[McIDAS #KRH-362919]: MciDAS GOES data inquiry

Hi Weidong,

Tom here...

> My name is Weidong Xu, I am a research associate in kings College
> London which is a non profit  educational University, I am working on
> Fire detection and Characterization with Professor Martin Wooster
> (http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/sspp/geography/people/acad/wooster). We
> are working on a project set ting up a global fire detection system, we
> already have a MSG fire system which is European Geostationary
> satellite here and we try to work on GOES data.
> 
> I am very interesting in the GOES GVAR 10 bit data through MciDAS ADDE server:
> 
> GOES-East  - goeseast.unidata.ucar.edu
> GOES-West  - goeswest.unidata.ucar.edu
> GOES-south - goessouth.unidata.ucar.edu
> 
> I had already register on UCAR website and my Username is
> address@hidden,

OK, thanks.

> I already download a McIDAS-v under XP from SSEC
> and it running properly here, I can download some data and convert to
> NETCDF format manually but I am hoping to do download and save the data
> as McIDAS format in a batch model.

OK.


runIDV -islfile fully_qualified_pathname_of_isl_script
runMcV -islfile fully_qualified_pathname_of_isl_script

Once you this procedure working, the task remaining is to kick off
the running of the ISL script through cron.

> I can see the
> goessouth.unidata.ucar.edu from the ADDE image server, but can't see
> goeseast.unidata.ucar.edu and goeswest.unidata.ucar.edu. So the
> questions are:
> 
> 1.Can I and do I need to download MciDAS-x from UCAR for this purpose?

Yes, you can, and no you do not absolutely need to.

> 2.Can I have the access of goeseast.unidata.ucar.edu and
> goeswest.unidata.ucar.edu, if I can, how to do it?

Yes.  Here is the information I sent in a previous email ("for the files"):

You can configure McIDAS-V to include access to the EAST dataset on
goeseast.unidata.ucar.edu and WEST dataset on goeswest.unidata.ucar.edu.
This is simply done by:

- in the McIDAS-V Data Explorer window, open the list under Satellite
  and select Imagery

- in the Server Dropdown/Entry widget, type in the name of the server
  for the data you want.  For instance, type in goeseast.unidata.ucar.edu
  for the GOES-East data

- as you type in the name of a server that does not exist in the
  list of servers in the Server Dropdown/Entry, the Dataset Dropdown/Entry
  widget will clear.  Click in that widget and a new dialog will
  open.  This dialog is used to configure the dataset(s) you want to
  access on the server you just entered.

- type in EAST in the Dataset(s) entry and then click the Add Server
  button

From now on, you will see goeseast.unidata.ucar.edu in the list
of servers and EAST in the list of datasets for that server.

The procedure in IDV is much the same except that no dialog is 
popped up.  Simply enter the server name in the Server Dropdown/Entry
widget and the dataset name in the Dataset(s) Dropdown/Entry.

> 3.How to download the GVAR 10 bit data from the server and save it
> in McIDAS format in a batch model?

You can script McIDAS-V/IDV invocations using the IDV Scripting Language
(ISL).  The first thing to do would be to formulate the procedure to
copy data off of the desired ADDE server and write it to a local file
in McIDAS AREA format.  You would then save the procedure as a bundle
and then write a simple script that would load the bundle and do the
processing.  The script would, in turn, be run by the IDV or McIDAS vi
startup routine:

> I had already download LDM from UCAR and thanks a lot to TOM I can
> download some GOES data but they are 8 bit data, We would rather have
> the 10 bit full resolution data from above ADDE server

Understood...

> and I will run
> the MciDAS on same machine whose IP is 137.73.24.45, since our College
> have a firewall project our machine seen from outside, It take quite
> long time to apply it to open outside, I can start to open the port(s)
> if needed.

A couple of things:

- if you can access the ADDE server goessouth.unidata.ucar.edu, then
  your university's firewall is not blocking requests to port 112
  on the server.  There is no additional action needed wrt a firewall.

- if you are interested in getting Unidata McIDAS-X, then I need you
  to read and agree to the following:

Unidata has long been licensed by the Space Science and Engineering Center
(SSEC) of the University of Wisconsin at Madison to distribute our version
of McIDAS, Unidata McIDAS, to educational institutions.  Within the past year
and a half, SSEC refined their definition of allowable use of McIDAS at
institutions outside of the U.S.  Representatives from non-U.S. educational
sites are typically recognized by their email addresses not ending in '.edu'.

I am required to have prospective McIDAS users read and agree to the
following:

  SSEC considers permissible users of the international university community
  to be those who are using McIDAS-X for academic classroom instruction or
  academic research by students related to obtaining a degree. Research 
institutes
  and government agencies that use McIDAS-X for meteorological research or
  operations must purchase a license from SSEC for the non-academic use. Given
  this clarification, and if Unidata users remain within the licensing terms
  that include no re-distribution of any portion of the software, SSEC is 
agreeable
  to providing this software to the international university Unidata user 
community.

Given the above position, we need a clear statement from you that specifies
_all_ of the following:

- you are accessing McIDAS from Unidata for use in a university; please provide
  the name of your university
- McIDAS must be used for academic classroom instruction or academic research
  by students related to obtaining a degree
- your installation of McIDAS is not for use by a government agency, 
non-academic
  research institute, or private concern
- you agree that you will not re-distribute any portion of the software

As soon as you state that your use of Unidata McIDAS will conform to the
terms listed above, we will add the email address:

address@hidden

to the list that allows downloading of Unidata McIDAS.

If you decide that you want to use McIDAS-X, I will send you a simple
script that you can run to copy full resolution data off of a remote
ADDE server and save it locally in a McIDAS AREA file.

> Thanks a lot in advance and looking forward to your reply,

I look forward to working with you further on this effort!

Cheers,

Tom
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Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: KRH-362919
Department: Support McIDAS
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed