20020730: Quick question: IMGCOPY

>From:  Robert Dewey <address@hidden>
>Organization:  ?
>Keywords:  200207302339.g6UNd4920451 McIDAS-X IMGCOPY

Robert,

>Yet another question -
>I would like to copy satellite and nexrad images from an ADDE server so that 
>they can be viewed in GEMPAK. First off, is this even possible?

Yes.

>Could I get 
>local nexrad image files from the ADDE server and save them to a local folder 
>to be viewed with GEMPAK?

Yes, but the format of the copied files will not be the same as the original
ones.  For instance, NOAAPORT image data is in GINI format, and the output
for IMGCOPY is typically in AREA format (it can be in netCDF).

>I tried experimenting with IMGCOPY as follows -
>
>IMGCOPY GINIEAST/GE1KVIS TEST/VIS

Assuming that you created a TEST dataset, this would almost work.
In the Unidata McIDAS distribution is a BATCH file that is used to setup
a local dataset called MYDATA.  This dataset will be able to house all
valid IMAGE (in AREA format), GRID (in GRID format), and POINT (in MD
format) data.  You setup the datset as:

BATCH MYDATA.BAT

Once the ADDE dataset with group name MYDATA exists, you could run
your command as:

IMGCOPY GINIEAST/GE1KVIS MYDATA/IMAGES.n

where '.n' specifies the dataset position to write to.  For instance,
MYDATA/IMAGES.1234 will write into the file AREA1234.

NB: Be aware that the command:

IMGCOPY GINIEAST/GE1KVIS MYDATA/IMAGES.1234

will copy the default size (480x640) from the latest element of 
GINIEAST/GE1KVIS to MYDATA/IMAGES.1234.  You can adjust the size
of the copy with IMGCOPY keywords.

>But I am not too sure how the "ddataset" works.

A dataset is a defined collection of data files.  The definition of the
dataset has to be made before you can access (read or write) elements
of the dataset.

>I would like to setup a script run by crontab every 20 minutes or so to get 
>satellite imagery/nexrad products. I want data to go into a local directory 
>(such as nsat/1km/vis/VIS_YYYYMMDD_hhmm)

The name of the output file will be AREAnnnn, where 'nnnn' is a 4 digit
number that ranges from 0001 to 9999.  If you want the name of the output
file to be something other than AREAnnnn, you will have to rename the
output after it is created.

>so that when I run GEMPAK, I can view the images. Can you provide me with an 
>example on how to do this?

Hmm...  There is a lot of information that has to be conveyed for you
to really understand what is going on, and, quite frankly, I don't have
enough time right now to go through all of it (I am preparing for
my McIDAS workshop which begins next Monday).  I can give you a set
of commands that would work, but no explanation.  Here goes:

assumptions:

1) the output directory you want is /nsat/1km/vis (you listed a
   relative path, not an absolute one)

2) your routine will rename the file after it is made

3) you have to decide what portion of the original image you want to
   copy.  You could copy the entire image, but the GINI VIS images
   are each 26 MB in size.  This is a LOT of data to copy every
   10 minutes!

BATCH MYDATA.BAT                    <- this only has to be done once in your
                                       account

REDIRECT ADD AREA2* "/nsat/1km/vis  <- tell McIDAS where to find AREA2*
IMGCOPY GINIEAST/GE1KVIS MYDATA/IMAGES.2000 STA=KORD SIZE=600 800

This should create the file /nsat/1km/vis/AREA2000 (assuming that
you have write permission for the directory) that is a full
resolution sector centered on KORD (Chicago ORD) and is 600x800
(LINExELEMENT) in size.

>Thanks for the help again

Sorry I don't have more time...

Tom
--
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* Tom Yoksas                                             UCAR Unidata Program *
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