The BBC has brought back a flat weather map for the first time in 14 years after viewers complained of London bias and seasickness.
As of today, the standard UK weather map on television forecasts will be presented from a bird’s eye view, doing away with the oft-criticised tilted version.
The return of the flat map will be welcomed by those who claimed the revamped tilt design was disorientating and provided a less detailed view for those in Scotland.
The BBC One lunchtime bulletin will be the first to feature the flat design since it was axed in 2005.
The original tilted design (left), first introduced in 2005, has been replaced by a flat version (right)
It comes amid the biggest overhaul of the BBC’s weather service since that time, with the Corporation promising flashy new graphics and thousands of new locations.
But the switch to new supplier Meteogroup has so far left users complaining of ‘incomprehensible gibberish’ and inaccurate forecasts.
Weather-watchers making plans for their weekend said complicated new interactive features are too confusing.
Introducing the changes in a BBC blog, Michael Burnett, Executive Product Manager, BBC Future Media, said: ‘Over the next few weeks, exciting new updates will be coming to the BBC’s weather service.
‘Millions of users of the BBC Weather website and applications on iOS, Android and Kindle will start to see a number of improvements.
‘This is just the beginning. There will be more improvements over the next few months and new features which aim to enhance your user experience.’
The BBC forecast bulletin in May 2005, showing the first tilted design. The map was criticised by those in Scotland and the north of England for being too southern-centric
The tilt was revised days after the initial revamp to make it less severe, but was still slammed by some viewers
Complaints were quickly raised by online users last week, who said the forecasts on the app were different to those on the website, and that forecasters were ‘hedging’ their bets.
Berenice Tallett, from Maidstone, wrote: ‘Why am I now only shown weather for the whole of the UK and not just Kent, and why is it not in English but some incomprehensible gibberish?
‘The old system was fine – why in this day and age are things changed just for the sake of it?’
Carol Enticott said: ‘It’s a shame that the BBC weather app has changed for the worse. Very small fonts and unclear. Why change a previously good app.’
Anne-Louise Quinton, 51, from Leeds, wrote: ‘I don’t like the new BBC weather app. It is not very accurate anyway and is now hedging its bets by always showing a possibility of rain,’ the Sunday Telegraph reported.
‘Faff over clarity’: Anne-Louise Quinton said the app constantly predicts a chance of rain in order to cover itself
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James Warner, a meteorology PhD student at @UniOfExeter, said: ‘The BBC weather app is using data from the Met Office, and BBC weather online is using data from Meteogroup and showing a very different forecast.
‘Obviously there is going to be some sort of transition period, but mixing these is just misleading for the general public?’
A BBC spokesman said: ‘The roll out of the new service is a gradual process as is common with any large scale digital update.
‘We’re confident we’ve launched an improved BBC Weather website and app with useful new features.
‘As with any change, we know it will take some users time to get accustomed to the updates.’
Speaking on his blog, Michael Burnett, Executive Product Manager at the BBC, said: ‘People sometimes say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” so I want to emphasise this is not change for change’s sake’ (pictured: The new app)