[iPhone0001]

I posted this question in the general discussion as well and it was suggested to try here also, so I apologize for the double post. As an avid photographer, I am looking for an application that will be able to predict sunrise and sunset times as well as a program having the functionality to calculate the position of the sun and moon at any time of day. Their is a program for the iPhone (Focalware : Spiral Development) that does this very nicely, but alas, they are spurning the Blackberry users. I am wondering if anyone has encountered something similar or could direct me to a programmer that may be able to assist in the development of something comparable for BB.

Thanks all!

[BergerKing]

The Weather Channel free app has a section called Almanac which will give you to-the-minute sunrise and sunset for whatever City or Zip code you are in. Comes in handy for planning my driving day.

I know it's not the standalone you were inquiring about, but it's free and it works.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Speedv1]

I use weathereye and it clearly states the sunrise / sunset.

[davidc2]

I use weathereye and it clearly states the sunrise / sunset.

It appears that is only for Canadian cities, not USA ones

[ninja please]

BBweather shows Rise/set and it's free.

Index of Software

[prrnrngr]

Great idea! A tide app would be awesome too!

[kasw3670]

i have an canon slr myself so could be interested in this. just never got my *** out of bed early enough to get those match winning shots - YET! hope to change that over the easter break. :-)

[FF22]

Try sunrise (or set) over the Grand Canyon at 5am and it was 18F. Undeterred by the hundreds!!!!!

[Barnstormer#CB]

Great idea! A tide app would be awesome too!

Try the new app "Tideberry" - it is new and now available in the Crackberry App Store or at tideberry.com - works great!

[iPhone0001]

My thanks to all who took the time to reply to this thread. I appreciate the feedback and will try all the apps recommended to see which one fits my needs.

[Scott8586]

Hi I recently finished creating a sunrise and sunset calculator app for the Blackberry, it's called HelioStat. I also created a version that specifically works natively on the Storm under OS 4.7.x.x. If your phone has a GPS that your carrier allows you to access, you can use that information in the calculation, otherwise you can select from 250 cities, world wide, or enter your own latitude and longitude.

I cannot post links yet, but you should be able to string this together...
You can find HelioStat at:

www tworoads net /bb/heliostat

Thanks.

- Scott

[FF22]

Just gave your sunrise/set app a trial. Looks interesting although it needs a bit of cleanup. The Longitude line is too long and the explanatory text overruns the value for Seattle making for a "muddy" field.

[Scott8586]

I think I understand what you're seeing.

Can I ask what font and point size you're using?

If it were you, would you recommend shorter lefthand labels, or allow the screen to scroll horizontally?

[FF22]

I thought it might be a font issue but older eyes and all that...

BBAlpha San, at 11 points, Plain.

At first I was trying to figure out how you knew I was lefthanded! (G) Lefthand labels.

My initial impression was to abbreviate LONGitude. Having everything right on the screen is simpler and clean - no scrolling required.

I'm trying to think of another way of shortening the left text.

Right now at my font choice

the line ends at

wexxxxx2.33

where the xxxx represents overlapping text

st):12
-12

the minus over the "s" in west, the "1" over the "t", etc.

Also, when you press CALCULATE, you get the menu, where you have to again select Calculate - redundant.

[Scott8586]

I thought it might be a font issue but older eyes and all that...

BBAlpha San, at 11 points, Plain.
...
Also, when you press CALCULATE, you get the menu, where you have to again select Calculate - redundant.

Yes, I'll see what I can do about the font vs. amount of text (and maybe add a help screen instead). Thanks for your suggestions.

Regarding the Calculate button, are you maybe pressing the "menu" key, instead of the track ball? Pressing the menu key would result in that behavior, but there's nothing I can do about that... pressing the track ball should perform the calculation without presenting the menu.

(as an aside, I added "calculate" to the menu so that you could execute it no matter where you were in the screen).

Thanks.

- Scott

[iPhone0001]

Scott, thanks for the post and the program. Once finished, I think this will be very useful.

[Scott8586]

Hi Folks, I've made adjustments to the text and layouts, taking into consideration larger pointsize fonts, and moved some additional information into a help screen. Version 1.1.0 is now available. www tworoads net /bb/heliostat

I'm now looking forward to adding features to this program! If you have any comments or criticisms, I would be glad to hear them.

Thanks.

- Scott

[FF22]

Clear, simple appearance. Did you want the Sunrise and Setset items to take up two lines? I guess to accommodate even larger fonts than I use (G)

I did forget to look at the help file! Okay, the info looks reasonable.

[Scott8586]

@F2: Yes, that's right. When the font size is small enough and/or the screen size is large enough for the possible results, the sunrise and sunset results will be on one line each, otherwise it's split into two lines, as you see for your font, rather than have the line wrap.
Thanks.

[TheBlade]

Thanks for this elegant little program, which is exactly what I had been looking for without success. It works like a charm on my 9000.

[Scott8586]

HelioStat has been updated to version 1.3.0 New features for this release
include:

Time of civil, nautical and astronomical dawn and twilight. The current
location of the sun in azimuth and elevation and time shifting to predict or
anticipate the location of the sun at any date and time.

Time shifting is performed via the keyboard, horizontal motion of a
trackball, or horizontal "swiping" gestures in the case of a touch screen.

I've also added both the time, and azimuth of moonrise and moonset, and the
current phase of the moon.

An options screen allows you to control what information is displayed on the
main screen.

Thanks. - Scott

www tworoads net /bb/heliostat

[Grumpy Old Tom]

This sounds very interesting. It may well interleave with a request I have elsewhere: My spiffy new Storm, the latest and greatest, unlike my previous regular ol' cell phone, doesn't update the time when I go to a new time zone. There's all this real estate on the screen, why not have an app that shows my home time and the time where I'm at?

It'd be neat if your application showed the local time on the main screen, say, under the current time display, an when you clicked it, it would open your full program.

Just a thought. I've written some engineering code and GUI's in things like MATLAB and Fortran, LISP, etc, so I know it may not be possible, or at least be very difficult.

Best to you,

Tom

[Scott8586]

@tom: It is possible to show the blackberry's concept of time, and the time provided by the cellular network, but the latter is not dependable (not all cellular networks provide this information !?!).

I probably won't include this in HelioStat, but I have other applications in mind, and that would be a useful piece of information to present. Thanks for your comments!

- Scott

[muayyad]

I am using a world clock on my treo which has a sunrise/sinset calculator! i am looking to buy the new BB9700 is there such app for the BB OS that has both?