Yes, you are right, it's not just NetCDF. I see the same thing with BUFR. All
these "standard" formats seem to be anything but standard when you get them
from different origins. Sigh ...
To IDV's credit though ... it seems to be the best software I've seen that can
handle displaying the most data formats!!!
Brian
-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Whittaker [mailto:whittaker@xxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2010 2:59 PM
To: Hoeth, Brian R. (JSC-WS8)[NOAA]
Cc: dmurray@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Matt Foster; idvusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [idvusers] Error opening AWIPS NetCDF grid
Hey Brian....
I would venture say that the issue has nothing to do with NetCDF, per
se. The issue is that certain "conventions" (some call them
"standards") have been adopted by scores of people all over the world
for structuring and defining their data grids in NetCDF files. "CF
conventions" is what is used.
Apparently the AWIPS structures do not use these conventions; hence,
any software that understands CF Conventions will not be able to
understand the structure of the data contained in the NetCDF file, and
therefore will not know what is what.
Who defines the structure of the AWIPS NetCDF files? Those are the
folks who need to have a look at CF Conventions (which by the way, do
evolve to embrace new data forms -- we are working with a group now to
define these for "satellite data", for example).
While I do get a little riled up about this, I cannot complain too
much as I have the same issues right here in SSEC -- now matter how
hard I seem to beat on people, I still get files that are not usable
in IDV/McIDAS-V as the scientist chose to ignore conventions (of any
kind, it seems....). It is getting better, though....
Current CF Conventions documented at:
<http://cf-pcmdi.llnl.gov/documents/cf-conventions/1.4/>
tom
On Thu, May 13, 2010 at 2:21 PM, Hoeth, Brian R. (JSC-WS8)[NOAA]
<brian.r.hoeth@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> This seems like as good a time as any to chime in ... I have always been
> frustrated w/ the fact that Unidata NetCDF is not the same as AWIPS NetCDF.
> I thought the whole reason to have NetCDF files is that they are a Common
> Data Format (CDF). What's even more puzzling is that the folks who develop
> AWIPS (GSD) work right down the road from Unidata. You would think there
> would be more collaboration?
>
> OK, enough soap boxing ... hopefully my comments haven't turned you away and
> you are still reading ... what I'm mainly interested in is the future. I'd
> like to make sure that the problems of the past do not repeat themselves.
> So, with that said, are the IDV developers working closely (or at all?) with
> the AWIPS II developers? Will IDV be able to display AWIPS II data (which is
> mainly in HDF vs. NetCDF from what I understand)?
>
> Thanks for listening! Sorry if I've offended anyone.
>
> Brian Hoeth
> NWS Spaceflight Meteorology Group
> Johnson Space Center
> Houston, TX
> 281-483-3246
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: idvusers-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:idvusers-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Don Murray
> Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2010 9:27 AM
> To: Matt Foster
> Cc: idvusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [idvusers] Error opening AWIPS NetCDF grid
>
> Hi Matt-
>
> Please upload the sample file to:
>
> http://motherlode.ucar.edu/repository/alias/idvupload
>
> and we'll take a look.
>
> AWIPS has a non-standard way (well I guess it's an AWIPS standard) of
> storing variables (e.g. Temperature) on multiple vertical coordinates
> all in one variable and then the reader has to break that in to
> meaningful fields to present to the user (e.g. Temperature @ pressure,
> Temperature @ 2m, Temperature in a layer, etc). From your analysis, it
> looks like the IDV (actually the netCDF-Java library) might not be doing
> this correctly. It could be that the format of the AWIPS grids has
> changed slightly since the convention was written many years ago, or the
> file is not written correctly.
>
> Don Murray
>
> Matt Foster wrote:
>> I'm trying to view an AWIPS NetCDF model grid file, and I'm getting an
>> error when trying to load it. The error is coming from line 186 of
>> AWIPSConvention.java, which is the breakupLevels() method. The error is
>> a "NoSuchElementException" coming from the StringTokenizer.nextToken().
>>
>> I'm guessing someone is probably going to want to see the grid file in
>> question. gzip'd it is around 700MB, so I'm not sure how to go about
>> getting it available to others.
>>
>> Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This is data relating to
>> the tornado outbreak we had here on Monday, so there is great interest
>> in viewing it outside of AWIPS.
>>
>> Matt @ WFO OUN
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> idvusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> For list information, to unsubscribe, visit:
>> http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/mailing_lists/
>
> --
> *************************************************************
> Don Murray UCAR Unidata Program
> dmurray@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx P.O. Box 3000
> (303) 497-8628 Boulder, CO 80307
> http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/staff/donm
> *************************************************************
>
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--
Tom Whittaker
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Space Science & Engineering Center (SSEC)
Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS)
1225 W. Dayton Street
Madison, WI 53706 USA
ph: +1 608 262 2759
