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 Snowpro Plus+ Benefits
Save Time, Money and Share Data

This article tells you how Snowpro Plus+ can benefit your preparation of snow profiles. Snowpro is a very easy tool that can help you to quickly and easily produce and share your snow profiles.

Included in this article is information on 


Why Snowpro Plus+?

There are a lot of ways to create a snow profile. Some of these are:
  • Hand drawn
  • Graphic/Picture Editor
  • Specialized Snow Profile Software

But the fastest, easiest, and best is Snowpro Plus+. You will save time, easily produce great graphs, and easily share your profile data.  Read more on how Snowpro Plus+ does this.

Snowpro Plus+ has been an industry standard snow profile graphing software program for over 15 years and is used world wide in the snow industry. 

Snowpro Is Easy To Use And Saves Time.  Our  Snowpro users have found out that they can construct a complete snow profile in under 5 minutes. Snowpro uses drag and drop tools much like a drawing program to select objects from a tool pallet and drop on the profile graph. For example you can easily, quickly, and accurately  drag and drop 20 snow temperatures on the graph in 30 seconds. Snow layers can be dropped on the graph, quickly sized, and  the populated  with water content, grain forms and grain sizes, density, layer nickname and comments.  Some things cannot be easily dragged from a pallet so for those such as shear test information we have easy to use tabular entry screens that allow most values to be selected from drop down menus. Finally print this to a very high quality print out or output as a JPEG or PDF file to use on your web site. Did you make a mistake? No problem as you can make changes within seconds and have the profile re-printed. 

See our on-line audio-video tutorial at http://www.snowproplus.com/tutorials.htm to see this done.

Snowpro Is Based On Industry Standards.   Snowpro was designed based on the International Classification for Seasonal Snow on the Ground (ICSI) standard. The data is stored using CAA OGRS data values and the save file formats are based on published  XML and JSON industry standard formats. The grain form symbols are based on the ICSI standard. These standards are adhered to by most Snow Professionals in the world.

Snowpro Shares Data.  We recognized that sharing data is key to the successful use of snow profile data. 

We had addressed this by doing two things.

First we changed the Snowpro save file format from a proprietary one to 2 open formats based on industry standard XML and JSON. The XML format is based on the CAAML 4.2 standard and the JSON format is based on the Avert/Powercloud 1.0 API standard. We recognized the transfer of just an image (which is not really sharing) has limitations. It does not provide for data review, etc.   So, we have adopted XML and JSON formats allowing the benefits of easy entry and data review.  Few systems allow for this type of usage. We are committed to insuring that our save file format meets recognized standards so that data  can be shared with the maximum users in the industry. If a different standard occurs in the US or elsewhere then we will also support that. These new formats makes it easy to integrate Snowpro data into databases, spreadsheets, and other systems. 

Second we are working with "Avert Online Snow Science Systems"  (www.avert.ca) from Powercloud Software (www.powdercloud.com) who is also committed to data sharing and uses the same JSON format.  They provide mobile and online products to allow gathering and sharing of snow, weather and avalanche observations. The Avert Platform is a complete snow science management tool that provides a secure, enterprise level database system that supports the OGRS and SWAG and is accessed via a simple web interface and enables nearest neighbor or communities data sharing. Snowpro and the Avert Platform data interchange are the first commercial implementations of the JSON format.

Both companies made changes to their software so that we could import and export profile data from Snowpro to the Avert Platform and vice versa. Avert provides off-line storage, sharing, reporting in a community with consensual sharing. Items entered in Avert can be downloaded, saved, viewed and edited in familiar Snowpro tools. Snowpro provides a very easy to use front end using full drag and drop tools which are what Windows application users are expecting when creating profiles. Avert allows a Web 2 data entry which is basic data entry using web tools. The user gets the full spectrum of usage and functionality.

This year we are even going further and will have automatic synchronization over the Internet between Snowpro and the Avert Platform. This means that once you create a new or change a profile using Snowpro,  that  if you are connected to the Internet, the profile data will automatically be sent  to the Avert Platform and be be immediately available to anyone who has access. Again consensual sharing and you can ensure it remains secure, can be shared internally, can be shared with other users of Avert, and can be shared with the public ready for reporting immediately. 

Snowpro Is Used World Wide.   Snowpro is multi-lingual. All labels can be easily translated to non-english languages using built in tools. We currently have user created translations for French, Spanish, Catalàn, and Icelandic. We have in the works translations for German.. You can even translate English to English if you would like to use your own labels.  Want another translation? Contact us for assistance. Snowpro is currently being used in Canada, USA, Chile, Brazil, England, Scotland, Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Russia, Norway, Iceland, Japan, New Zeland and Australia.

Snowpro Is Updated Regularly.  Over the past 15 years Snowpro has gone through many changes and improvements. We have made special effort to keep current with the standards and new tests. For example in the past year we have added 4 new Shear Tests: Shear-Frame, Deep Tap,  Extended Column and Propagation Saw tests.  We continue to track what is being done in the snow industry and add new features when we find there is significant benefit to the industry users. We track all bugs reported and fix any problems quickly.  We provide support to our users with questions on use or  issues encountered. The Subscription Release includes automatic software updates. You are notified whenever a new release is available and can optionally have the new update installed directly on your computer with the single click of a button.

Snowpro Is Supported (Annual Subscription).  Snowpro is sold on an “Annual Subscription” basis. When you purchase a Snowpro Plus+ Annual Subscription you will get the most current software for 12 months via automatic software updates over the Internet. This will guarantee that you have the latest release with the latest new features and fixes. You will also be able to access our technical support service year round with any questions or to resolve any problems. The software will allow you to view your existing profiles even when the subscription expires so your data is protected and always useable.

New Features This Release  We have a number of new features and improvements in current release. These include Photo Attachment, CSV Export, Shear-frame, Deep Tap, Extended Column, and Propagation Saw shear tests, shear and snow layer persistent “Nicknames”, Automatic Updates, ICSI grain forms symbols, CAA OGRS 2008 adherence, 2 new save formats based on  XML and JSON, data synchronization and sharing with the Avert Online Snow Science Systems “Avert Platform”, ability to display a range of information within the snow layers and many minor improvements. See New Features Overview page for current details.

New Free Viewer In October 2010 we released a Free Snowpro Plus+ Viewer. This will display all Snowpro Plus+ profiles from current and earlier releases. This version is exactly the same as the full subscription version with the exception that you cannot create profiles with it. This means that you can create a profile in your office and then email the profile to your remote users/sites who can display and print the profile in a different visual arrangement as it is user configurable.

Try Our Full Feature Trial

Not sure if Snowpro will work for you? Try our full-feature Trial Version for 15 days at http://www.snowproplus.com/demorequest.htm

More Information

Please click on the following links for more information about the new Snowpro Plus+ Subscriptoin Version:
Find Out What Snowpro Plus+ Can Do
http://www.snowproplus.com/snowproplus.htm
Detailed List of New Featureshttp://www.snowproplus.com/tips.htm#winter2009
New Snowpro Plus+ Subscriptionshttp://www.snowproplus.com/sfwsub.htm
Download Free Trial
http://www.snowproplus.com/demorequest.htm
Online Store http://www.snowproplus.com/sales.htm
Tutorialshttp://www.snowproplus.com/tutorials.htm

This page last updated 2011/04/10.