DHI WATERDATA

User Guide

MIKE by DHI 2014

2
Please Note
Copyright
This document refers to proprietary computer software which is protected
by copyright. All rights are reserved. Copying or other reproduction of
this manual or the related programs is prohibited without prior written
consent of DHI. For details please refer to your 'DHI Software Licence
Agreement'.

Limited Liability
The liability of DHI is limited as specified in Section III of your 'DHI
Software Licence Agreement':
'IN NO EVENT SHALL DHI OR ITS REPRESENTATIVES (AGENTS
AND SUPPLIERS) BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSO-
EVER INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, SPECIAL, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR DAMAGES
FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SAVINGS, BUSINESS
INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION OR OTHER
PECUNIARY LOSS ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR THE INA-
BILITY TO USE THIS DHI SOFTWARE PRODUCT, EVEN IF DHI
HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
THIS LIMITATION SHALL APPLY TO CLAIMS OF PERSONAL
INJURY TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. SOME COUN-
TRIES OR STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITA-
TION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES AND, ACCORDINGLY, SOME PORTIONS
OF THESE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. BY YOUR
OPENING OF THIS SEALED PACKAGE OR INSTALLING OR
USING THE SOFTWARE, YOU HAVE ACCEPTED THAT THE
ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR THE MAXIMUM LEGALLY APPLICA-
BLE SUBSET OF THESE LIMITATIONS APPLY TO YOUR PUR-
CHASE OF THIS SOFTWARE.'

Printing History
October 2013

3
4 DHI Data Portal
CONTENTS

5
1 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2 DATA AVAILABILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3 WORKFLOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.1 Launching the WaterData Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.2 Signing up as a DHI WaterData user . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.3 Connect to DHI WaterData . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.3.1 Login . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.3.2 Logout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.4 Search for data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.4.1 The map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.4.2 The search pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.4.3 Topic based search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.4.4 Search based on space and time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.4.5 Advanced search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.5 Download . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.5.1 Select datasets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.5.2 Customise and download . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.5.3 Licence conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.5.4 Download process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4 MISCELLANEOUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.1 View menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.2 Help menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

6 DHI WaterData
1 INTRODUCTION
WaterData is a portal and database operated by DHI – the expert in
WATER ENVIRONMENTS. DHI provides global access to solutions,
software tools and knowledge within water environments through our
local experts in more than 30 countries.

WaterData has been created in response to our own needs for managing
the growing amount of data that exists on water, with the view that we for
our consultancy projects needed to share our experiences and knowledge
of datasets and how they should be used.

We find that this data knowledge and an easy access to relevant datasets -
especially for users of MIKE by DHI, but also for others - is such a valua-
ble concept that we decided to open it up to the wider water community.

The world of water - and the data describing it - keeps growing and new
fantastic products are being made available on a monthly basis. We hope
and expect that this portal provides a means for the water industry at large
to access better data more easily.

We encourage you to create an account if you do not already have one (if
you or your organisation is a MIKE by DHI user you may already have
one), and we welcome suggestions for datasets to link to, to host, or to
produce.

The portal and data can be reached in several ways, including:

z Direct access using the web portal – waterdata.dhigroup.com

z Using the MIKE by DHI WaterData client application, included in
your MIKE by DHI Installation

The present user guide aims at documenting the functionality of the MIKE
by DHI WaterData client application – from here on referred to as the
“WaterData Client”.

To sign up as a user, you may either use the WaterData Client included in
your MIKE by DHI Installation as described in the following sections, or
you may navigate to the web portal at: http://waterdata.dhigroup.com.

7
 Introduction

8 MIKE Zero
2 DATA AVAILABILITY
DHI WaterData is populated with datasets of various types and from vari-
ous sources.

Some data are linked in from other portals around the world, some are
hosted at DHI, some are created and owned by DHI and some are hosted
in other web-shops.

Some data are free of charge, some you need to be a subscriber to access,
and some we can only pass on at cost - but all of it we believe is the best
available for the recommended usage, and at that cost. Where possible, we
try to suggest alternatives that should also be considered.

The WaterData client is targeting MIKE by DHI Users specifically, and

will therefore only provide access to data which are deemed relevant to
model set-up and execution with a MIKE by DHI product. Furthermore,
some data which are under normal circumstances only available at a cost,
are free of charge to users of MIKE by DHI holding a valid Service and
Maintenance Agreement (SMA).

In addition, only data that may be downloaded in a DHI file format (.dfs0,
.dfs1, .dfs2, .dfs3 and .dfsu) are available in the WaterData client.

9
 Data Availability

10 MIKE Zero
Launching the WaterData Client

3 WORKFLOW
A typical workflow for users working with the WaterData client includes
the following steps:

z Launching the WaterData Client

z Signing up as a DHI WaterData user
(this step is optional, and to be taken only if you do not have a user pro-
file at DHI WaterData)
z Connect to DHI WaterData
z Search for data
z Select relevant data for Download
z Customise and download
z Download the data
z Post-process the downloaded data

A short guide to these steps is given in the following sections

3.1 Launching the WaterData Client

The MIKE by DHI WaterData Client is located in the Start menu, below
“MIKE by DHI 20xx” (20xx denoting the current release). The “DHI
WaterData” subfolder contains a shortcut to the MIKE by DHI WaterData
client.

The application is a desktop application with the following layout and

GUI components:

z A menu bar
z A “Datasets” pane in the top-left side of the window
z A “Properties” pane in the lower-left side of the window
z A map at the centre of the window
z A “Search” pane with three tabs in the right side of the window

11
 Workflow

You may control the appearance of the various panes and the map using
the entries of the “View” menu, including the user of Google Maps as
background. In some regions access to Google servers may be slow, and it
may therefore be advantageous performance wise to disable Google Maps.
If Google Maps are disabled, a simple world map will be shown as back-
ground.

3.2 Signing up as a DHI WaterData user

Registration as a user does not take place in the WaterData client itself, but
in a registration form hosted at the web portal:
http://waterdata.dhigroup.com

As a MIKE by DHI user with a valid SMA you are entitled to certain free
datasets. In this case it is strongly recommended that you use the menu
item “Connection” -> “Register…” to access the registration form.

If a MIKE by DHI licence is installed on your system, the WaterData cli-

ent will extract company information from your licence, and pass this to
the registration form. This will facilitate processing of your request to sign
up so that any free data you are entitled to is made available to you with-
out unnecessary delay.

12 MIKE Zero
Connect to DHI WaterData

3.3 Connect to DHI WaterData

3.3.1 Login
To connect to and log in to DHI WaterData, use the “Login…” menu item
located in the “Connection” menu. This will display a standard login dia-
logue with features for remembering your credentials, and logging in auto-
matically on start-up.

The login status and user credentials (if any) are shown in the lower-right
corner of the main window. When your credentials are shown in the win-
dow you may start searching for data.

3.3.2 Logout
To log out and disconnect from “DHI WaterData”, use the menu item
“Logout…” in the “Connection” menu

3.4 Search for data

Having successfully logged in to DHI WaterData, you may now start
searching for data.

The main tools available are:

z The map in the centre of the user-interface

z The search pane on the right side of the main window

3.4.1 The map

The map is equipped with standard zoom and pan functions which can be
accessed either through the tool bar, or using the context menu (right
mouse-click on the map). This will allow you to zoom in to an area of
interest.

3.4.2 The search pane

The search pane has three tabs:

z Topic based search – restricts your search based on search phrases

z Search based on space and time – restricts your search based on a geo-
graphical area and/or a period
z Advanced search – more advanced search topics

The individual tabs allow you to configure different search criteria. When
you specify constraints on the individual tabs, the union of these con-

13
 Workflow

straints form the search criterion. If several search criteria are defined, a
logical “AND” is applied between them. However, if nothing is specified
on a tab, the contents of that tab is ignored.

Each tab contains a “Reset” button. Pressing the “Reset” button will reset
the parameters on the tab to their default values. However, parameters in
other tabs will not be affected”.

You can reset the parameters of all tabs to their default values by pressing
the “Reset All” button. This button is placed below the individual tabs.

You can apply the configured search parameters by pressing the “Apply”
button. The datasets which satisfy the current search criteria will be shown
in the “Datasets” pane in the upper-left side of the main window.

3.4.3 Topic based search

You can use the Topic tab to configure a search for datasets, where the
metadata (properties) of the dataset contains specific keywords. You may
choose between a set of predefined topics (e.g. “Hydrodynamics” or
“Waves”), or you may choose to define your own set of keywords. The
choice is made in the drop-down list on the Topic tab.

If you choose one of the predefined topics, the multi-line edit control
below will be populated with search phrases matching the chosen topic. In
this case the edit control will be read-only.

To define your own set of keywords, you need to choose “(User defined)”
in the drop-down list, which will enable you to input your keywords in the
multi-line edit control below. Multiple search phrases must be separated
by a comma (“,”).

The datasets are described by a range of textual properties, including a

“keywords” property which is designed specifically for containing key-
words describing the dataset (e.g. “Rainfall”, “Climate” etc.). You can
choose either to search only the “Keywords” property, or search all textual
properties, using the radio button selection.

Note that searching all textual properties is to be considered a “brute-

force” search and generally performs slower than searching the “key-
words” only. Searching all textual properties cannot be combined with
other restrictions (e.g. on time and space) and all other tabs will therefore
be disabled if you choose this option.

Searching the “Keywords” property only will usually be sufficient.

14 MIKE Zero
Search for data

3.4.4 Search based on space and time

The Space/Time tab allows you to define search criteria based on space
and time.

The controls on this tab are divided into 3 groups:

z Tools
z Bounding box coordinates
z Period

The controls in the tools group allow you to configure a geographical area
in which to search. You have the following options:

z Selecting the “Use current Map Zoom” and then pressing the “Trans-
fer” button will set the area that is currently displayed in the centre map
as the search area. Thus you can use the zoom/pan functionality of the
map to locate and area of interest, and then set this to be used as the
search area
z “Search in or near a model area” used with the “extend bounding box
by” will allow you to select a MIKE by DHI model input file, and use
the model area as the search area. The area is in this sense defined as
the smallest bounding box containing the model area. You may extend
this box by a percentage (in all directions) using the control “Extend
the model bounding box by”. To apply this you need to fill in the
extension in the edit control prior to selecting the model file.
Do note that older model files which do not contain projection strings
following the Open Geospatial Consortium WKT format (Well-known
text) are not supported. In this case, an error message will be displayed.

z “Search In Area” will allow you to search for data covering a specific
area, which you may choose from the drop-down list

The controls in the “Bounding Box Coordinates” group are designed to

supply information on the area in which the search is performed. If you
have selected a model file, the coordinates will be updated to reflect the
bounding box of the model area. You can use the “Zoom to area” button to
zoom the map to this area.

The controls in the “Period” group allow you to define a period that the
dataset should intersect with. You may check the “Entire period must be
included in the dataset” if a specific period needs to be covered entirely.

15
 Workflow

3.4.5 Advanced search

The Advanced tab allows you to define a more advanced search, compar-
ing various properties using several types of comparison operators. The
properties which may be used are:

z Data type
z Title
z Keyword
z Items
z Period (using the “More” button)
z Bounding box (using the “More” button)

The available comparison operators depend on the property. For example

you may compare the title to a specific phrase using the operators “none”,
“<>”, “Not like”, “Like”, “=”.

The “More…” button allows you to specify a bounding box, load a model
file or specify a period. Also in these cases, several comparison operators
may be applied.

Each property comparison is a search criterion and a logical “AND” is

applied between the different criteria. However, if default values are used,
the criterion is ignored.

3.5 Download
When you have identified datasets of relevance using the search pane, the
download process is a 3-stage process:

z Select datasets from which you want to download data

z Customise and download (choose area, period, location and format)
z Acknowledge the Licence conditions
z Download process

3.5.1 Select datasets

The datasets that satisfy your search criteria are displayed in the left-hand
“Datasets” pane. You may click on each and inspect the properties in the
“Properties” pane below.

16 MIKE Zero
Download

To select a dataset for download, the corresponding node in the tree needs
to be checked. Several datasets may be chosen simultaneously.

3.5.2 Customise and download

Having selected one or more datasets for download, choose the “Custom-
ise and Download...” menu item in the “Download” menu.

This will allow you to select spatial and temporal subsets of the dataset(s)
you wish to download. As the full datasets in some cases are very large,
you are strongly encouraged to define a subset that matches your actual
needs.

The tree on the left side of the dialogue allows you to select the dataset for
which you wish to customise the download.

The General tab allows you to choose:

z Whether you wish to perform an area or point download

z Choose the period for which you want to download data
z Select the folder to save your downloaded file(s) to

If the “Area data” radio button is disabled, download of area data is not
available.

Note also that you will only be able to download from datasets that can be
downloaded in one of the DHI formats (.dfs0, .dfs1, .dfs2, .dfs3, .dfsu)

If you have chosen “Point data”, the Point location tab allows you to
choose the location (longitude and latitude) of the point for which you
wish to download data. The coordinates can be configured:

z Manually by typing the coordinates in the controls

z By pressing the “Map Center” button, in which case the centre coordi-
nates of the current map section are transferred to the controls
z By pressing the “Bookmark Point” button, in which case the coordi-
nates of the bookmark point are transferred to the controls. To use this
feature a bookmark point must be defined in the map prior to entering
the “Customise and Download” dialogue. The point is defined by using
the “Mark Point” button of the map toolbar or in the context menu of
the map

The coordinates of the bounding box of the selected dataset are shown
below for information.

17
 Workflow

If you have chosen the option of downloading a sub-area (Area data) you
may use the Area tab to select an area for which data should be down-
loaded. You have the options of selecting an area defined by a model file
(“Use Model Area” - area defined by the bounding box) or using the cur-
rent map extent (Use Map Extent button).

When you have customised the download of each selected dataset accord-
ing to your needs, you may press the “Start” button to commence the
download.

3.5.3 Licence conditions

Prior to starting the actual download of each dataset, you will be asked to
acknowledge the licence conditions. You will be asked to acknowledge
these for each of the selected datasets individually.

3.5.4 Download process

When the licence conditions and terms of use have been acknowledged,
the download can be initiated. The data file will be streamed directly to
your system. During this process you may monitor the progress in the sta-
tus window, and abort the download by pressing the “Stop” button.

Note that it is presently not possible to view the download progress of an

individual file.

Upon successful completion of the download, the “Stop” button will be

disabled and the “Close” button enabled

18 MIKE Zero
View menu

4 MISCELLANEOUS

4.1 View menu

The View menu may be used to enable and disable the individual panes –
i.e. Datasets, Properties, and Search. You may also control whether
Google Maps should be used as background.

4.2 Help menu

Through the Help menu you can access:

z The “About” dialogue

z The online help for the application

19
 Miscellaneous

20 MIKE Zero
INDEX

21
 Index

A S
Advanced search . . . . . . . . . . 13, 16 Search based on space and time . . . 13
Search for data . . . . . . . . . . . 11, 13
B Search pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Bounding box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Select datasets . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Select relevant data for download . . 11
C Service and Maintenance Agreement
Connect to DHI WaterData . . . . . . 11 (SMA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Customise and download . . . 11, 16, 17 Signing up as a DHI WaterData user 11,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
D Space/Time based search . . . . . . . 15
Data availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Data type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 T
Download . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Download process . . . . . . . . . 16, 18 Topic based search . . . . . . . . . 13, 14
Download the data . . . . . . . . . . . 11
V
H View menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Help menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
W
I WaterData portal . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
In Area search . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

K
Keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

L
Launching the WaterData client . . . 11
Licence conditions . . . . . . . . . 16, 18
Login . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Logout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

M
Map Zoom search . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Model area search . . . . . . . . . . . 15

P
Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Period definition . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

R
Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

22 DHI WaterData