[McIDAS #PUK-279164]: Exporting Latitude and Longitude data

Hi Abhnil,

re: How easy is it to export a McIDAS Area file into netcdf?
> I am using McIDAS-V

The process of exporting displayed imagery in netCDF is very easy in
McIDAS-V or the IDV:

In McIDAS-V, you would:

- display the image

  Data Explorer -> Data Sources -> Satellite Imagery

- after the image is displayed, save it to a netCDF file:

  View Window -> View -> <your view> -> Control Window -> File -> Save ->
  Export Displayed Data to netCDF ...

re:
> and is there a way of extracting Latitude and Longitude data from it.

I dumped out a Polar Stereographic image I saved in netCDF format and I did
not see Lat,Lon  values for the points, the coordinate axes were ImageElement
and ImageLine. The netCDF did, however, contain the relevant information that
would be available if the image was in McIDAS AREA format:

        char mcidas_area ;
                mcidas_area:grid_mapping_name = "mcidas_area" ;
                mcidas_area:AreaDirectory = -1., 4., 10., 113210., 180000., 2., 
2., 0., 512., 512., 1., 2., 2., 1., 0., 0., 113210., 191459., 8., 0., 0., 0., 
0., 0., 1195986505., 976887891., 1635000352., 908075091., 1701005636., 
540094496., 541288521., 1142956084., 0., 1280., 256., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 
0., 0., 0., 0., 113210., 180000., 0., 0., 0., 0., 1347568672., 1112688980., 0., 
0., 0., 0., 538976288., 1., 0., 0., 0., 768., 0. ;
                mcidas_area:NavBlock = 1347624992., 513., 512., 600000., 
23840., 1050000., 6371200., 0., 0., 0., 900000., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 
0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 
0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 
0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 
0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 
0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 
0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0. ;

One would then have to know the projection transforms and use the 
'mcidas_area:NavBlock'
values to transform from ImageLine and ImageElement into Latitude and Longitude.

re:
> If McIDAS-X is the only way to get it then where can I download the software 
> from.
> Is it open-source too?

Unfortunately, McIDAS-X is not open-source, and our license with UW/SSEC to 
distribute
McIDAS-X is limited to educational users.  Your email address, address@hidden,
suggests that your institution (University of New South Wales?) should meet the
requirements needed to get our distribution of McIDAS-X, Unidata McIDAS-X, 
free-of-charge
** IF ** the software would be used by students in the pursuance of a degree.

The following is some boilerplate that I am required to send to
non-.edu folks who seek to download McIDAS from us. In order for
you to be granted access to Unidata McIDAS, we need you to send back
a statement affirming the items listed below.

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.  In the fairly recent
past, SSEC refined their definition of allowable use of McIDAS at institutions
outside of the U.S. and for individuals.  Users 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 the department and university that the download is intended for
- 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 can 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.

I apologize for the difficulty in getting access to Unidata McIDAS-X,
but our hands are tied by the licensing restrictions.

Cheers,

Tom
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Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: PUK-279164
Department: Support McIDAS
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed