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[IDV #JDB-514652]: A Question Regarding Data Use

Hi Marc,
Glad to hear you like the IDV.

The IDV is open source and is freely available to anyone. 

Under our support policy:
     http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/legal/participation.html#support
we officially provide support to educational and research institutions.
That said, we do try to provide support to all of  our users but sometimes we
have to prioritize and focus on the .edu users.


As to data - 
Data provided by the Internet Data Distribution System (IDD):
    http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/idd/
is limited to .edu and research institutions. This is the network of servers 
running the
LDM software where we deliver the data files directly.

However, the real-time data that we provide via our the Thredds Data Servers 
(TDS) and ADDE servers (e.g., motherlode.ucar.edu, adde.ucar.edu) does not have 
restrictions. Furthermore, there are a large number of organizations that also 
provide access to data via TDS and ADDE. Many of these servers are listed in 
the various chooser user interfaces within the IDV. You are not just retricted 
to those servers. If you encounter other TDS or ADDE servers that are 
accessible you can also access them in the IDV.

I hope this helps.

Jeff


> 
> I've been an amateur weather enthusiast for a number of years, and
> occasionally, I've looked into weather visualization software of one
> form or  another as a way of advancing my hobby and enhancing my
> forecasting experience. I first became aware of the IDV in the spring
> of 2007, when a participant on a weather software discussion board
> mentioned it as an alternative to a program that I had considered
> buying (Digital Atmosphere). When another member expressed concern
> about whether individual hobbyists can register as members of Unidata,
> they were assured that this is indeed permissible.
> 
> I looked over Unidata's participation policy, and found that while data
> access is restricted to people who are affiliated with an educational
> institution, many software programs are available to institutions and
> individuals (except for McIDAS). I also saw that the IDV is "intended
> to be freely available with very minimal restriction." In light of
> this, I decided to go ahead and register as a Unidata member, placing
> "n/a" in the box that asked for my institution (as I recall). I
> downloaded the IDV, and gradually became very impressed with the
> software. Its versatility in displaying many types of data sets and
> re-mapping data to new projections was quite exciting. I decided to
> keep the software, and have used it off and on since then, especially
> when I need specialized plots of model data or analysis data for a
> given region.
> 
> When I first downloaded the software, I was concerned that perhaps the
> IDV's data sources were among the data that is restricted to
> educational institutions, but I suspected that such restrictive sources
> would probably not be programmed into the software to begin with. In
> lieu of a definitive answer regarding whether I was allowed to use
> these sources or not, I proceeded on the assumption that they were
> probably not restricted.
> 
> Later, as I was browsing past IDV support tickets, I came across a
> response from one of the IDV developers (which I've been unable to find
> for this e-mail) that stated that IDV user were really not a concern
> as far as overloading data servers with requests, and so forth. This
> reassured me that perhaps it's ok for me to access these sources.
> 
> In the meantime, I have enrolled in Penn State's online certificate
> program in weather forecasting, and I've used the IDV to produce
> graphics for a number of written projects that I've published on my
> personal website. I retrieved most of my GRIB data from outside sources
> for these assignments, but in my latest project, I did make use of some
> data that the IDV accesses from UCAR servers.  Is this an acceptable
> practice? In all cases, I have credited the source of the data and the
> IDV software which produced it. As an example, the following link will
> take you to a page of my most recent project where I made extensive use
> of IDV-generated maps:
> 
> _http://www.personal.psu.edu/mkc179/portfolio/410project1/KCPRbigpicture.html_
> 
> (http://www.personal.psu.edu/mkc179/portfolio/410project1/KCPRbigpicture.html)
> 
> I would greatly appreciate a clarification from you on whether I am
> permitted to use IDV's pre-loaded data sources, or if I am required to
> find outside sources. If my actions have violated the true spirit of
> the Unidata Participation Policy, I stand corrected, and I am willing
> to make reasonable amends to come into full compliance with this
> policy. I hope that the foregoing explanation at least shows that any
> violation was not intentional. Please let me know your judgement on
> this matter.
> 


Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: JDB-514652
Department: Support IDV
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed