Re: NetCDF and remote archives

> Organization: HAO, NCAR
> Keywords: 199407131719.AA03124

Hi Willis,

> I am interested in using NetCDF in conjunction with an home grown
> data transfer interface we have developed here at HAO.  Though I 
> have a copy of the NetCDF User's Guide (v2.3, Feb-93), it is still 
> unclear to me whether NetCDF is the answer I am looking for.
> 
> Here is what the high level requirements are:  to allow a user
> of the interface the option of transferring data that resides
> at a Goddard Space Flight Center repository (stored in a
> rather nonstandard binary UARS data format) to a temporary
> staging area here on our local computer in either text format or
> IDL compatible binary format.

We have had a student finishing a generic browser for netCDF data written as
an IDL program.  I will be announcing it to the netcdfgroup mailing list
soon.  NetCDF permits you to use other tools for browsing the data as
well. The ncdump tool lets you look at it in ASCII form.

> I am hoping that someone could advise me on the applicability of
> NetCDF to this problem.  Of course, I will be glad to give you
> additional details.
> 
> I would also like to talk with someone regarding NetCDF as 
> as an archive and access system for scientific data, in lieu of
> a commerical relational database system.

NetCDF is not a database system, and in particular does not provide features
in the interface for indexing data by value.  However if you don't need the
facilities of a real database system but do need an interface for accessing
portable scientific data, netCDF may be appropriate. If you have Mosaic or
another WWW browser, I recommend that you look at the netCDF information
we've assembled in the netCDF home page at

        http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/netcdf/

There is information there that is not in the manual, such as who else is
using netCDF, what kinds of things it is used for, and what software is
available for manipulating or displaying netCDF data.

--
Russ Rew                                                   UCAR Unidata Program
address@hidden                                             P.O. Box 3000
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/                             Boulder, CO 80307-3000