Satellite Orbit Track Chooser - 1.5

New McIDAS-V features under development. Feedback is appreciated.
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Satellite Orbit Track Chooser - 1.5

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The ‘Imagery - Satellite Orbit Track’ chooser is listed under the Under Development tree in the Data Sources tab in the Data Explorer. This chooser is designed to plot the tracks of satellites utilizing TLE (Two Line Element) messages from the satellites. McIDAS-V enables these files to be imported through local files, ADDE servers and datasets, as well as through a URL. Note that this chooser was previously called ‘Imagery – Polar Orbit Track’. The name change was made because this chooser can also plot geostationary satellite locations as well as other Low Earth Orbiting satellites, like TRMM.

Once a source is chosen and added in the Data Sources tab of the Data Explorer, the Field Selector tab will open. The Fields panel lists the different satellites included with the data source that was added. The Satellite Orbit Track display type is used to plot tracks in the Main Display. Use the Time Range tab to select a beginning and ending date/time to plot the tracks and click Create Display.

With the release of McIDAS-V 1.5, there have been several developments to customize the display. The changes below have all been made to the Layer Controls tab of the Data Explorer which can be used once the display has been created.
  1. There are now two distinct sections in the Layer Controls, one for controlling the track and swath lines (Swath Controls) and one for controlling the ground stations (Ground Station Controls). After making any modifications in either of the sections, the Apply button must be clicked for the changes to be applied to the display.
  2. In the Swath Controls section, the following features have been added:
    1. Checkbox to control the visibility of the swath edges and labels
    2. Option to set the time label interval (in minutes) along the track line
    3. Ability to set the font and style of the time labels
    4. Settings to control the width and line style of both the track and swath edge lines
  3. In the Ground Station Controls section, the following features have been added:
    1. Ability to plot multiple ground stations
    2. Option for adding a user specified ground station at a particular lat/lon
    3. Settings to control the font, style and size of the ground stations
    4. Settings to control the line style of the ring plotted around the ground station

Please note that this chooser is still under development. Any feedback as far as enhancement ideas and bug reports are appreciated.

Thank you,
McIDAS User Services
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