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[McIDAS #XMY-392143]: Mcidas-SFCPLOT behavior?

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  • Subject: [McIDAS #XMY-392143]: Mcidas-SFCPLOT behavior?
  • Date: Sat, 02 Dec 2006 10:57:51 -0700
Hi again Bill,

Correction to my earlier email:

I found my problem with plotting weather symbols as part of PLOT.
The error is in the PLOT definition for SFCPLOT.CORE:

The definition I was trying to use was:

PLOT   UNIT=AMERICAN METRIC \
       AMERICAN='F F X MB KTS' METRIC='C C X MB KTS' \
       COLOR='2 2 3 3 4 3 2' \
       FORMAT='I3 I3 X K3 FLAG X I1' \
       LSIZE='6 6 6 6 9 5 6' \
       MULTIPLY='1 1 1 10' \
       OFFSET='-8 -12 8 -12 X -20 -8 5 X X 8 5 X 14' \
       LOC=+ \
       TITLE=X 3 \
       FONT=' '\
       ISFC='T TD WX1 PSL WIND ID CIGC' \
       SVCA='T TD WX1 PSL WIND ID CCL' \
       SYN= na \
       ISHP=na

This should be:

PLOT   UNIT=AMERICAN METRIC \ 
       AMERICAN='F F X X MB KTS' \
       METRIC='C C X X MB KTS' \
       COLOR='2 2 3 3 3 4 3 2' \
       FORMAT='I3 I3 SYMB SYMB K3 FLAG X I1' \
       LSIZE='6 6 6 6 6 9 5 6' \
       MULTIPLY='1 1 1 1 10' \
       OFFSET='-8 -12 8 -12 0 -8 0 -20 -8 5 X X 8 5 X 14' \
       LOC=+ \ 
       TITLE=X 3 \
       FONT=' '\ 
       ISFC='T TD WX1 WX2 PSL WIND ID CIGC' \
       SVCA='T TD WX1 WX2 PSL WIND ID CCL' \
       SYN= na \ 
       ISHP=na 


The problem was that the number of parameters specified in the OFFSET= keyword
was incorrect: 15 instead of 16.  The result of an incorrect number of values
for offset was:

- weather symbols would not be plotted
- other display values are plotted in the wrong place

The modified definition of PLOT above correctly locates the weather symbol plot
at '0 -8 0 -20'.  It also includes the MULTIPLY specification so that the 
pressure
is plotted the same way as it is in the distributed PLOT definition.

If you want to be able to use the PLOT definition that is in the distribution
AND use the one that plots symbols for weather instead of text, then you
should copy the revised definition above to your SFCPLOT.SITE file and name
it something other than PLOT.  Since I think that having weather symbols
in a PLOT is nice, I will add it to the SFCPLOT.CORE file that I send out
with the Unidata McIDAS distribution as a parameter named PLOTWXS.
This will be included in a addendum which I hope to have ready by Christmas.

I have attached a display of 'SFCPLOT PLOTWXS CO' and 'SFCPLOT PLOTWXS MI' that
use the new PLOTWXS definition.  I include the plot over Michigan since there is
one station that is reporting moderate to heavy (3 star) snow.  Please let me
know if the display of the weather symbols is too cramped.


Cheers,

Tom
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Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: XMY-392143
Department: Support McIDAS
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed

Attachment: sfcplot_PLOTWXS_CO.GIF
Description: GIF image

Attachment: sfcplot_PLOTWXS_MI.GIF
Description: GIF image