Re: [thredds] NetCDF, WMS, and auto color scale (not set by admin)

No we don't use aggregations.

I am an Australian, and all I really want: is to do less work! 
The ability for a server to do some of that work for me, is awesome! Your
thoughts and help is appreciated.

I am not suggesting that we change THREDDS defaults, I am suggesting that we

have the option to allow an admin to delegate a default/preference to the
data 
owner.

The 'pseudo code' would allow arbitrary delegation using a selector to pull 
the data out of the netcdf header.
>       <default color range>
>          <min>$delegate[elevation.someVar]</min>
>          <max>$delegate[elevation.otherVar]</max>
>       </default color range>
As an admin of multiple mixed systems, I would be free-ed, where
appropriate, 
to allow the 'view range' to come from a dataset. 

Just to give you an example, we sent a boat out to do some bathymetry scans,

they dumped 3 netcdf's in the 'please host me folder'.
Three separate runs were done, our variable is 'elevation' in this context.
The near shore one was (-200 -20), and the two offshore where (~-6500,-50),
(-2000, -50).

Are you suggesting that:
  * Because others use aggregations - you won't consider the ability
delegate and to read from the file? 
  * Or are you saying that actual_min/max sound good - lets hard code them
in?

I think neither of those are wonderful conclusions. I see value in the
delegation pattern, with a 'configured' selector, today they can be read
from a header (simple), tomorrow they could be an extra function like Mike
McCann <mccann@xxxxxxxxx> uses manually now:
So the default min (max would be the same) could end up looking like:
  * $select[file.layer.somvar]
  * $calculate[$math.percentile(file.layer, 2.75)]
With the obvious wording - you can make assumptions on 'performance'

Once again - "I am just lazy" and looking for a better integration between
data-owner, and administrator.

So for now - I will look at capturing the min/max (and hacking in a
percentile variable too - good idea Mike), and educating my data providers
to do the same from now on.
What Thredds does with the data - well that's now up to you guys!

Regards
Terry
"That lazy architect guy"


-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Blower [mailto:j.d.blower@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, 21 August 2014 4:37 PM
To: Rankine, Terry (Mineral Resources, Kensington)
Cc: thredds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: NetCDF, WMS, and auto color scale (not set by admin)

Hi Terry,

Do you serve aggregations, or is each NetCDF file a separate dataset? With
an 
aggregation, there isn't a one-to-one correspondence between a WMS layer and
a 
NetCDF variable in a particular file. This is also true for things like 
velocity fields, which are derived on-the-fly from vector components. One of

the THREDDS team could hopefully explain how variable attributes behave
under 
aggregation (do they just take the values from the first file in the 
aggregation?)

One problem with "baking" this information into the NetCDF file, is that 
people frequently change their mind about what the values should be. The 
concept of a "sensible view range" is not an intrinsic property of the data,

hence we have always kept this as a WMS configuration issue.

By the way, valid_min/max isn't the solution I'm afraid. These attributes 
define a range, outside of which data are considered to be missing. So for
an 
ocean temperature field (with a sensible view range of [-2:35] degC perhaps)

the valid_min/max could perfectly legitimately be set to [-100:100].

There was a proposal (which I don't think is official CF) to use 
"actual_min/max" attributes to denote the actual range of data in a
variable. 
There was reluctance to accept this into CF because it is redundant 
information, but I think it can be easily calculated and inserted into a 
NetCDF file using the NetCDF Operators (nco).

However, if you think that something like actual_min/max would work for your

use case, we could consider whether this would be implementable as a means
of 
providing the "sensible view range".

Cheers,
Jon

--
Dr Jon Blower,
Technical Director, Reading e-Science Centre, MELODIES project coordinator, 
School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Reading
Tel: +44 118 378 5213
Email: j.d.blower@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

On 21 Aug 2014, at 03:45, <Terry.Rankine@xxxxxxxx> <Terry.Rankine@xxxxxxxx> 
wrote:

> The two workflows we have are
> 1. Dump the data in "this" folder heriachy/structure - it will
> magically appear for you.
> 2. Email us and we will host it.
>
> I cant see any issue with scripting it, but I was under the impression
> that changes to the xml file would require TDS to be restarted, plus
> its just another bit of data to keep in 'sync' somehow.
>
> My desire here would be that, as an admin, I would tell the
> wmsConfig.xml <location /this/path/his-data-set-*.nc>
>   <layer name=elevation>
>       <default color range>
>          <min>$delegate[elevation.vmin]</min>
>          <max>$delegate[elevation.vmax]</max>
>       </default color range>
>    </layer>
> </location>
>
> As an admin I would deliberately hand over the 'setting the right view
> stuff' for those who could control the data production/attribution.
> Freeing me from that role.
>
> I completely understand where it is not appropriate - but I don't
> believe that makes it 'inappropriate' for the simple cases.
>
> Terry
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: thredds-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:thredds-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jon Blower
> Sent: Thursday, 21 August 2014 2:48 AM
> To: thredds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [thredds] NetCDF, WMS, and auto color scale (not set by
> admin)
>
> Hi Terry,
>
> As far as I remember THREDDS has always required setting of the
> default colour scale range by the admin. (However the standalone ncWMS
> could do this automatically, because it scans datasets during an
> ingestion step, which THREDDS does not perform.)
>
> There is currently no way to read the default colour range from the
> NetCDF files, although a means could theoretically be invented, with 
> "special"
> attributes. One problem is that, in a multidimensional variable, the
> most appropriate range for one z or t level may not be so appropriate
> for another value of z or t. There are other interesting issues with
> the behaviour of NetCDF attributes in aggregations (what happens if
> different files in the same aggregation have different attributes?)
>
> How do the data providers communicate their preferences to you at the
> moment? Could you, for example, craft a script that takes their values
> (from a simple text file maybe) and inserts it appropriately into the
> wmsConfig.xml automatically?
>
> Cheers,
> Jon
>
>
>>
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 01:19:29 +0000
>> From: <Terry.Rankine@xxxxxxxx>
>> To: <thredds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Subject: [thredds] NetCDF, WMS, and auto color scale (not set by
>>      admin)
>> Message-ID:
>>
> <918EBF4F0E40D340B213B473CCAB6B126000492D@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>>
>> Hi Guys
>>
>>
>>
>> In older versions of thredds I could leave the auto color scaling for
>> a WMS to thredds to take care of for me. Can I have it back - but a
>> bit
> different.
>>
>>
>>
>> As a system admin - I am just 'serving the data' not really
>> understanding what 'sensible viewing defaults' for
>> defaultColorScaleRange for any file in the directory should be.
>> However - the data owners I interact with all have a 'preference' on
>> how to color/scale their visualisations for their data files.
>>
>>
>>
>> Is there a way to make thredds read the netCDF file - load the
>> variable, and load the visualisation range FROM THE DATA FILE - not
>> the wmsConfig.xml - where I would need to explicitly set it?
>>
>>
>>
>> IE - if on the elevation layer for this service:
>>
>> http://vhirl-dev.csiro.au/thredds/dodsC/dem/testconvert/bathymetry_su
>> r
>> veys_G
>> A-2476_100m_version1_WGS84UTM49S_esri_grid_grid100m_GA-2476_Exmouth_1
>> 0
>> 0m_exm
>> outh100m.nc4.html
>>
>>
>>
>> I set a netcdf parameter like defaultColorScaleRange or something
>> less thredds specific, max/min or something which could guide the 'lazy'
>> configuration option for the data?
>>
>>
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Terry
>>
>>
>
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