Chapter 7 · Spot Forecast Views

The Map Forecast View

Geographic interactive forecast map: coastline terrain, localized wind compass overlays, satellite basemap, and timeline scrubber.

1 Overview

The Map forecast screen starts at the top with a Now panel presenting the spot's forecast conditions for the active hour (described in detail in Chapter 3: Favorites Screen & Now panel), dynamically synchronized with the time scrubber below.

While the Timeline, Meteogram, and Classic views present meteorological predictions through chronological feeds, curves, and tabular grids, the Map Forecast view projects weather directly onto geographic reality. It pairs high-resolution satellite coastline imagery with a massive, localized radial compass anchored directly over the spot's GPS coordinates.

By scrubbing through hours and days using the bottom timeline slider, forecasters, sailors, kitesurfers, windsurfers, and paragliders can visually evaluate how forecast wind bearings interact with local coastal geography, headlands, bays, and open water.

Architectural prototype sketch of the Windguru+ Map forecast view

Figure 7.1: Map forecast view prototype sketch

Back Navigation & Spot Title

Top navigation bar showing back arrow (←) returning directly to your spot list, alongside the spot name (e.g. Tarifa).

Model Selector Dropdown

Active weather model button defaulting to Blended ▾ with initialization timestamp (e.g. 2h ago). Tap to choose either the multi-model blended ensemble or a single model (GFS 13km, ICON 13km, IFS-HRES 9km, GDPS 15km, etc.).

Wave Toggle & View Mode Switcher

Top right action controls: wave switch (≈ [•]) turning sea and swell overlays ON or OFF, and compass-on-map icon (⊕) switching between Map Forecast, Timeline, Meteogram, and Classic Grid.

Active Forecast Hour Card

Synchronized condition card (e.g. Wednesday, September 9) updating in real time as you scrub: wind speed (9 mph), gusts (▲ 13), heading (WSW), temp (71°F), rain, and clouds.

Active Hour Consensus Dot

Color-coded agreement dot on the forecast card (Blended mode only). It is an indicator only: to see the per-model details, use the Timeline, Meteogram, or Classic view.

Recenter & Geographic North Button

Circular compass rose button in the upper-right of the map. Tapping it recenters the viewport on the spot and re-aligns to true North.

High-Resolution Satellite Coastline Map

Interactive satellite basemap showing real geographic topography: beach dunes, shoreline curvature, reefs, headlands, and open ocean water.

Centered Spot Compass Gauge

Oversized radial compass anchored at the spot GPS coordinates, featuring 8 cardinal labels, central wind speed hub (9 mph), and directional pointer needle.

Perimeter Gust Arc

Dynamic outer arc sweeping clockwise around the dial, visually rendering the gust envelope and turbulence intensity for the selected hour.

Active Hour & Date Tag

High-contrast overlay tag (e.g. Tomorrow 09h) pinned at the bottom-left of the map canvas for unambiguous temporal context.

Active Hour Scrubber Pointer

Inverted triangle pointer and highlighted tick mark (e.g. pinned on 09) showing the scrubbed position along the timeline.

Continuous Timeline Scrubber Axis

Touch-enabled horizontal ruler spanning active hours across days (17, 18... 06, 07, 08, 09...) with prominent date section dividers (Tomorrow).

Why Geographic Context Matters: A forecast indicating "15 kt West wind" means completely different things depending on coastal geometry. On a west-facing beach, it is directly onshore with heavy surf and onshore shorebreak. On an east-facing beach, it is blowing straight offshore towards open water, which is best left to experienced riders. The Map View makes this difference visible at a glance.

2 Active Hour Forecast Card & The "Blended" Rule

The forecast card positioned directly above the map (4) displays the meteorological parameters for the active hour selected by the timeline scrubber below, accompanied by a color-coded Consensus Dot (5) pinned to the right edge of the card:

Blended Rule:
The consensus dot is shown and colored only when the forecast model selector (2) is set to "Blended".

When "Blended" is active: The dot color indicates cross-model agreement for the scrubbed hour (Green = Strong agreement, Amber = Mixed signals, Red = Models diverging).
When a single model is selected: The consensus dot is hidden because the card and map display output exclusively from that single numerical run.

Information only: In the Map view the consensus dot is not a button, and tapping it does nothing. To see the individual predictions from GFS, ICON, GDPS, and IFS-HRES side by side, switch with the view selector (3) to the Timeline, Meteogram, or Classic view and tap the consensus dot there.

3 Spot Compass Overlay & Coastline Satellite Map

The central canvas provides a direct aerial perspective of the spot, combining high-resolution satellite terrain with an oversized Windguru compass gauge, corresponding to callouts 6 through 10 on the sketch:

6 Recenter & Geographic North Button

Tapping the circular compass rose icon in the upper-right corner of the map canvas instantly recenters the view back onto the spot marker and resets map orientation to true geographic North.

7 High-Resolution Satellite Coastline Map

Renders real geographic imagery showing beaches, dunes, sandbars, rocky reefs, cliffs, and headlands (such as Punta de Tarifa). Users can freely pan and pinch-to-zoom to explore launch spots and downwind zones.

8 Centered Spot Compass Gauge

Anchored directly over the spot's GPS location. Features 8 cardinal tick labels (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW), an inner sustained wind speed hub (9 mph), and a directional pointer needle showing true wind bearing.

9 Perimeter Gust Arc

Sweeps clockwise around the outer ring from the baseline sustained speed to peak gust velocity, visually communicating turbulence and squall risk at a single glance.

10 Active Hour & Date Indicator Tag

A high-contrast overlay tag at the lower-left of the map (e.g. Tomorrow 09h) clearly identifies the exact forecast hour currently represented on the map canvas.

4 The Timeline Scrubber: Scrubbing Across Days & Hours

Pinned to the bottom of the screen is the continuous horizontal timeline scrubber, corresponding to callouts 11 and 12 on the sketch:

11 Active Pointer & Marker

An inverted triangle pointer and highlighted tick mark (e.g. pinned on 09) indicate the active hour currently displayed on the map canvas and top forecast card.

12 Continuous Hourly Axis & Date Dividers

A continuous ruler displaying chronological forecast hours (17, 18, 19, 20, 06, 07, 08, 09...) across daylight hours, with prominent date section dividers (Tomorrow) beneath the ruler.

FLOW Fluid Real-Time Feedback

Dragging your finger along the scrubber updates the compass needle rotation (8), gust arc sweep (9), speed value, and top weather card (4) simultaneously with zero lag, providing an intuitive "weather movie" of approaching wind shifts.

Thermal Wind Scrubbing: In Mediterranean and Atlantic coastal spots, thermal breezes (like the Levante and Poniente in Tarifa, or the Meltemi in Greece) build steadily through early afternoon and back off at sunset. Slowly dragging the timeline scrubber from 10h to 17h reveals the exact hour when the sea breeze activates, swings onshore, and reaches its peak strength.

5 Onshore, Sideshore & Offshore: Reading the Wind Against the Coast

Combining the satellite terrain (7) with the spot compass (8) shows at a glance how the wind meets the shoreline. Here is some advice for each wind orientation:

Wind Orientation	How It Looks on the Map	Advice
Onshore Blowing Sea → Land	Compass needle points towards the beach or the shoreline dunes.	The wind brings you back towards the beach. Expect waves and shorebreak to build quickly, with choppy water.
Sideshore Blowing Parallel to Coast	Compass needle runs parallel to the coastline.	Usually the most comfortable orientation for kitesurfing, windsurfing, and wing foiling: steady wind, easy runs along the beach, and easy landings.
Offshore Blowing Land → Sea	Compass needle points away from the beach towards open water.	Best left to experienced riders: the water near the beach looks flat, but the wind carries you away from the shore and is often gusty because of obstacles inland. Ideally ride with boat support.
Side-Offshore Angled Land → Sea	Compass needle crosses the coastline diagonally towards open water.	Calls for good upwind riding. Can give excellent wave-riding conditions when the swell comes from the opposite direction.

Advice: Before your session, locate on the map (7) where you could come back to shore. If scrubbing the timeline (12) shows the wind turning from sideshore to offshore during your session, plan to head back before it turns.