Weathernet Concept
Airwatch System
Airwatch Display System
Sample Displays
Multi-site Displays
AWS Online Service Mobile Airwatch Airwatch Billboard Support See Airwatch Live Request Info 		Graphics Specifications for Broadcasters

    Broadcasters who are new to the Worldwide School Weather Network and existing AWS clients seeking to revamp the look of their site should use this guide as a quick reference for graphics specifications.

    AWS Web Development is exclusively done on Intel-Compatibles Running Windows NT 4.0.
    Web pages are hosted on Intel machines running Windows NT 4.0, SQL Server 7.0 and IIS.
    Software used is Adobe Photoshop 5.02, Adobe ImageReady 1.01, Allaire HomeSite 3.02 and Macromedia Freehand 8.01

      Preferred graphics formats are:
      • Adobe Photoshop 5.0 .PSD
      • Tagged Image File Format (IBM PC, uncompressed) .TIF
      • TrueVision Targa .TGA
      • JPEG (uncompressed - maximum quality).

      Acceptable graphics formats are: (older versions acceptable)

      • Adobe Illustrator 4.1 .AI
      • Adobe PageMaker 6.5 .PMx (x = number from 2-6)
      • Adobe Acrobat 3.0 .PDF
      • America Online Artwork .ART
      • Amiga Bitmap .IFF
      • Compuserve GIF (87a or 89a, non-interlaced, 256 color, 8-bit, non-dithered)
      • Corel Draw 7.0 .CDR
      • Encapsulated PostScript .EPS (NOTE: There are different kinds of post-script files. If Photoshop cannot open it, it will not work for us.)
      • Macintosh PICT .PCT,
      • Macromedia Freehand 8.0 .FHx (x = number from 2-8)
      • Microsoft Powerpoint .PPT
      • MPEG Video .MPG, .MPE, .MP2
      • PhotoCD .PCD
      • Portable Network Graphic (8 or 24 bit) .PNG
      • Quicktime 3.0 Movie (not QuickTime VR) .MOV
      • Video for Windows .AVI
      • Windows Bitmap .BMP, .DIB, .RLE
      • Windows Icon .ICO
      • Windows Metafile .WMF
      • X Windows BitMap .XBM

    Always use a DOS-style 3 letter file extension when sending graphics to AWS.

    We can use graphics from PC, Mac, Unix or Amiga, so long as they have a 3 letter file extension following the last period in the filename. This enables Windows (and Photoshop) to determine what type of file it is. Without the extension, we will not attempt to open the file (for virus protection reasons).

    The new active server pages allow for rotation of graphics in all locations. Not only can we rotate graphics, we can rotate code. So, instead of what used to be AWS' main banner, we will rotate your advertising code (or any number of specific advertisements). Our observations now support up to four 120x90 sponsor images at a time. AWS reserves two of these images, one for the school, and one for internal promotions, which leaves two image spots for the station. We can rotate images or ad code in any of these four spots.

  1. Sponsor Image : As stated above, Sponsor Images are now 120x90 pixels. They can be rotated in the same position, or they can display side by side. See Figure 1. for an example of rotating sponsors. See Figure 2 for an example of side by side sponsors.
    • Resolution: Screen
  2. Base Map : This is the main map to be used for both the multi-site Java mapand the Interactive Maps. This should cover your entire DMA, or at least the area with yourweather stations. You can supply additional maps that cover a smaller area, such as your metropolitan area or individual counties.
    • Size: 680x495 for on-air, dependent on your site design, we will resize it for the web. Typically web maps end up at 468x351 pixels. See Figure 5.
    • Resolution: Screen
  3. Broadcast Display : This should be the same image that you use for the background of the on-air display in our Airwatch software. This is used in the multi-site broadcast Java display.
    • Size: 720x525 for on-air, dependent on your site design, we will resize it for the web. See Figure 6.
    • Resolution: Screen

Figure 5

Figure 6