====================
:Author: Jason Holmes
:Email: <Doppler5@aol.com>
-:Date: 2011-12-27
-:Revision: 0.6.1
-:Website: http://lug.rose-hulman.edu/proj/aweather/
+:Date: 2013-01-28
+:Revision: 0.8
+:Website: http://pileus.org/aweather/
About and contact information
-----------------------------
limited to the Linux operating system.
It is written in a standard GTK+/GObject architecture and features an
-interactive display utilizing libgis and OpenGL technologies.
+interactive display utilizing Grits and OpenGL technologies.
-The software source code for Ubuntu and other operating systems is available for
-download on the RHLUG server at git://lug.rose-hulman.edu/proj/aweather.
+The software source code is available for download at
+git://pileus.org/aweather.
-AWeather relies upon the following dependencies: http://www.ijg.org/[jpeg],
-http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/hdf4.html[hdf4], http://www.gnome.org/[libsoup] 2.26 or
-later and http://www.gtk.org/[gtk+] 2.16 or later
+AWeather relies upon the following dependencies: http://www.gtk.org/[gtk+] 2.18
+or later, http://www.gnome.org/[libsoup] 2.26 or later, http://bzip.org/[bzip],
+http://trmm-fc.gsfc.nasa.gov/trmm_gv/software/rsl[rsl] 1.42 or later, and
+others.
-Compiled packages of the software are currently available for the Gentoo,
-Debian, and Microsoft Windows operating systems.
+Packaged versions of the software are currently available for Gentoo, Debian,
+Ubuntu, Microsoft Windows, and Mac OSX operating systems.
-The program currently provides data viewing from the standard one dimensional
+The program currently provides data viewing from the standard two dimensional
plan view to user-defined three-dimensional dynamic views of current and recent
radar data.
-The software was developed and is maintained by Andy Spencer. He may be
-contacted through e-mail at andy753421@gmail.com and chat through IRC at #rhlug
+The software was developed and is maintained by Andy Spencer. He may be
+contacted through e-mail at andy753421@gmail.com and chat through IRC at #pileus
on irc.freenode.net.
Data types and sources
----------------------
-AWeather displays U.S. National Weather Service NEXt generation RADar data
-(NEXRAD) Level II data. This is the highest resolution form of radar data
-available in the public domain and consists of multiple tilts of data updated
-every 5 to 10 minutes depending on the current scan mode of each radar.
+AWeather displays U.S. National Weather Service NEXt generation RADar (NEXRAD)
+Level II data. This is the highest resolution form of radar data available in
+the public domain and consists of multiple tilts of data updated every 5 to 10
+minutes depending on the current scan mode of each radar.
The following Level II data types are supported by this program:
-Base reflectivity (power return of current precipitation intensity)
+- Base reflectivity (power return of current precipitation intensity)
-Base velocity (Doppler-derived speed and direction of radar returns)
+- Base velocity (Doppler-derived speed and direction of radar returns)
-Spectrum width (The variation of velocity detected within each radar pixel or
-bin)
+- Spectrum width (The variation of velocity detected within each radar pixel or
+ bin)
+- Differential Reflectivity (The ratio of the reflected horizontal and vertical
+ power returns) footnoteref:[dualpol]
+
+- Differential Phase (A comparison of the phase difference between the
+ horizontal and vertical returns) footnoteref:[dualpol]
+
+- Correlation Coefficient (A statistical correlation between the reflected
+ horizontal and vertical power returns) footnoteref:[dualpol,Only available at
+ WSR-88D sites that have been upgraded to support dual-polarization]
Level II data has been available through private weather data vendors for some
time but recently has been generously provided by some universities.
-AWeather requires an active internet connection along with a data feed source in
+AWeather requires an active internet connection along with a data source in
order to retrieve, decode and display current or recent radar data.
-The default radar feed is publically accessible thanks to Iowa State University
+The default radar feed is publicly accessible thanks to Iowa State University
and is located at: http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/data/nexrd2/raw/.
+AWeather also displays some severe weather alerts provided by the NOAA weather
+alerts http://alerts.weather.gov/[feed].
+
+When run under Linux, AWeather can interface with the
+http://www.catb.org/gpsd/[GPSd] location services to track and display the
+user's current location.
+
Program layout
--------------
The file menu commands
----------------------
-The program file nenu consists of 3 entries:
+The program file menu consists of 5 entries:
File
~~~~
Offline:: stops the program from downloading data through the internet
+Refresh:: reloads the current display
+Auto-update:: automatically refresh the the radar after a certain delay
+Clean cache:: removes data files from the program's internal cache
+Quit:: closes the program window and exits from memory
+
+Edit
+~~~~
Preferences:: opens the preferences window, which contains the following
commands
[horizontal]
Offline checkbox:::: if selected keeps the program from connecting
to the internet
+ Update Freq:::: sets the timeout value for automatic updating
Initial site listbox:::: allows the user to select a default radar site
to jump to when the program loads
+ NEXRAD URL text box:::: allows the user to select a different server to
+ download Level-II NEXRAD data from
Debug level text box:::: allows the user to select what level of
debugging the program should conduct while
running (7 is recommended only for debugging)
Plugins tab:::
[horizontal]
- elev checkbox:::: ???
- env checkbox:::: ???
+ alert checkbox:::: allows the user to toggle the weather alerts
+ elev checkbox:::: allows the user to toggle terrain rendering
+ env checkbox:::: allows the user to toggle a blue atmosphere and
+ compass rose
+ gps checkbox:::: allows the user to toggle gps tracking
+ [Linux only]
map checkbox:::: allows the user to toggle the map overlays
radar checkbox:::: allows the user to toggle the radar data
- sat checkbox:::: allows the user to toggle satellite data
- test checkbox:::: ???
-
-Clean cache:: removes data files from the program's internal cache
-Quit:: closes the program window and exits from memory
+ sat checkbox:::: allows the user to toggle satellite ground images
+ test checkbox:::: used by the developers for debugging
View
~~~~
Zoom in:: decreases the viewing area
Zoom out:: increases the viewing area
Fullscreen:: maximizes the window and only displays the button menu bar along
- with the map and data viewing pane
-Refresh:: reloads the current display
+ with the map and data viewing pane when the mouse is moved to the
+ edge of the screen
+
+Radar
+~~~~~
+The radar menu contains list of all the support NEXRAD radar sites sorted by
+state. Selecting a site will zoom AWeather to that location.
Help
~~~~
[horizontal]
-Contents:: displays this documentation of program operation and features
+User Guide:: displays this documentation of program operation and features
+Man Page:: displays a HTML version of the UNIX man page
About:: contains current program version, copyright, development site,
credits and licensing information
* The time button, which reveals a list of each hour when clicked
** Clicking on an hour will reveal a list of times in 5 minute intervals that
- the user can select to load radar data from
+ the user can select to load radar data from footnote:[Radar data can only be
+ loaded if it has been previously cached or is from a recent enough date and
+ can still be obtained from the NEXRAD server]
The map and data viewing pane
On program startup and when zoomed far from the earth's surface AWeather
displays a national radar composite image.
+Each available radar site is displayed on the map using the name of a nearby
+major city. Clicking on the city label will activate the radar site and center
+it in the viewer.
+
As the user zooms closer to the earth AWeather will automatically activate
nearby radar sites.
Simply click on a button to display that product/tilt in the map window.
An isosurface slider is shown below the product/tilt buttons. Slide the
-selector to reveal the rendered isosurface structure of the selected
-product/tilt.
+selector to reveal the rendered isosurface structure of reflectivity data.
A color scale will automatically appear at the top left corner of the map window
corresponding to each available product.
+Viewing severe weather alerts
+------------------------------
+When the alert plugin is enabled, AWeather will automatically shade each county
+that is under a weather alert in a color corresponding to the type of alert.
+
+For storm based warnings, AWeather will also draw a polygon representing the
+warning area.
+
+Individual alert types can be enabled and disabled by clicking on the toggle
+button in the alert tab at the bottom of the screen.
+
+To view more information about a particular alert, click on one the shaded
+county or inside the polygon warning area in the viewing pane. This will bring
+up the alert details dialog with a tab for each alert that is active for the
+location that was clicked.
+
+The alert dialog displays the alert title and valid time along with the text
+descriptions provided by the weather service. Clicking the "Full Text" button
+will open the full text of the alert in a web browser.
+
+
Panning, zooming and tilt functions
-----------------------------------
AWeather supports the use of the mouse and keyboard commands to change the map
window settings.
+When the map is rotated, a red and white compass in the top right corner shows
+the current direction of North. Clicking on the compass will reset the rotation
+so that north points toward the top of the screen and the viewer is pointed
+towards the ground.
+
Mouse usage::
[horizontal]
Left click and drag::: Pan the surface of the earth
w::: Draw wire frame of the earth (for debugging)
q::: Exit the program
Tab::: Cycle through available plugins
+ Escape::: Close the currently active dialog box
CTRL+R::: Refresh the display
Command Line Options
--------------------
-The following commands can help advanced users take full advantage of the
-AWeather program:
+The following command line options can help advanced users take full advantage
+of the AWeather program:
aweather [*-hoaf*] [-d 'level'] [-s 'site'] [-t 'time']
*-f*, *--fullscreen*::
Run in fullscreen mode, AWeather start up using the entire screen as he
- main display area. Toolbars and side panels are hidden by default and
+ main display area. Toolbars and side panels are hidden by default.
Future Features
Some of these enhancements include:
- * Vertical cross sections, volume display
+ * Vertical cross sections
* Support for derived L3 data (storm relative motion, echo tops, composite
- reflectivity, etc)
- * Additional data sources for watches, warnings, surface data, etc
- * Auto-updating of data
+ reflectivity, etc.)
+ * Additional data sources for surface data, etc.
* Animation support
- * A 3D volume browser
* API for radar algorithms
* Additional features