UPDATE: Why the Alexa skill is no longer reporting your specific station location name

Hi all,

In regards to my Alexa skill no longer reporting your specific station name, I just found out why this is the case. Here's what Weather Underground has to say about this issue:

Unfortunately for now, we are removing the PWS name (from the API).  This is in response to some new EU privacy rules which we are bound to follow to operate in Europe.  While taking the time to address the EU issues we decided to beef up our privacy protections for everyone everywhere.   

We want to make sure we maintain the right balance of protecting our users, and disseminating useful information, We expect this balance will evolve over time as our community of PWS owners weigh in on our stance.  

In the meantime, I've modified my Alexa skill to report your Station ID instead.

Kevin

Alexa Weather Skill not announcing the station location anymore

Hi all.

I'm aware of the recent issue where my Weather Underground Alexa skill is no longer reporting the Station Location. There is either a glitch with the Weather Underground API* or they decided to make an unannounced change to it. Unfortunately, the API* doesn't contain the station name anywhere at the moment. :(

I really don't know why Weather Underground has done this. And, if it's a glitch, why they haven't fixed it yet. I'm not 100% certain about the rest of you, but I'm still getting correct data from my own station on my own Alexa - despite it only announcing the city name of my station.

The best I can do in the meantime is to have my Alexa skill speak your Station ID instead. Hopefully sometime in the next day or two. Sorry for the lack up responses and updates as I've been quite busy with other things lately.


*API: For those of you that aren't programmers, the API (application programming interface) is what developers use to interact with Weather Underground and other services.