Welcome back to AWIPS Tips! Today we’re exploring data visualization with CAVE. Forecasts aren’t made from a single product alone-- it’s the synthesis of many products that make forecasts robust. CAVE makes it easy to visualize many different datasets using overlays, visibility toggles, panes, and more. You can follow along with this post by connecting CAVE to Unidata's cloud-hosted EDEX.
Datasets from the EDEX are accessed via the menus across the top of the CAVE window. When you load a dataset, a progress bar appears in the lower-right corner indicating that the data are being requested and rendered. Once loading is complete, the data appear in the display and the dataset label appears in the Resource Stack in the lower right. Each dataset in the Resource Stack is referred to as a Product Resource.
For example, let’s view central Nebraska’s local weather conditions by loading satellite imagery and METAR station plots on the same map.
We can also add geographic reference layers, called Map Resources, via the Maps menu. Map Resources are particularly useful for adding context to your display.
Right-clicking anywhere in the main display of the CAVE view (not on the Resource Stack itself) will cycle through display modes: Product Resources, Map Resources, and Current Time.
We can change the appearance of resources, too. Left clicking directly on resources in the Resource Stack toggles the visibility on and off. Hold-right-clicking a resource opens a context menu specifically for that resource.
Here’s a look at how we can add County Warning Areas (CWAs) to our previous map, change the line color, and add labels.
in the Resource Stack with hold-right-click.
That’s it for this week’s tips! Stay tuned two weeks from today for the next blog post, where we will show how to use the many views and display capabilities in CAVE.
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This blog was posted in reference to v18.1.1 of NSF Unidata AWIPS
