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IDV Installation and tutorial materials

This archive contains answers to questions sent to Unidata support through mid-2025. Note that the archive is no longer being updated. We provide the archive for reference; many of the answers presented here remain technically correct, even if somewhat outdated. For the most up-to-date information on the use of NSF Unidata software and data services, please consult the Software Documentation first.

  • Subject: IDV Installation and tutorial materials
  • Date: Fri, 07 Nov 2003 09:39:54 -0700
Ms. Tahk:

Good to have you considering the Unidata Integrated Data Viewer (IDV)
for your middle school science classes. Unidata is funded by the
National Science Foundation and is part of UCAR, one of the top weather
research institutions in the country.

The IDV web site is
http://my.unidata.ucar.edu/content/software/IDV/index.html
The User's Guide is online at 
http://my.unidata.ucar.edu/content/software/IDV/docs/userguide/index.html
and the recent Workshop (a two day course in how to install and use the
IDV) is online at
http://my.unidata.ucar.edu/content/software/IDV/docs/workshop/index.html

The Workshop is probably the first place to look for the simplest
installation help and self-training. The User's Guide has very similar
material, with more details. See also the Quick Start in the user's
Guide, once you have the IDV running. The User's Guide is in the IDV,
under the Help menu.

The IDV is intended to be downloaded and installed by the users, with no
system privileges or system knowledge or work required, in 5 to 15
minutes. This is much easier than installing many software packages in
the past. There is no cost of any kind. The IDV is in use in more than
100 universities and research institutions worldwide.  Almost all users
install the IDV themselves and there is no reason at all why you cannot
do so.  It only takes a few minutes to try. In 15 minutes you may be
looking at the latest satellite, radar, and other weather data in a
display far more controlable than anything you can find online, a
professional meteorology display system.

The IDV will take about 75 megabytes of disk space which on recent
computers (last 3 or 4 years say) is not a lot. The data is loaded as
needed over the Internet from remote data servers; this is real-time
data of current global meteorlogical conditons and forecasts.

Special IDV features are intended to help construct classroom and lab
exercises, such
as the IDV-HTML page viewer, and collaboration where the teacher can
control her computer and the students see what she is doing on their
computers.

The IDV's 3-D, interactive, time-animated view of the atmosphere and
weather data is both a way to excite students about science and a tool
that can carry them through college meteorology work.

You can write with IDV questions to address@hidden.  Unidata
is tasked to support its community of college and universities but we
help others as we have time.

Stuart Wier

-- 

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