[IDV #GAI-830760]: Is there a 'turnkey' application that displays trajectory plots?

Jim,

Apologies for the long delay. The problem with the example file is it lacks
altitude data. However, the IDV should be able to handle this problem more
gracefully and we made a fix to do just that. Please try the IDV nightly build
to visualize your trajectories. Also, loading in your sample file is quite slow
and we are looking into why that is.

Concerning the the CF "incomplete multidimensional array representation", would
it be possible to have a sample file uploaded to
http://motherlode.ucar.edu/repository/alias/idvupload ?

Best,

Unidata IDV Support

> Hi.
> 
> So, the latest build of IDV installed flawlessly on my Mac (yay!), and I
> was able to successfully open the trajectory file that I sent to you.
> This may be entirely a function of my lack of familiarity with IDV, but
> I was unable to get it to produce displays of the trajectories as lines
> on the display map view. I could get it to show a marker moving across
> the map when pressing the animation 'play' button, but that is all I was
> ever able to get. I could view each trajectory as a table, so it clearly
> has loaded the data.
> 
> On another front, if I try to load a trajectory file that has the same
> contents as the one I sent you, except that it uses the CF "incomplete
> multidimensional array representation" (section 9.3.2 in the CF Metadata
> Conventions document
> <http://cfconventions.org/Data/cf-conventions/cf-conventions-1.6/build/cf-conventions.html#idp6424656>),
> it doesn't load correctly. It doesn't fail with an error, but if you
> view each individual trajectory as a table, you always see the data for
> the first trajectory.
> 
> Grace and peace,
> 
> Jim
> 
> On 8/26/14, 5:21 PM, Unidata IDV Support wrote:
> > Jim,
> >
> > Just for clarification there was a bit of a miscommunication here at 
> > Unidata. As
> > we mention below, we are ready for you to try the nightly IDV at your
> > convenience.
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > Unidata IDV Support
> >
> >> Hi all:
> >>
> >> Jim is right that coordinates do not have to be any particular type. Time 
> >> coordinates must be a numeric type with udunit compatible units. We are 
> >> working here to fix the IDV code that assumes doubles.
> >>
> >> John
> >>
> >>
> >>> Jim,
> >>>
> >>> Thanks for the example data set. This file was helpful in finding several
> >>> problems.  For this next iteration, please try the IDV nightly build 
> >>> (tomorrow,
> >>> 8/27/2014).  (The example file takes a while to load, just FYI.) Let us 
> >>> know if
> >>> you run into problems.
> >>>
> >>> http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/downloads/idv/nightly/index.jsp
> >>>
> >>> Best,
> >>>
> >>> Unidata IDV Support
> >>>
> >>>> Hi.
> >>>>
> >>>> There is no CF requirement that a time variable be a double. In fact, it
> >>>> could even validly be a short or byte. This is also true for any other
> >>>> variable. The guidance is from the NODC template, not from CF.
> >>>>
> >>>> We have many datasets that we produce and consume where the time is
> >>>> stored as a 4-byte integer.
> >>>>
> >>>> Grace and peace,
> >>>>
> >>>> Jim
> >>>>
> >>>> On 8/21/14, 5:16 PM, Unidata IDV Support wrote:
> >>>>> Jim,
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I have started digging into this topic. From what I can tell, the
> >>>>> time field should be a double, but in the file you sent us, it is a 
> >>>>> float.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> We are following the CF guidance on trajectory data found here:
> >>>>> https://geo-ide.noaa.gov/wiki/index.php?title=NODC_NetCDF_Trajectory_Template
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Again, the blog entry here may be of some help:
> >>>>> http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/blogs/developer/en/entry/ipynb_cookbooks_to_create_cf
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Would it be possible to correct this float versus double problem at the 
> >>>>> source?
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Alternatively, NCML may be able to help us here.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Your thoughts?
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Best,
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Unidata IDV Support
> >>>>>
> >>>>>> Jim,
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Thanks for the information. I'll start digging into this but 
> >>>>>> (un)fortunately I
> >>>>>> am out for a couple weeks so it will be a little while before I get 
> >>>>>> back to you.
> >>>>>> Thanks for your patience.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Best,
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Unidata IDV Support
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Hi.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> I was using the nightly release IDV 5.0u1 from August 5. I've uploaded
> >>>>>>> one version of the file I was trying to view, which is using the
> >>>>>>> 'continuous ragged array' form. The name of the file is
> >>>>>>> cfs_ew_850hpa_1993_AFR.nc. I have the same data stored using the
> >>>>>>> 'multidimensional array' form, but it was too big to upload (the 
> >>>>>>> upload
> >>>>>>> folder quota was exceeded).
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> I hope this is helpful. I'm actually trying to validate the file by
> >>>>>>> verifying that some neutral 3rd party application properly handles it,
> >>>>>>> so there are no guarantees that what I have is correct!
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Grace and peace,
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Jim
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> On 8/6/14, 6:22 PM, Unidata IDV Support wrote:
> >>>>>>>> Jim,
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> First off, what version of the IDV are you looking at? Only the 
> >>>>>>>> nightly release
> >>>>>>>> or IDV 5.0u1 (which has not been released yet, but very soon) has 
> >>>>>>>> this new
> >>>>>>>> trajectory feature. Secondly, can you upload the file in question to
> >>>>>>>> http://motherlode.ucar.edu/repository/alias/idvupload and let us 
> >>>>>>>> know when it is
> >>>>>>>> there?  I am eager to see some real trajectory data since everything 
> >>>>>>>> I have
> >>>>>>>> experimented with thus far has been canned.  Moreover, there are 
> >>>>>>>> other
> >>>>>>>> researchers wanting this feature so real data will be useful for me.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Thanks for you help.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Best,
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Unidata IDV Support
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> Hi.
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> That is good timing! I tried opening my file and received this 
> >>>>>>>>> error:
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> Problem opening file:/Users/jbiard/Desktop/For
> >>>>>>>>> Hilawe/cfs_ew_850hpa_1993_AFR.nc
> >>>>>>>>> java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Type is float,
> >>>>>>>>> must be double
> >>>>>>>>> Type is float, must be double
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> This is interesting, since there is no constraint on variable type 
> >>>>>>>>> in CF.
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> Grace and peace,
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> Jim
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> On 8/6/14, 2:53 PM, Unidata IDV Support wrote:
> >>>>>>>>>> Jim,
> >>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>> Good timing.
> >>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>> As of IDV 5u1 which will be release this week, the IDV can now 
> >>>>>>>>>> handle multiple
> >>>>>>>>>> trajectories in one CF-compliant file. When wanting to view these 
> >>>>>>>>>> data, select a
> >>>>>>>>>> Data Source Type of "Trajectory Sounding Files".  You will have to 
> >>>>>>>>>> build the
> >>>>>>>>>> trajectory file in a CF compliant manner as described here:
> >>>>>>>>>> http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/blogs/developer/en/entry/ipynb_cookbooks_to_create_cf.
> >>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>> This new IDV functionality should still be considered beta quality 
> >>>>>>>>>> and there
> >>>>>>>>>> could very well still be problems. Please keep us up-to-date on 
> >>>>>>>>>> your progress.
> >>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>> Best,
> >>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>> Unidata IDV Support
> >>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>>> Jim
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>>> We plot trajectories here.
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>>> http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/cgi-bin/data/trajtool/traj.pl
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>>> We use Fortran code to calculate the trajectories, stored the 
> >>>>>>>>>>> output in
> >>>>>>>>>>> nertCDF and then use a NCL script to plot them. The script works 
> >>>>>>>>>>> pretty
> >>>>>>>>>>> well (except where trajectories pass over 0E). We looked into CF 
> >>>>>>>>>>> complaint
> >>>>>>>>>>> netCDF trajectories standard a while back but didn't implement 
> >>>>>>>>>>> them. Part
> >>>>>>>>>>> of the reason was that the code output into it's own netCDF 
> >>>>>>>>>>> format. Still,
> >>>>>>>>>>> we could have reread and stored the data. I think we would have 
> >>>>>>>>>>> needed to
> >>>>>>>>>>> change how time was handled. Also, times went backward for back
> >>>>>>>>>>> trajectories and we weren't clear if that was okay.
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>>> We may try to transition to CF at some point.
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>>> Cathy Smith
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>>> On 8/6/14 8:42 AM, Jim Biard wrote:
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>>> Hi.
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>>> We are working on building a CF-compliant trajectory dataset. I'd 
> >>>>>>>>>>> like to
> >>>>>>>>>>> be able to verify correctness by using an existing application to 
> >>>>>>>>>>> plot the
> >>>>>>>>>>> trajectories, but I can't seem to find any applications that are
> >>>>>>>>>>> "trajectory aware".  Any suggestions?
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>>> Grace and peace,
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>>> Jim
> >>>>>>>>>>> --
> >>>>>>>>>>> CF-metadata mailing
> >>>>>>>>>>> address@hidden.eduhttp://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>>> --
> >>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------------
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>>> Emails about data/webpages may get quicker responses from emailing
> >>>>>>>>>>> address@hidden
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>>>>>>>>> CF-metadata mailing list
> >>>>>>>>>>> address@hidden
> >>>>>>>>>>> http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>> Ticket Details
> >>>>>>>>>> ===================
> >>>>>>>>>> Ticket ID: GAI-830760
> >>>>>>>>>> Department: Support IDV
> >>>>>>>>>> Priority: Normal
> >>>>>>>>>> Status: Closed
> >>>>>>>> Ticket Details
> >>>>>>>> ===================
> >>>>>>>> Ticket ID: GAI-830760
> >>>>>>>> Department: Support IDV
> >>>>>>>> Priority: Normal
> >>>>>>>> Status: Closed
> >>>>> Ticket Details
> >>>>> ===================
> >>>>> Ticket ID: GAI-830760
> >>>>> Department: Support IDV
> >>>>> Priority: Normal
> >>>>> Status: Closed
> >>>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>> CICS-NC <http://www.cicsnc.org/> Visit us on
> >>>> Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/cicsnc>        *Jim Biard*
> >>>> *Research Scholar*
> >>>> Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites NC <http://cicsnc.org/>
> >>>> North Carolina State University <http://ncsu.edu/>
> >>>> NOAA's National Climatic Data Center <http://ncdc.noaa.gov/>
> >>>> 151 Patton Ave, Asheville, NC 28801
> >>>> e: address@hidden
> >>>> o: +1 828 271 4900
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >
> > Ticket Details
> > ===================
> > Ticket ID: GAI-830760
> > Department: Support IDV
> > Priority: Normal
> > Status: Closed
> >
> 
> --
> CICS-NC <http://www.cicsnc.org/> Visit us on
> Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/cicsnc>     *Jim Biard*
> *Research Scholar*
> Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites NC <http://cicsnc.org/>
> North Carolina State University <http://ncsu.edu/>
> NOAA's National Climatic Data Center <http://ncdc.noaa.gov/>
> 151 Patton Ave, Asheville, NC 28801
> e: address@hidden
> o: +1 828 271 4900
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 


Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: GAI-830760
Department: Support IDV
Priority: Critical
Status: Open