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A few suggestions since this has stirred some discussion...
4) The new 2XXX numbering system is based on the product numbers in their telephone fax chart service rather than the traditional "D" numbers we're all familiar with. This would be fine except for the fact there are fewer 2XXX numbers used than the D numbering system had. Several D numbers map into the same 2XXX number.For example....the 9Z Radar Summary is issued as D099The 10Z Radar summary is issued as D110. In Alden's 2XXX numbering system, they are come out as 2080. (In fact all 24 Radar Summaries, which all have seperate D#'s, end up as 2080.) The same is true for other types of products. This makes it more difficult to automatically identify specific products for special handling such as whether to print or not to print. I attempt to convert back to D#'s here since our users are more familiar with them by using a simple lookup table....the problem is that it didn't work since one 2XXX number could be any of more than a dozen D#'s in some cases. Attempts to guess based on time have been unsucessful because of the irregularity at which maps are transmitted. (i.e Is that the 10Z radar summary coming in or just a late 9Z one?) I'm not arguing that we must go back to D#'s since one set of numbers is as good as another, but am rather asking fora finer granularity in distinguishing between charts.Alden did not know this was a problem. We will do some investigation on how to better define the charts. Do you have any suggestions?
Simple....maybe not technically speaking. NIU students and faculty have brushed the problem aside, but it would be very helpful if each product were to have it's own 2XXX number. At night, we don't want synoptic maps every 3 hours, but in the daytime, we do. The present system does not allow us that flexibility, nor does it allow us to print charts that have been overwritten by new data (ie synoptic, radar, wx depiction, etc) with the same 2XXX code number, when our students want their own copy for classes and analysis. Sometimes we like to archive data from big storms, and making a script to change the name of the synoptic maps each time one comes in is overkill.
5) I've had problems with edges of maps being cut off that I don't recall happeing on the old system. I also am having trouble getting the "wings" or "part2 extensions" on the sfc analysis to come out at the same size...though I've taken reasonable care to ensure that my printing process is not rescaling them. (Though I am not ruling this out) I am pretty confident that we are not altering the size of the products. Let me know how you make out on this one.
We are not having this problem here. I made a script which uses XV, a UNIX image viewer to display the products on-screen, and although they are huge, I notice no image cutoff on any products. Gilbert
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