IDV Status Report

Yuan Ho, Julien Chastang and Sean Arms
October, 2011

This report updates the status of Unidata's IDV development efforts since the last report (April, 2011).

Objectives:

In the Unidata 2013 proposal, IDV development was defined under the proposed thematic area 3, "Developing and deploying useful tools". The following goals were outlined in this area:

1. Ability to access and visualize every data stream provided by Unidata.
2. Support for analysis and visualization of ensemble model output (e.g., probabilistic threat and multivariate probabilities, mean-spread analysis, spaghetti diagrams, and aggregated remote access to large ensemble archives).
3. Improved handling of sub-minute data (lightning and model) as well as long range climate data.
4. Support for field project operations and datasets.
5. Adaptation to GIS frameworks and integration of GIS data.
6. Enhancements to the IDV framework and plug-in capabilities for a range of customized applications (e.g., lightweight IDV for use in educational settings).

The numbers are not in order of priority, but are used to indicate steps toward that goal in this report.

Progress since last report:

• IDV version 3.0 was released on August 29, 2011. This is a new major version of the IDV. It can be downloaded at http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/downloads/idv/.

  Some of the new features in this release include:

  • User interface of the IDV memory control. (Goal 6)
  • Grid ensemble viewing capability and diagnostic functions. (Goal 2)
  • Ensemble user interface: selecting, subsetting, color by member. (Goal 2)
  • Ensemble functions: average, max/min, mode, percentile, range, and standard deviation. (Goal 2)
  • Hövmoller display capability. (Goal 3)
  • Improved VisAD contour labels in an effort to improve publication quality graphic. (Goal 1)
  • Contour labeling: font, size and alignment. (Goal 1)
  • Support for GrADS dataset. (Goal 1)
  • Support for the parameter as topography display. (Goal 1)
  • NEW user interface for adding logos. (Goal 6)
  • NEW Jython library 1.5.2 added in the IDV library. (Goal 6)

  See the IDV 3.0 Release Notes for more information.

• Unidata is working on the white paper for strengthening the collaborations between the IDV and the McIDAS-V projects. (Goal 6)
• The RAMADDA server was introduced in the 2011 Unidata IDV training workshop, the feedback is very encouraging and shows many interest groups are there for more information. (Goal 6)
• The IDV team is collaborating with SSEC developers to evaluate GitHub for integrating the McIDAS-V's modification of the image chooser into the IDV. (Goal 6)
• The IDV team is collaborating with the VAPOR developers to host a visualization workshop in the coming AGU fall meeting. (Goal 6)
• The IDV team had a meeting with the VAPOR team and we have been engaged in discussions on how the two groups can collaborate to advance both applications.
• The IDV team has provided support to the WRF tutorial workshop in the past summer, installed the IDV in the workshop machines and helped workshop participants to run the IDV to visualize and analysis the model output.
• Meetings/Presentations:
  • Yuan and Julien attended the 2011 Seattle AMS Meeting and presented IDV and RAMADDA demonstrations at the Unidata booth.
  • Yuan will attend the coming AGU fall Meeting and give a presentation in the visualization workshop.

New development:

Development is underway for the next release of the IDV (3.0u1) which should be released in a few months. Several of these features are already available for testing in the IDV nightly and test release. nightly build.

• Time matching feature to allow users to use times of one display to control displays of other datasets.
• Additional ensemble functions: univariate ensemble probabilities.
• Support for multi-trajectory displays using the CDM TrajectoryFeatureType. (Goal 1)
• Support for CF Radial NetCDF datasets. (Goal 1)
• Support for GEMPAK surface and upper air data. (Goal 1)

Ongoing efforts include:

• Integrate the McIDAS-V's modification of the image chooser into the IDV.
• Additional ensemble functions: multivariate probabilities, etc.
• Remote data access through NetCDF remote protocol. (Goal 1)
• Improved geospatial handling to allow data selection based on existing displayed data. (Goal 3)
• Continued labeling and color bar improvement work with SSEC.
• Working with CDM/TDS groups on improving access and display of COSMIC data. (Goal 1)
• Collaborating in the development of VisAD and McIDAS-V.
• Keeping up with new Java interfaces and developments.
• Continue to provide support to the IDV community.
• Various IDV bug fixes and enhancements.

Metrics:

IDV usage:**

In 2011, the number of sites that running the IDV 10 or more times is increasing. Top known sites are University of Wisconsin (Mc-V), Millersville University, University of Oklahoma, China, Korea, UIUC, NCAR/RAL, EUMETSAT, and University of Wyoming.

Metrics data: April 1 2011 to September 31 2011

• Download data
• Mailing list data
• Comparison of post, subscription and unsubscription data
• Post data
• Subscription data
• Unsubscription data
• Support data

**When the IDV starts up interactively (i.e. not in script mode), it accesses some resource files (e.g. Favorite Bundles list) from the Unidata web server. The standard web server logs are used to generate information on what sites are running the IDV.