MarineDataVisualizationTools

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1Background
2SelectedResources
3Subsectionsofthisarticle
4Informationaboutthisarticle
5Contact

Background
Historicallyandespeciallynowthatcomputersplayacentralroleinmarinedatamanagement
theanalysisofdatahascenteredonvisualdisplays,includingmoreorless"standard"figuressuch
asstationmaps,stationprofiles,scatterplots,sections,griddedandcontouredscalarvalues,vectors
ofcurrents/winds,etc.Theseanalysesareinextricablylinkedwithallaspectsofmarinescience,
rangingfrominitialqualitycontrolprocedurestoalllevelsofhypothesistestingandresearch.We
presenthereonlyasmallselectionofprograms,namelythoseusedinOceanTeacher.

SelectedResources
ArcExplorer,Java
Version

Browser/viewerforexistinglocalGeographicInformationSystem(GIS)
data,withawebclientforviewingonlineGISdata

BRAT

DownloadthelatestversionfromESRI(registrationisrequired)
toyourdesktop
Unziptheinstallationfileonthedesktop,tothedesktop
RunthefileAEJavaSetup.exe
Takealldefaultsduringinstallation
Cleanupyourdesktopbydeletingthetemporaryinstallationfiles

BasicRadarAltimetryToolbox.Designedtouseradaraltimetrydata.It
isabletoreadallaltimetrydatafromofficialdatacentres,fromERS1
and2,Topex/Poseidon,GeosatFollowon,Jason1,Envisat,Jason2and
Cryosat,fromSensorGeophysicalDataRecordtogriddedmergeddata;

todosomeprocessingandcomputations,andtovisualizetheresults.

EnviView

GoogleEarth
G.Projector
GRADS

AllowsEnvisatdatauserstoopenanyEnvisatdatafile,andexamineits
contents.Itprovidessimplevisualisationcapabilities,andallowsdatato
beexportedtoHDFforuseinothersoftwarepackages
Veryimaginative3Dgeospatialdataviewer,tiedintomanymajoronline
dataandimagesystems.
Javaapplicationwhichtransformsaglobalinputequirectangularmap
imageintooneofover80globalandregionalmapprojections
GridDisplayandAnalysisSystemforgriddedmeteorologicaland
oceanographicweatherandclimatedata,usuallyinGRIBorNetCDF
formats

HDFBrowser

NotcurrentlyavailableforWindows

Browser/viewerforHierarchicalDataFormat(HDF)files;canconvert
otherformatdatatoHDF.Veryusefulforbrowsingunknowndatafile,
especiallysuspectedbinarygrids.

HDFView

Downloadandruntheinstallerfileforyourplatform
TheparadigmforrunningBRATiscompletelyforeigntomost
previoususerexperienceswithdatavisualizationsoftware,so
readingthemanualismandatory

DownloadtheEXEfiletoyourdesktopandrunitfromthat
locationtoinstall
CleanupyourdesktopbydeletingtheEXEfileafterwards

Browser/viewerfordatainHierarchicalDataFormat(HDF),Versions4
and5;canexportASCIIgridsforfurtherprocessing

AfteryouinstallVersion2.5,patch3#mustalsobeinstalled.The
websiteincludesbizarreinstructionsbeyondhumanunderstanding
Justgotohttp://www.hdfgroup.org/ftp/HDF5/hdf
java/v25p3/bin/win32/hdfjava/lib/andcopythejarfilesthereinto
thefolderC:\ProgramFiles\thg\HDFView2.5\lib

IntegratedData
Viewer

Datavisualizerforremotesensingimages,GISfilesandabroadsuiteof
operationaloceanandweatherdataproducts

MozillaFirefox

InternetwebsitebrowserrecommendedforusewithOceanTeacherWiki

ncBrowse

BrowserforNetCDFfileswithlimitedgraphicanalysiscapabilities

OceanSneaker'sTool Spreadsheettypeprogramtogenerate,illustrateandvisualizetable
organizedgeoreferencedASCIIdata;canconvertSeabirdCTDdatato
ODVspreadsheets
EnvironmentalData ProvidesaGUItobrowseTHREDDScatalogsorOPeNDAPdirectories,
tosubsettheselecteddatainspaceandtime,andtodownloadthedataas
Connector
anetcdffile.

OceanDataView

Analysisanddisplaysoftwareforoceanstationdata;produces
publicationqualitygraphics.

SelectSOFTWAREontheODVhomepage
Registertoreceivetheprogram.Youwillenterintothesoftware
downloadareaofthewebsite.
IntheSOFTWAREfolder,downloadthelatestversionforyour
computer(butnotBETA)toyourdesktop
IntheOPTIONALPACKAGESfolder,download
odvmpOP_coastGlobHR_w32.zip(ahighresolutionglobal
coastline)andodvmpOP_ETOPO2_12m_w32.zip(ahigh
resolutionglobalgriddedbathymetry)toyourdesktop
Inthesameorderyoudownloadedthefiles,installthem.Todo
this,openthezipfileinWinZipandclickontheSETUP.EXEfile
andacceptallthedefaults.
Ifyouareaskedifyouwanttooverwriteanyfilesduringthese
installations,sayYES.Thisisbecausethesamegeneric
filenamesareusedwithinthe3differentinstallations.

Panoply

AJavaapplicationwhichplotsgeogriddedarraysfromnetCDF,HDF
andGRIBdatasets;subsettingbygeographiccoordinatesissupported

QuikGrid

VerybasicgriddingprogramthatoperatesinXYZfiles,producing
contouredgrids;canalsocreatemotionvectorsfromspeedanddirection
grids
AhybridGISsoftwareincorporatingrobustgriddeddisplayhandling
withasomewhatlesserdevelopedshapefilemanagementanddisplay
capability

Saga

Saga(Latestbeta
version)

DownloadthelatestversionfromSourceForge
Downloadtheprograminstructionsfile(usuallyaPDF)
CreatethefolderC:\ProgramFiles\Saga
UnzipthezipfilecontentsintothenewSagafolder.Itwillbeina
subfoldernamedsaga_vc
Locatethefilesaga_gui.exeinthenewfolderandcreatea
shortcuttoitonthedesktoporinanyconvenientlocation
Sometimesthelatestversionoftheprogramcanbefoundat
http://www.laserdata.at/saga_packages.html
InstalltheMicrosoftVisualC++2008RedistributablePackage
DownloadthelatestbetaversionofSagafromLASERDATA
UnzipthezipfilecontentsintoC:\ProgramFiles\Saga,created
above.Itwillbeinadifferentsubfolderfromsaga_vc,witha
namesimilartosaga_20090728_bin_mswvc
Locatethefilesaga_gui.exeinthenewfolderandcreatea
shortcuttoitonthedesktoporinanyconvenientlocation

Subsectionsofthisarticle
Nosubsectionsavailable

Informationaboutthisarticle
Shorttitle:VisualizationTools
Description:Softwaretoolsforthegraphicvisualizationofmarineandcoastaldata,including
mappingandhighleveldecisionmakingand/oreventresponsetoolsbasedonresourcedisplay
models
Expertiselevel:beginner
Author:Murray.Brown
Approvalstatus:approved
Approvedby:Murray.Brown
Lastchange:20091020
Subsectionof:ManipulationAnalysisDisplay

Contact
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