>From: James F Garten <address@hidden> >Organization: University of Michigan >Keywords: 200005162009.e4GK9V421978 Unidata-Wisconsin images AREA DSSERVE >REDIRECT Jim, Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you, but I was on travel. >I have been learning how to use mcidas, but cannot find the answer to >the following question: > >I downloaded a bunch of files from Wisconsin that have the format: > >200002230000.goes10vis > >I ftp'd them to my own machine where I am also running mcidas. >but do not see how to take these files and name them into >an "area" or "image group" so that I may look at them using >mcidas. Have I missed directions in the learning guide that >would show me how to do this? The learning guide and online McIDAS Users Guide go over the components of an ADDE dataset. What you are probably lacking is the big picture overview. >Do I have to rename the files somehow? For McIDAS-X versions 7.6 and previous (I say this because I just got Version 7.7 and things have changed for the better :-). Currently, McIDAS needs images in AREA format to be located in files named AREAnnnn, where nnnn is a 4-digit number (e.g., 0001 - 9999; 0000 is illegal). So, what I would do to get my feet wet (so to speak) is: o FTP image files from the Unidata-Wisconsin archive site (you have already done this) o decide on a file naming scheme. This is where knowing how to use McIDAS comes in handy. I suggest that you do the following: Decide on how many images of each type you are likely to want to keep around. The default configuration I send out for realtime data (the data received by sites via the Unidata IDD) is 10 per image type (e.g., GOES-East VIS (0.65 um), GOES-East IR (10.7 um), GOES-East WV (6.8 um), GOES-West VIS (0.65 um), etc. After you know what images you are going to want to deal with and how many of each kind there will be, you need to decide how they will be named. For example, here is the defaults sent with McIDAS-X for the realtime data available through the Unidata IDD: Image type AREA number range (referred to as cylinder numbers) ---------------+--------------------------------------------------- EDFLOATER-I 60 - 69 -> AREA0060 - AREA0069 MOLLWEIDE IR 100 - 109 -> AREA0100 - AREA0109 MOLLWEIDE WV 110 - 119 -> AREA0110 - AREA0119 GOES-West VIS 120 - 129 -> AREA0120 - AREA0129 GOES-West IR 130 - 139 -> AREA0130 - AREA0139 GOES-East VIS 140 - 149 -> AREA0140 - AREA0149 GOES-East IR 150 - 159 -> AREA0150 - AREA0159 GOES-West WV 170 - 179 -> AREA0170 - AREA0210 EDFLOATER-I 160 - 169 -> AREA0160 - AREA0169 RESFLOATER 180 - 189 -> AREA0180 - AREA0189 ANTARCTIC 190 - 199 -> AREA0190 - AREA0199 MDR 200 - 209 -> AREA0200 - AREA0209 GOES-East WV 210 - 219 -> AREA0210 - AREA0210 Since you may eventually want the realtime data, I suggest that you adopt the above scheme with some modifications: Image type AREA number range (referred to as cylinder numbers) ---------------+--------------------------------------------------- EDFLOATER-I 2060 - 2069 -> AREA0060 - AREA0069 MOLLWEIDE IR 2100 - 2109 -> AREA0100 - AREA0109 MOLLWEIDE WV 2110 - 2119 -> AREA0110 - AREA0119 GOES-West VIS 2120 - 2129 -> AREA0120 - AREA0129 GOES-West IR 2130 - 2139 -> AREA0130 - AREA0139 GOES-East VIS 2140 - 2149 -> AREA0140 - AREA0149 GOES-East IR 2150 - 2159 -> AREA0150 - AREA0159 GOES-West WV 2170 - 2179 -> AREA0170 - AREA0210 EDFLOATER-I 2160 - 2169 -> AREA0160 - AREA0169 RESFLOATER 2180 - 2189 -> AREA0180 - AREA0189 ANTARCTIC 2190 - 2199 -> AREA0190 - AREA0199 MDR 2200 - 2209 -> AREA0200 - AREA0209 GOES-East WV 2210 - 2219 -> AREA0210 - AREA0210 If you want to keep more of any kind of image, you will have to adjust your naming scheme accordingly. Please note that there can NOT be an overlap in names. o after FTPing the files you want and renaming them using a scheme like that listed above, you will need to create ADDE datasets so you can access the files. The scheme we use for the realtime data is discussed in the Learning Guide. The page that has dataset names that match our default names listed above is: http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/mcidas/mclearn760/sat-1.html Since your data is not "realtime" (it is archive data), I would strongly suggest that you not use the RTIMAGES data set name. Perhaps you could adopt something like ARCHIVE. Then, you would simply substitute ARCHIVE for REALTIME and the new AREA numbers you chose for those listed in the HTML page in DSSERVE commands that you run to setup the data sets. For illustration, suppose that you decide to use ARCHIVE and you have named GOES-East VIS images AREA2140 - AREA2149. The DSSERVE command that you would run would be: DSSERVE ADD ARCHIVE/GE-VIS AREA 2140 2149 "GOES-East North America VIS A file in the McIDAS-X distribution you can use as an example of how to setup a bunch of DSSERVE commands can be found in ~mcidas/data/DSSERVE.BAT. This is a McIDAS BATCH file that can be run as follows: BATCH DSSERVE.BAT Of course, you would create a new file possibly named ARCHIVE.BAT, so your BATCH command would be: BATCH ARCHIVE.BAT o once you have named the files and setup ADDE dataset names, the only thing left is making sure that your McIDAS-X session can find the files. This will be automatic if you put the files in a directory in your MCPATH. If you did not, you can use the REDIRECT command to specify where to find the files. For example, if you put all of your renamed image files in a directory named /data/mcidas and this directory was not in your MCPATH, then you might tell McIDAS that it can find the AREA files in that directory as follows: REDIRECT ADD AREA2* "/data/mcidas >Was I incorrect to ftp them directly to my machine instead of >using some method within mcidas to do the transfer? No, not at all. You did exactly what was needed. >(The directions show how to obtain some files from a ucar machine >within mcidas.) Huh? Are you looking at: http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/data/unirec.html >Any help you can provide will be appreciated, and I am hoping that once >I understand how to get these images loaded in that I will not bother >you anymore.... No problem. Please let me know if the above discussions was not what you need to get going. Tom Yoksas
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