STATION locater in getADDEImage

[joleenf]

Is is possible to use a station name for getADDEImage instead of a lat/lon value? I don't see it in the documentation.

Joleen

[Rick]

Hi Joleen,

Unfortunately, McIDAS-V does not yet have a station database. This database is needed to convert the station location to lat/lon coordinates which are required for ADDE image requests. This type of enhancement will be covered under http://mcidas.ssec.wisc.edu/inquiry-v/?inquiry=450.

[joleenf]

Hi Rick,

I am confused. When I request data from an ADDE server like IMGCOPY ... STA=KMKX, the station database is on the server or in the local software? getADDEImage just creates a url adde request to an adde server and then loads what is returned into an object.

Joleen

[beckys]

Including the station is not a standard part of the ADDE request at all, even in McIDAS-X. It's up to the McIDAS-X client to convert the station to lat/lon and send the lat/lon request to the ADDE server. If you do an IMGDISP EASTS/CONUS.-1 STA=MSN BAND=4 DEV=CCC, you'll see the ADDE request is actually " EASTS CONUS -1 EC 43.1333 89.3500 X 480 640 BAND= 4....." -- no station, just 43 89. So, it will be up to the McIDAS-V client to convert the station to a lat/lon, which ADDE can understand.

[joleenf]

If a station database were added to McIDAS-V, what can it affect?

image display, data probe, anything else? It seems that the NEXRAD servers have an internal database or has something been built for the radar chooser?

How long would it take to build a station database?

Thanks,
Joleen

[Rick]

Joleen,

McIDAS-X already has a very large database (STNDB.CORE). There are FORTRAN and C routines that read this file. However, we need to make a decision as to whether or not the file structure of STNDB.CORE is best suited for java routines.

Rick

[beckys]

Joleen,

In order to do it properly, the station database would need to be accessible from all of the choosers, the data probe, etc. and also would need a manager, so that users could add and edit their own stations.

For the Level III RADAR chooser, when you click Connect it actually tells you that it's "reading available stations from (the) server". It does the same thing from the Remote Point chooser. There is no local database, it's getting all of the server information from the server.

- Becky

[joleenf]

Hi Becky,

For the limited number of stations that I am using right now, can setup my own look-up table that links a station to a lat/lon. In scripting, I can then retrieve data based off that station's lat/lon and display centered at that location. Since I am currently using such a limited number of stations and only intend to use this for displaying imagery at the moment, the work-around for me is much simpler that the programmer task for the MUG. STATION locators certainly would be a welcome addition, but not critical for me at this moment.

Thanks,
Joleen

[Rick]

Hi Joleen,

You mentioned to me that you are interested in radar stations. I have posted a csv file for just the radar sites. This would only be useful for scripting, but you could utilize the jython csv routines and create a function pass in a station ID and return the lat/lon. Here is an example line:

--- ,MKX ,MILWAUKEE ,WI,US, 42.967778,-88.55060, 292
Numeric ID, Station ID, Station Description, State, Country, lat, lon, elev

The csv file was created from the McIDAS-X station database. Note, radar stations do not contain a numeric ID and are shown as ---


Rick