20040728: displaying GINI images in McIdas-X

>From: David Ovens <address@hidden>
>Organization: University of Washington
>Keywords: 200407281936.i6SJaXaW027282 McIDAS-X GINI

Hi David,

>In our pqact.conf file for the LDM we do this
>
># NEXRAD Level III radar composites in PNG-compressed GINI format
>FNEXRAD         ^rad/NEXRCOMP/(...)/(...)_(........)_(....)
>        FILE   data/gempak/nport/RADAR/\1/\2/\2_\3_\4

We file the NIMAGE GINI images using a similar approach and then
serve them through ADDE while still compressed:

#
# Zlib compressed NOAAPORT GOES-East/West GINI Images -- FILE
NIMAGE  ^satz/ch[0-9]/.*/(.*)/([12][0-9])([0-9][0-9])([01][0-9])([0-3][0-9]) 
([0-2][0-9])([0-5][0-9])/(.*)/(.*km)/
        PIPE    -close
        util/ldmfile.sh 
data/pub/raw/gini/gini_\2\3\4\5/\8/\9/\1/\1_\2\3\4\5_\6\7

'ldmfile.sh' is a Bourne shell script that writes the data to a file
AND logs the process to the ldmd.log file.  The only thing it does
different than the FILE action of pqact is logging.

Unidata McIDAS does can not handle PNG compressed imagery, so you were
correct in your surmise that you need to use the ldm-mcidas 'decoder',
pngg2gini, to uncompress them.

>I can display these compressed images just fine in GEMPAK, but I have
>not been able to get McIdas-X to work with these.
>
>I've tried this:
>
> % cd ~/mcidas/data
> % ~ldm/ldm-mcidas/bin/pngg2gini  -f \
>   /home/disk/data/gempak/nport/RADAR/1km/n0r/n0r_20040727_1827 AREA8810
>
>and then in mcidas I see this:
>
>IMGDISP MYDATA/IMAGES.8810 1
> IMGDISP: Band not present
> IMGDISP: done
>IMGLIST MYDATA/IMAGES.8800 8900
> Image file directory listing for:MYDATA/IMAGES
> IMGLIST: Nominal start date is out of range   808464434
> IMGLIST: Creation date is out of range        513
> IMGLIST: Nominal start date is out of range   942749490
>
>Should this be possible?  Is it just an old McIdas that is giving this
>problem or am I asking too much?

Your naming in the example invocation line, AREA8810, and your use of
the MYDATA/IMAGES dataset tells me that you are trying to access the
output image as if it was in AREA format, which it is not; the output
from pngg2gini is a GINI format image.

What you should do is create an ADDE dataset of type GINI and use it
instead of MYDATA/IMAGES.

Here is one example of doing this:

DSSERVE ADD MYDATA/GINI GINI TYPE=IMAGE DIRFILE=<regular expression for your 
pngg2gini uncompressed GINI images> "Uncompressed NEXRAD Composite images

Alternatively and more easily, you can use the NEXRCOMP section of the
McIDAS BATCH file I send out with Unidata McIDAS, DSSERVE.BAT, to setup
an ADDE dataset that will serve the various types of composite images.

The NEXRCOMP-related lines in DSSERVE.BAT are:

REM
REM Unidata NEXRAD Level III composite products
REM

REM Images of type GINI use Unidata GINI server

REM     fct group/descriptor    type type       file mask
                   description
REM     ---+--------+----------+----+----------+--------------------------------
------------------+------------------------------------------
DSSERVE ADD NEXRCOMP/1KN0R-NAT  GINI TYPE=IMAGE 
DIRFILE=/data/ldm/gempak/nport/RADAR/1km/n0r/n0r_* "1 km N0R US Base 
Reflectivity Composite
DSSERVE ADD NEXRCOMP/2KN1P-NAT  GINI TYPE=IMAGE 
DIRFILE=/data/ldm/gempak/nport/RADAR/2km/n1p/n1p_* "2 km N1P US 1-hr Precip. 
Composite
DSSERVE ADD NEXRCOMP/4KNTP-NAT  GINI TYPE=IMAGE 
DIRFILE=/data/ldm/gempak/nport/RADAR/4km/ntp/ntp_* "4 km NTP US Storm Total 
Precip. Composite

REM Following 2 images are not (yet) produced.  Uncomment if/when they exist

REM REM     fct dset     group      type  type       file mask
                       description
REM REM     ---+--------+----------+----+----------+----------------------------
----------------------+------------------------------------------------
REM DSSERVE ADD NEXRCOMP/4KNVL-NAT  GINI TYPE=IMAGE 
DIRFILE=/data/ldm/gempak/nport/RADAR/4km/nvl/nvl_* "4 km NVL US Vertically 
Integrated H2O Composite
REM DSSERVE ADD NEXRCOMP/4KNET-NAT  GINI TYPE=IMAGE 
DIRFILE=/data/ldm/gempak/nport/RADAR/4km/net/net_* "4 km NET US Echo Tops 
Composite


I would recommend that you:

- copy the lines you want to a new McIDAS BATCH file, say NEXRCOMP.BAT

- edit the new BATCH file and modify the DIRFILE= keyword value(s) to
  point at the images you are unPNGing

- use the BATCH file to create your NEXRCOMP dataset:

  BATCH NEXRCOMP.BAT

- retry your IMGDISP command:

IMGDISP NEXRCOMP/1KN0R-NAT 1

>Thanks,

No worries.

>David
>-- 
>David Ovens             e-mail: address@hidden
>Research Meteorologist    phone: (206) 685-8108
>Dept of Atm. Sciences      plan: Real-time MM5 forecasting for the
>Box 351640                        Pacific Northwest
>University of Washington          http://www.atmos.washington.edu/mm5rt
>Seattle, WA  98195               Weather Graphics and Loops

Cheers,

Tom
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