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bbc weather page trying, but failing, to load map?

  • 10 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by John99

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The bbc weather site, http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2653261, fails to load the weather map. It just displays three moving squares (showing it's trying, I guess).

The bbc weather site, http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2653261, fails to load the weather map. It just displays three moving squares (showing it's trying, I guess).

All Replies (10)

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The page works for me. Including the Small flash player video. I am using Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

What about the MetOffice page http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/forecast/gcnx28j7k That works for me but the Flash Player video fails saying it needs updating. Obviously not taking into account Linux users

General advice is to clear cache and cookies for the site. Does that help ?

Note using Ctrl F5 should reload the page with a fresh cache. Also see

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Hello John99. The MetOffice page works fine. I've already tried, and have retried, clearing cache and cookies to no avail. I'm using Mint 17.1, but get the same problem on my other machine (older and not used much) running Mint 15 with both FireFox and Chrome. On Mint 17.1 I've seen it happen in the past but some days it loaded okay, so I put it down to the BBC site. I played around this afternoon and did this...

Right clicked and hit "Inspect Element (Q)" it shows this line highlighted (only it's bracketed by less than and greater than, but can't post those!)...

div id="primary-map" class = "map-view loading"

...which I guess is what it's trying to do. I then click "console" and see...

TypeError: bbc.mtk is undefined Use of getPreventDefault() is deprecated. Use defaultPrevented instead.

...which makes me think some thing's out of date?

But these are stabs in the dark. Any other advice welcome. Thanks for your help.

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10 mins after posting the above the map's now loading!

But the message "TypeError: bbc.mtk is undefined" has a triangle to its left, was an "x" when it failed to load. Is that significant?

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Sorry that page content is way beyond my knowledge level. I will make some general comments, but I am not sure they will help. Maybe someone with more knowledge will chip in over the coming days. If not then try over at mozillazine

The problematic weather map is only a small part of the page but even that has three separate tabs x up to say 20 time interval layers.

The problematic map includes content from

The page also uses

The page apparently works ok for me. With the inspector set to display errors only, I do not see any, but if I allow it to display warnings I get six screenfulls.

I can see there may be lots of things to go wrong. Presumably you don't have script or ad blockers of any type active. (Including Fx built in Tracking Protection )

Mint tends to be used on low spec machines

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If images are missing then check that you do not block images from some domains.

  • Tap the Alt key or press F10 to show the Menu Bar

Check the permissions for the domain in the currently selected tab in "Tools > Page Info > Permissions"

Check "Tools > Page Info > Media" for blocked images

  • Select the first image link and use the cursor Down key to scroll through the list.
  • If an image in the list is grayed and "Block Images from..." has a checkmark then remove this checkmark to unblock images from this domain.

Make sure that you do not block (third-party) images, the permissions.default.image pref on the about:config page should be 1.


There are extensions like Adblock Plus (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) and security software (firewall, anti-virus) that can block images and other content.

See also:

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The map's loading okay this morning. So it appears to be an intermittent problem, the worst kind of problem! This is the behaviour I've seen in the past, but it used to eventually load the map after a few tries. Anyway, I'm going to have to leave it for now as I have some code that needs finishing for a customer (C++ not java script, but perhaps I ought learn it). Thanks for your help, if I get it sorted, or need help in the near future, I'll post here.

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I installed chrome. It acts the same as firefox, that is, if firefox fails to load the map then so does chrome, and if one loads it so does the other. So it looks like it's a bbc weather site problem.


The details. Chrome gives two errors.

1st (well, at the top of the list of two) is "Failed to load resource: net::ERR_CONTENT_DECODING_FAILED" http://cdnedge.bbc.co.uk/mtk/maploader.js :

2nd is: "Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'OpenLayers' of undefined" static.bbci.co.uk/weather/0.5.327/modules/weather-built.js:185

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I guessed you would be using a computer in the UK as you are looking at uk weather. If you are using a computer that the bbc does not recognise as in the uk the service may get ropey.

Whether or not you are in the uk ( or the BBC's odd definition of the UK based on license fees) If you are outside the UK you will see promotions and adverts in the uk it is ad free.

1st (well, at the top of the list of two) is "Failed to load resource: net::ERR_CONTENT_DECODING_FAILED" http://cdnedge.bbc.co.uk/mtk/maploader.js : 

The error you see apparently suggests a problem with a bbc edge server. De facto the problem is not a Firefox one if also seen on Chrome.

Assuming your Internet Service is ok I think you should try to enquire at the BBC but it may not prove too easy to get past the standard replies and contact an engineer.

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Over the past few days I've found that FireFox sometimes loads the map okay but Chrome fails. Other times both fail or both succeed. Not sure what that means, maybe some sort of problem with synchronisation? Anyway, I'll leave it at that. Ought I post it SOLVED?

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No need to mark as solved, we have not found a solution!

Marking it solved would make it easier to find by those looking up BBC problems, but this would not help them.

Did you manage to fight your way through to anyone at the BBC ? Probably not, unless you emailed using magic words MP & Ombudsman. I used to have some engineering contact details for the BBC but any info I did have is way past its sell by date. If it is an edgeserver problem engineers often fix them in an instant.