limit you set. A recency rule notifies you when data stops arriving. A public alert rule notifies you when an official warning, such as a weather warning or an evacuation order, appears near a location you choose.
Events and incidents
An event is one trigger of a rule. Warnspot records its value, time, and severity. An incident is the ongoing problem behind those events. Repeated triggers of the same rule join that incident instead of starting a new one, so an unstable sensor does not fill your list. You acknowledge an incident to record that you have seen it, and you resolve it when the problem is over. If nobody reacts, Warnspot can escalate the incident.
Distributions
A distribution is a named list of recipients. Build the list once, then attach it to any notification, so you do not repeat the same addresses on every rule. Each list has a minimum severity, so it can ignore notifications below the level its recipients care about. Recipients remove themselves through the unsubscribe link in every notification email, and you do not have to edit the list for them.
Charts, tags, and locations
These three are the organizing layer over your data. A chart combines any number of series in one
time-series view and can mix public series with your own. A tag groups records by topic, and you can
filter the data source, chart, event, incident, and location lists by tag. A chart tagged dashboard also appears in the Pinned Charts panel on your dashboard. A location is a named
place that groups the data sources measuring there, and it shows official public alerts within 20 km
of its coordinates.
Where to start
- Create an account. New accounts start with a free 14-day trial.
- Open the Data sources page and set the All / My Data / Public / Computed toggle to Public. Find a source that covers your area.
- Add that source to a location, so you see everything measured at that place in one view.
- Create your first notification on that data and add yourself as a recipient.
For a worked example that monitors river level, heat risk, and road access for one remote site, read Monitoring conditions during a field campaign.
Try Warnspot
Warnspot watches your data and the public alerts around it, and notifies the people who need to act. Create an account to start your free 14-day trial and explore the public data sources, or contact us about connecting your own equipment.