20040109: procedure to register to become McIDAS user

>From: address@hidden
>Organization: GMU
>Keywords: 200401091350.i09DoXp2006320 McIDAS

Hi Rosalyn,

I apologize for not being able to get back to you before now, but
I am at the AMS conference in Seattle at the moment, and being
able to answer email is hit and miss.

>I am a PhD student at George Mason University, in Fairfax, VA, in the 
>School of Computational Sciences.  We have a Remote Sensing program
>as part of the SCS curriculum.  This would benefit greatly from the 
>use of McIDAS, the LDM, and other software that Unidata provides.

This sounds good.

>What is the official procedure to become a user of these
>services? (ie.,  to obtain the software (downloading from the web?), training,
>support, etc).  Do we need a sponsoring agency?

The procedure is to register as a Unidata user through our web portal,
my.unidata.ucar.edu, and then do decide what you want, read the support
web pages for the package(s), download the package and set it up.
We hold training workshops once per year, and they are offered free
of charge to core Unidata institutions (research and educational
institutions).  Support is also available to core institutions.  Others
are welcome to signup for our topical email lists and post questions
about packages to those lists.  The Unidata community participants are
very generous in helping all users to use packages effectively.

>Are there any restrictions in making products from this data and 
>posting the products on a website?

There are restrictions on some of the data.  For instance, Unidata
user universities are entitled to get point-to-point feeds of NLDN
lightning data from SUNY Albany.  This data must never appear on
a web page that is viewable outside of the institution getting the
data (it can be internally viewable).  There are also a number of
restrictions on data covered by WMO Resolution 40.  There is no
restriction for using the data for educational and research activities,
but there is a restriction on the data being reintroduced in to the
country of origination.  Experience has shown that some countries consider
that viewing of the data (not products created from the data) on
web pages or accessible for download through web portals violates the
WMO Resolution 40 restrictions.  It is impossible in a simple email
to detail what data is restricted for which country.  The best thing
to do is to read through the web pages on our web site that discuss
the WM0 40 Resolution restrictions.

>Thanks in advance.

I hope the above helped.  Please let us know if/when you have additional
questions.

>Rosalyn MacCracken

Tom Yoksas