[Support #HSR-205523]: McIDAS map file

Hi Hongming,

re:
> I work at NESDIS and got your help on McIDAS issue many years ago.

I vaguely remember our previous exchanges; getting old you know ;-)

re:
> Recently there is a user request about high resolution coastline in
> McIDAS. We find out some interesting data set but they are in other
> formats like shape file etc. I wonder if you have the software which is
> able to convert the shapefile to McIDAS map file.

McIDAS does not support map outline files in shapefile format, but
the Unidata IDV and SSEC's McIDAS-V (which is based on the IDV) do.
Unfortunately, I do not see any capability in the IDV/McV for exporting
map outlines into external files.

re:
> Or any way to display these shape files on McIDAS?

No, sorry.  McIDAS-X does not have the capability for reading/using
map outlines in shape files.  It does, however, contain a routine
that can create OUTL files from CSV files.  I altered the SSEC XRD
version of the file, makemap, and include it directly in Unidata
McIDAS.  I modified the code so that it understands GEMPAK ASCII
text map files (GEMPAK includes a LOT of these in its distribution)
and WXP ASCII text map files.  Unidata GEMPAK has a routine that
can create GEMPAK binary map files from shape files, so use of
GEMPAK may be a round about way to convert the shape file(s) you
are interested in using.

One other thing, the Unidata McIDAS-X distribution contains a
couple of higher resolution outline files, OUTVHRES and OUTVHPOL,
that I created from GEMPAK ASCII map files (which derive from
CIA map files).  I can make these available to you if you want
to see if they are high enough resolution for your user(s).

re:
> Thank you in advance!

No worries.

Cheers,

Tom
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Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: HSR-205523
Department: Support McIDAS
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed