Version 4.5i
August, 2006
A.S. Freeman C. P. Chiu Information Technologies Group J. H. Smart Oceanic, Atmospheric &
Remote Sensing Sciences Group National Security Technology
Department The
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Version 4.5i
August, 2006
A.S. Freeman C. P. Chiu Information Technologies Group J. H. Smart Oceanic, Atmospheric &
Remote Sensing Sciences Group National Security Technology
Department The
|
|
Summary of WOOD Interface Features
Plotting Data at a Specific Depth
Beginning a New Query and Help
Figure 1 - Map Window.......................................................................................................... 4
Figure 2– Query Window........................................................................................................ 6
Figure 3– Map Window with Optics and Wavelength Conversion Chosen.................................. 7
Figure 4 - Results Window with "Zoom to Query"..................................................................... 7
Figure 5 - Results with ‘K’ Data Hidden by Clicking off Data Name (top)
and with Secchi Depth Hidden (bottom) 8
Figure 6 - Results with Various Seasonal Data Hidden by Clicking on
Seasons........................... 9
Figure 7 - Results with Highlighted Data (mouse action set to “Highlight”)............................... 10
Figure 8 - X/Y Plot Window.................................................................................................. 10
Figure 9 - Depth Plot Window............................................................................................... 11
Figure 10 - Java Applet Welcome Message............................................................................ 12
Figure 11- Map Window after Zooming.................................................................................. 13
Figure 12 - Map Window with Salinity Visibility Toggled Off................................................... 14
Figure 13 - Change Symbol Window...................................................................................... 14
Figure 14 - Change Color Window......................................................................................... 15
Figure 15 - Map Window after Symbol and Color Editing........................................................ 15
Figure 16 - Ranging on the Map Window............................................................................... 16
Figure 17- Display Data as Text Selection Window................................................................. 17
Figure 18 - Plot Parameter Selection Window......................................................................... 18
Figure 19 - Temperature Plot................................................................................................. 19
Figure 20 - X/Y Plot Format Axis Window............................................................................. 19
Figure 21 - X/Y Plots Format Number of Gridlines Window.................................................... 20
Figure 22 - X/Y Plots Format Gridline Increments Window..................................................... 20
Figure 23 - Plot Parameter Selection Window......................................................................... 21
Figure 24 - Change Circle Size Window................................................................................. 22
The Worldwide
Ocean Optics Database (WOOD) is a collection of several hundred ocean optics
data sets that encompass much of the world's oceans. Because WOOD is composed
of so many different data sets, multiple parameters are available, gathered by
many different instruments and possessing varying levels of quality and
editing. Initially, only a text interface was available to query and report the
data contained within WOOD. This document explains the functionality and uses
of the Java graphical interface that was added to facilitate easy access and
presentation of the WOOD data.
The Graphical
User Interface (GUI) to WOOD provides the user with the following capabilities:
·
An
interactive world map of coastlines, providing the user with the capability to
zoom, scroll, or center on a selected latitude/longitude position
·
Displaying
the latitude and longitude position of the mouse pointer over the map
·
Displaying
the distance (range) between mouse clicks on the map
·
Selecting
the query area either interactively from the map or by entering
latitude/longitude positions
·
Querying
multiple data parameters at once
·
Displaying
data locations as symbols on the map
·
Coloring
data symbols to represent the season or month in which the data were collected
·
Toggling
the visibility of the data symbols by data parameter
·
Toggling
the visibility of the data symbols by season or month
·
Displaying
the data as text
·
Plotting
data for a single depth of a data parameter as a color graded symbol on a map
·
Plotting
all data for a specific data parameter on an X/Y plot in the season or month
colors of the map
·
Plotting
every nth data point for a specific
data parameter
·
Highlighting
data symbol(s) on the map
·
Plotting
un-highlighted data dimly behind the highlighted data
·
Plotting
only highlighted data
·
Displaying
the X/Y data values of the mouse pointer of the X/Y plot
·
Formatting
the X/Y plot minimum and maximum axis values by entering values or
interactively selecting axis bounds on the X/Y plot
·
Formatting
the X/Y plot gridline increments
·
Plotting
the data as lines or points
·
Editing
the background, gridline, or text color of the X/Y plot
· Displaying this Users Guide in a new browser window when help is needed
WOOD
is accessible over the Internet by use of a browser. WOOD’s homepage is located
at http://wood.jhuapl.eduu/.
There are multiple headings that provide detailed information about WOOD
on the homepage. To get to the database interface, select “Access Data.” From this page, the user will have the option of
either a text version or a graphical interface. The text version is the original interface to
the database. It is strictly hyper text markup language (HTML), requires no
plug-ins, and returns the data as text in the browser. This interface is
suggested when making extremely large queries because of the memory
requirements of storing and graphically displaying large volumes of data. This document explains the use of the
graphical interface to the database.
Wood
is a Java Applet that runs on the user’s computer from within the WOOD web
page. Any current web browser should
have access to a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) to run the Wood code. If the user is having trouble executing the
code, the user may not have a JVM capable of running the WOOD code. In this case the user can update his/her
browser or install the latest Java plugin from Sun Microsystems:
http://java.sun.com/products/plugin/
Follow their instructions for downloading and installing the
latest version of Java to the user’s computer, and retry to access WOOD when the
user is done.
This
subsection explains the layout of the graphical interface for WOOD. A simple
example of using the major features of the interface will be described and
followed by a detailed explanation of all the functionality of the interface.
As
shown in the following examples, the windows for WOOD have a message stating:
“Warning: Applet Window” at the bottom. This is a security measure in Java to
keep malicious programs from popping up windows that look like system messages
asking for information such as a password from a user. This warning message should be ignored.
The
Map Window is the main interface to the database. It will display the results, and can also be
used with the mouse to create a “Query Region” that sets the
Latitude/Longitude, depicted as a small white box. An example of the Map Window is shown in Figure
1 - Map Window. A brief description of each labeled point on the Map
Window is given in Table 1. A more detailed explanation of the
functionality of each label is given in the Example of Use subsection
of this document.
|
Symbol |
Function |
Description |
|
A |
New Query / Stop Query |
This button allows the user
to select a new query region and new parameters for query and display. During
the download of profiles, this button becomes ‘Stop Query’ to allow the user
to halt profile download. |
|
B |
X/Y Plots |
This button creates the X/Y
plot window. This button becomes enabled once there are data to plot. |
|
C |
Depth Slice Plot |
This button creates a
window with the queried data displayed in color-shaded dots for a particular
depth. |
|
D |
Text Data |
This button creates a window
with the queried data in text format. This button becomes enabled once there
are data to write out. |
|
E |
Help Button |
This button brings up a
help window in a new browser. If a help window is currently on the desktop, a
new window is not created. |
|
F |
Exit Button |
Stops the program and
closes the window. |
|
G |
Zoom In |
This button zooms-in the
current view. |
|
H |
Zoom Out |
This button zooms-out the
current view. |
|
I |
Zoom to Query |
This button zooms-in the
view to cover the current query area. |
|
J |
Full Map |
This button zooms out to
display the entire world, while remaining centered on the current view. |
|
K |
Mouse Action |
This allows the user to
perform various functions by dragging the mouse on the map. |
|
L |
Map Display |
This area is where all of
the data parameter symbols in their appropriate temporal colors are
displayed. A single right click re-centers the current view on the click. A
dragged left click creates a box which will have various effects depending on
the selection in the mouse action menu. A dragged right click shows the range
in nautical miles between the start of the drag and the current mouse
position. Note that this calculated range is the straight line distance
between those two points and the solid white line may be deceiving since it
may not be the distance being ranged. |
|
M |
Query Region |
A white box is placed
around the query area of interest. No data will be displayed outside this box
as specified by the query. |
|
N |
Temporal Color Display |
This area shows the
parameter data colors that will be used to represent the various seasons or
months on the map. A left click on the text toggles the visibility of that
season or month on the map. A right click allows the user to display either
seasons or months and select the color that will represent that season or
month on the map. |
|
O |
Message Display |
This area displays any
messages for the user, such as the status of the data retrieval. |
|
P |
Large Scroll |
This button scrolls the map
50% upward relative to the current view. |
|
Q |
Small Scroll |
This button scrolls the map
10% upward relative to the current view. |
|
R |
Small Scroll |
This button scrolls the map
10% downward relative to the current view. |
|
S |
Large Scroll |
This button scrolls the map
50% downward relative to the current view. |
|
T |
Current Position |
When the mouse is over the
map, this area will display the current latitude and longitude of the
position of the mouse. |
The
Query Window contains all the data parameters and attributes to query from the
database. An example of the Query Window
is shown in Figure 2– Query Window. A brief description of each labeled point on the
Query Window is given in Table 2. A more detailed explanation of the
functionality of each label is given in the Example of Use subsection of this document.
|
Symbol |
Function |
Description |
|
A |
Latitude |
Starting and ending
latitude for query region in decimal degrees |
|
B |
Longitude |
Starting and ending
longitude for query region in decimal degrees |
|
C |
Year |
Starting and ending year
for data query. |
|
D |
Day |
Starting and ending day of
the year for data query. (0 to 366) |
|
E |
Depth |
Minimum and maximum water
depth for data query (not profile depth) |
|
F |
Center Wave Length |
Minimum and maximum center
wavelength (nm) for data query (applies only to optics data) |
|
G |
Center Wave Length
Conversion |
Will convert all optics data
profiles to the specified wavelength. (Only works with some optical data
types) |
|
H |
Cruise ID |
Select a specific cruise ID
or range of cruise IDs. |
|
I |
Number of points |
Select a minimum and
maximum number of data points in the data’s profile. |
|
J |
Parameter Selection |
Allows the user to specify
multiple data types to search for.
See figure 3 |
|
K |
Buttons |
|
Figure 3– Map Window with Optics and Wavelength
Conversion
The results of the query are added to the Map Window
as symbols specific to each data type.
The symbols are color coded by season or month. The symbols can be “highlighted” by
specifying ”Highlight” in the “Mouse Action” box and using the mouse to define
a box around a set of symbols. The symbols
can also be turned on/off by selecting/de-selecting the season/month or data
type name from the bottom of the screen.
See Figures 4-7.
Figure 4 - Results Window with "Zoom to Query"
Figure 6 - Results with Various Seasonal Data Hidden by Clicking on Seasons
Figure 7 - Results with Highlighted Data (mouse action set to “Highlight”)
The X/Y Plotting Window displays
data values versus depth. An example of the X/Y Plotting Window is shown in 8. When choosing the “X/Y plot” button from the
Map Window the user gets a dialog box that allows the user to specify the data
type to plot and an option to “decimate” some of the data by only plotting
every Nth profile.
Once the XY plot window is
displayed, the window buttons allow the user to zoom-in/out, scroll, and invert
the axis. The menus allow the user to
plot the data as lines or points, fade, or hide the profiles that are not highlighted”
in the Map Window, or format the graph resolution and gridlines. A more detailed explanation of the
functionality of each label is given in the Example of Use subsection of this
document.
The Depth Plot button allows
the user to plot the requested data at requested depth. An example of the Depth
Plot window is shown in Figure 9. When choosing the “Depth Plot” button from
the Map Window, the user gets a dialog box that allows the user to specify
which parameter the user wants to plot, the depth at which the user wants to
plot the parameter, the min and max values for the scale of the parameter, and
the color scheme for the plot.
Once the color-coded depth
slice is displayed, the buttons allow for zoom-in/out, scroll, and turning the
grid on and off. There is also a key that pops up with the window. This key shows
the range of values and associated colors that the parameter has at the
specified depth. The user can navigate the world, just like in the regular map
window, and can use the same mouse functions as well. A more detailed
explanation of the functionality of each label is given in the Example
of Use subsection of this document.
The Text Display button opens
up a dialog asking how the user would like the results formatted and then opens
up a Web browser window using the user’s system’s default browser. It displays the profile results in an HTML or
tab-delimited text format. This page is
identical to the results from the Text-based query on the WOOD web-site.
This subsection walks a user
through an example that covers the major functionality in the interface. A
complete and detailed explanation of all functionality is given during the
walkthrough. This subsection assumes that the Java Plug-in has been installed
correctly.
Begin by pointing the user’s
browser to http://wood.jhuapl.edu/.
The homepage for WOOD should display. Click on the heading “Access Data.” The user will be asked
for either a text version or a graphical interface version. Click on
the graphical interface version. This
selection should bring up the Java applet welcome message. Shown in Figure 10 -
Java Applet Welcome Message.
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Figure 10 - Java Applet Welcome Message
Press the start button to
bring up the Map Window shown in Figure 1 - Map Window. The user can now start putting together a query:
Once query results begin
streaming from the database, they will be placed on the screen in their
latitudinal and longitudinal positions, with their data type symbol, and in the
appropriate temporal color. Note that the “Loading Data [ ]” message keeps a
running count on all of the data elements retrieved. Also note that the ‘New
Query’ button has changed to a ‘Stop Query’ button. If pressed before all the
profiles have loaded, the loading will stop and the user can manipulate
whatever data has been loaded. Once all data are retrieved, the “Loading Data [
]” message will disappear, leaving the map window appearing somewhat like that
shown in Fig. 11.
Figure 11- Map Window after Zooming
Note that only the two
parameters chosen for the query are shown in the parameter area of the Map
Window.
|
|
Figure 12 - Map Window with Salinity Visibility Toggled Off
·
Left click
“Salinity(S)” again to make the salinity data visible again.
·
Now, left click
on the temporal label “SPRING.” This action toggles the visibility of all data
parameters collected within the spring. The label “SPRING” is also grayed-out
to indicate that the spring data are not currently visible. Left click the
label “SPRING” to make all data visible again.
As
seen so far, a left click affects the view of the data. It zooms and toggles visibility. Right clicks are used to edit data.
·
Right click on “Temperature
(T).” This brings up a Change Symbol Window as shown in Figure 13 - Change Symbol Window. Delete the ‘T’ in the text box, replace it with an
‘X,’ and click “Change.”
This action
should change the temperature symbols on the map from ‘T’s to ‘X’s. This action allows the user to edit the
symbols that are used to display the data on the map.
Figure 13 - Change Symbol Window
Figure 14 - Change Color Window
The second pull-down option
on the Change Color Window allows the user to toggle between the color of the
symbols representing seasons or months.
This action should separate
the data into specific colors for each month. The user also has the option of
toggling visibility of the months and editing their color. After selecting “Months”
and clicking on “Change,” right click on
any of the month letters and select “Seasons” again.
Figure 15 - Map Window after Symbol and Color
Editing
As the user probably has noted, the position in latitude and longitude of the mouse pointer is shown in the lower right-hand corner of the map when the mouse is over the map. Another feature allows the user to drag a right click on the map. This action displays the range in nautical miles from the initial click to the mouse position in the lower left-hand corner of the map. Note that this range is computed as the straight line distance between these two points and the line between them may be misleading. Try right-click dragging on the map to see the ranging function. An example of the ranging function is shown in Figure 16 - Ranging on the Map Window.
Figure 16 - Ranging on the Map Window
Displaying Data
This subsection describes
various methods for getting to the underlying data, including plotting and
writing out to text.
Figure 17- Display Data as Text Selection Window
The user must select the
region and the output format for the text. The choices for region selection are
either the data query region, or the current region visible on the map.
Selection of the data query region will produce the text for all the data
within the query boundaries selected on the Map Window. Selection of the
current region visible will only retrieve data for the area of the map currently
in the Map Window. This allows the user to zoom in on a particular data profile
or profiles that the user would like to see as text. Note that data retrieved
from the current view may contain data not in the current query area. If the
user zooms out to the full map and chooses the region currently visible, the
query will retrieve the data for the entire world, which is probably something
the user does not want to do due to system resource constraints.
The choices for output format
are the standard metadata output listing, the full metadata output listing or a
joined listing. Metadata is
essentially "data about the data" such as latitude, longitude, date,
author, originating agency, etc. WOOD offers the user the choice of two levels
of output for this metadata: standard and full. Most users of the database will
only be interested in the most important metadata that is provided with the
standard database query. This standard metadata consists of latitude,
longitude, number of data points, center wavelength, year, day, time, and time
type (1=local, 2=GMT, 3=unknown). Other users,
however, may be interested in more detailed metadata. This can be obtained by
selecting the "Full Listing" option on the database query page. The
full metadata listing consists of latitude, longitude, number of data points,
center wavelength, year, day, time, and time type, parameter type, author, cast
number, instrument type, and water depth. With this in mind, select the
metadata output type that best meets the user’s needs. The joined listing is a special case where
data are returned for profiles of different data types that are from the same
date/time and location. This listing
compares the data values at every wavelength available.
The final choice is whether
to display the results as an HTML table or as tab-delimited text.
Once the region and output
format are selected, click on the ‘Display Text’ button. This action will bring
up another browser window, which will query the database for the data in the
requested format, and display the data as text. To save this data: select data,
copy, and paste it into any editor and then save them. To leave the Text
Selection Window without displaying data as text, click on the ‘Cancel’
button.
This should bring up a Plot
Parameter Window like the one shown in Figure 18 - Plot Parameter Selection Window. The first pull-down menu is the parameter that the
user wants plotted.
The buttons below the
pull-down menus allow the user to either plot everything resulting from
previous choices or to plot only every nth
data point. This is provided if there are numerous data points, and a full plot
of them is too difficult to read.
Figure 18 - Plot Parameter Selection Window
Clicking on “Plot” should
result in a plot of all temperature data similar to that shown in Figure 19 - Temperature
Plot. The user may
notice that the plotting window has much of the same functionality of the map.
The lower right-hand corner of the X/Y Plot Window shows the coordinate
positions of the mouse on the X/Y plot. There are zooming and scrolling buttons
for both X and Y axes, and the user can also left click and drag on the map to
zoom into a specific area, and a single right click will zoom the user back out
to the full map view. There is also a menu bar associated with the X/Y Plot
Window with the following titles: “Format Graph,” “Data,” and “Quit.”
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Under “Format Graph,” there
are three options: “Font Size”, “Format Axis”, and “Gridlines.” “Format Axis” allows the user to choose to
format the axis or invert either the X or the Y axis. Choosing “Font Size” will
let the user change the font size of the text. Choosing to format the axis
brings up a window like that shown in Figure 20 - X/Y Plot Format Axis Window. Minimum and maximum X and Y values can be entered, and
a click on “Change” alters the graph to those values. Clicking on “Reset”
returns the X and Y values to their last settings.
Figure 20 - X/Y Plot Format Axis Window
“Gridlines” also has three
options: “Edit Number of Gridlines,” “Edit Gridline Increments,” and “Toggle
Gridlines.” “Toggle Gridlines” turns the visibility of the gridlines on and
off. “Edit Number of Gridlines” allows the
user to enter the number of gridlines per axis; and when selected, a Format
Number of Gridlines Window is displayed as shown in Figure 21 - X/Y Plots Format
Number of Gridlines Window. The visual portion of each axis will be equally
partitioned into the number entered. “Change” causes the editing to take
effect; “Reset” restores the gridline increments to their original settings;
and “Cancel” does not change the gridline spacing but kills the formatting
window.
Figure 21 - X/Y Plots Format Number of Gridlines Window
“Edit Gridline Increments”
allows the user to enter the spacing at which each increment should be placed;
and when selected, a Format Gridline Increments Window is displayed as shown in
Figure 22
- X/Y Plots Format Gridline Increments Window. Gridlines will be placed with the spacing entered in
the format window. “Change” causes the editing to take effect; “Reset” restores
the gridline increments to their original settings; and “Cancel” does not
change the gridline spacing but kills the formatting window.
Figure 22 - X/Y Plots Format Gridline
Increments Window
Under the “Data” menu, the user can choose plotting the data as lines or as points. The user can also select to display all data, or to darken or hide the “unhighlighted” data from the Map Window. Highlighting helps the user correlate a data point from the map to its curve on the graph. Left-clicking on a data point in the Plot Graph will place a white box around the corresponding point on the world map.
While all data is displayed, the graphs from highlighted points are shown “on top” of the others, so they won’t be hidden by a large number of other lines. When the user selects “Darken unhighlighted data”, the lines that are not from highlighted points dim; when the user selects “Hide unhighlighted data”, they disappear entirely.
Highlighting lasts until the user specifically unhighlights a point, or until the user starts a new query. For instance, say the user highlights some temperature data on the map. The user then pulls up a plot of temperature, and decides he/she is only interested in the data from January and February. Even if the user clicks the month symbols on the map to hide points from the other months, they will still appear on the graph.
In this case, the user could get the graph he/she wanted by hiding the months of January and February on the map, and using the mouse tool to unhighlight all the points in the user’s query region. Since the January and February points weren’t showing when the user did the “un-highlight”, they will remain highlighted. Now the user has only those points highlighted, the user can set his/her graph to hide unhighlighted data.
The highlighting has been designed to give the user the maximum flexibility in graphing --- to use it effectively, just remember that data locations can only be highlighted or unhighlighted when they are visible on the map; but they will stay highlighted in the X/Y plot even when they don’t currently appear on the map.
Finally, “Quit” allows the user to remove the X/Y Plotting Window.
This action will bring up a dialog box like the one
shown in figure 23.
The remaining fields will let the user determine how he/she
wants the plot to look. Also, the user can determine at what depth values
should be taken from.
Figure 23 - Plot Parameter Selection Window
Clicking the “Plot” button will result in a window
similar to the world map and a key for the plot. The key is color coded to
match different data value ranges that were specified in the select parameter
window. The main window has similar functionality to the world map. It has the
ability to zoom in/out, zoom to the query, move around the map, toggle the grid
on and off, and show the full map. Using the mouse to draw a box on the map
will result in a region zoom. When looking at the data points, the user can
right click on each point to see all of the corresponding data associated with the
profile of data represented by that point.
There are two menu options on the Depth Plot. There is
the “Graphics” menu in which only “
Figure 24 - Change Circle Size Window
There is also the
“File” menu which allows the user to close the Depth Plot window.
At any time, the user can click on “New Query” on the Map
Window to begin this process again of selecting a region and the query
parameters. The user will be asked to confirm, since beginning a new query
erases all the data from the previous query.
If the user does not select a region, the default is to use the entire
world, which can pull in quite a lot of data. At any time, the user can press the “Help” or
“Exit” buttons on the Map Window.
If you have any questions, problems, comments, or suggestions about using or improving WOOD, please contact:
Jeff Smart, Project Manager
jeff.smart@jhuapl.edu
The
STF, 8-308
(240)-228-4331
Andrew S Freeman, Java / HTML
Developer
Andrew.freeman@jhuapl.edu
The
STI, 07-330
(240)-228-3943
