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August 23, 2013

Some changes have been applied since our August 7, 2013 release. These changes were needed to fix issues that were reported by users and/or missed due to the complexity of the release.

Mobile USGS Water Data for the Nation (m.waterdata.usgs.gov)

  • The list of known problems has been updated for the mobile site as it receives more testing on different devices. Thanks to all for reporting issues with this beta system.
  • We introduced a fix that makes geolocation work for certain older Android devices. If you are experiencing the problem, clear your cache and refresh the page.
  • We have noticed usability issues with desktop browsers and the mobile site, particularly with older versions of IE. We do not guarantee the mobile site will work acceptably or at all on desktop browsers. If you are experiencing issues, it tends to work better on desktops in newer versions of Firefox and Chrome.

USGS Water Data for the Nation (waterdata.usgs.gov)

  • The map image on the real-time pages for states and the USA, with color dots for current condition sites, no longer shrinks when the browser width shrinks. This fix was needed because individual sites could not be selected from the map accurately when the map image shrunk. The map image is now on top so it should always appear.
  • The latitude/longitude data entry box has been fixed. In many cases it would not accept entry of values.
  • We now detect mobile browsers and if you have a mobile device we provide a link encouraging you to check out our mobile site.

USGS Water Services (waterservices.usgs.gov)

  • The instantaneous and daily values service no longer sends XML data (&format=waterml) and JSON (&format=json) indented with spaces for easy display. By default this unadvertised feature has been turned off. If you need data to be indented add the &indent=on argument to the URL. When used, four spaces will be added to the start of the line for each level of indentation when &indent=on is requested. This feature does not apply to the groundwater levels service or the site service.
  • For a few days after the release, the time zone and milliseconds were not added to WaterML and JSON output. This has been fixed.
  • The groundwater levels service now supports the argument &format=waterml,1.2, which is consistent with the documentation.
  • The groundwater levels service had a bug that duplicated timezone offsets in certain unusual cases. This has been fixed.
  • Updated the FAQ to provide guidance on the maximum number of requests that constitute acceptable usage of the service in a shared environment. Usage beyond this guidance may result in being blocked.

Help System (help.waterdata.usgs.gov)

  • There is a new tutorial for plotting multiple parameters for a site and plotting multiple sites for a parameter.