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Weather Viewer – A Progress Report. John T. Bell CS 526 Spring 2004. Project Plan. C++ Pre-Processor to parse data Visualization based on data analysis, HCI Multiple layers of data presentation: Map layer Temperature profiles Wind vectors and streamlines
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Weather Viewer –A Progress Report John T. Bell CS 526 Spring 2004
Project Plan • C++ Pre-Processor to parse data • Visualization based on data analysis, HCI • Multiple layers of data presentation: • Map layer • Temperature profiles • Wind vectors and streamlines • Precipitation and humidity glyphs • All with adjustable transparency John T. Bell - CS 526 - Spring 2004
Pre-Processor • Can read any month’s data • Parses and processes requested fields • Implements Shephard’s method over IL • Stores results in a VTK format file • Structured grid, NX * NY * nDays, IL shaped • 2 Vectors: Grid topology & wind vectors • 4 Scalars: Air / soil temps, rain, % humidity • Future: Allow specification of any fields John T. Bell - CS 526 - Spring 2004
Data Analysis • Want to use pre-attentive factors for effective cognitive comprehension • Temperatures can be negative. • Rainfall, humidity can be 0, latter <= 100% • Streamlines require starting seed locations • Humans familiar with classic weather maps • Allow adjustable focus & detail John T. Bell - CS 526 - Spring 2004
Map Layer & Coordinates • Coordinate system based on latitude & longitude, East & North • Coordinate data for edges of grid outline from a detailed map – Interior calculated. • Map image downloaded from CNN • Map layer polygon located & scaled to match grid alignment. John T. Bell - CS 526 - Spring 2004
Temperature Plane • Banded contours, following paradigm of traditional weather / planting maps • Colors from purple ( cold ) to red ( hot ) • Toggle air & soil temperature display, … • OR use contour bands for air and contour lines for soil temperatures, with adjustable parameters, colors, and transparencies. John T. Bell - CS 526 - Spring 2004
Wind Direction Display(s) • Hedgehog plot shows wind vector at every grid location. • Streamlines show wind paths & velocities • Data station locations used as seed points for the streamline generation • Independent transparency adjustment for hedgehog and streamline displays. John T. Bell - CS 526 - Spring 2004
Precipitation & Humidity • Custom glyph design, to show both values with a single graphic. • Either value ( or both ) can go to zero, but the glyph still needs to be visible. • Humidity is bounded by 0 and 100 % • Solution is a pie chart, on top of a cylinder • Cylinder height indicates rainfall, zero is okay • Pie chart shows relative humidity, 0 to 100 % John T. Bell - CS 526 - Spring 2004
Glyph Design is Feasible: John T. Bell - CS 526 - Spring 2004
Project Status • Preprocessor works beautifully • All months have been run, ~ 2 seconds each • Map layer & hedgehog layers functional • Transparency adjustments functional • Sample cylinder generated & rotated • Problem: Extractors lose all scalar data! • Problem: Streamlines require seed points John T. Bell - CS 526 - Spring 2004
Problem: Extractor Losses vtkStructuredGridReader tempReader tempReader SetFileName May.vtk tempReader SetScalarsName AirTemp tempReader Update puts "Temperature Reader Data:" puts [ [ tempReader GetOutput ] GetNumberOfPoints ] puts [ [ tempReader GetOutput ] GetScalarRange ] vtkExtractGrid tempExtractor #tempExtractor DebugOn tempExtractor SetInput [ tempReader GetOutput ] tempExtractor SetVOI -1000 1000 -1000 1000 -1000 1000 #$day $day tempExtractor SetSampleRate 1 1 1 tempExtractor IncludeBoundaryOn 3720 Points Range ~ 50 to 70 0 Points ! Range 0 to 1 John T. Bell - CS 526 - Spring 2004
Problem: Streamline Seeds • Streamlines need seed points from which to solve differential equations • Station locations will be seed points • VTK doesn’t seem to like any seed source: • vtkPoints • vtkPointSet • vtkPolygonData John T. Bell - CS 526 - Spring 2004
Future Work • Solve problems listed above • Generate n Glyphs, adjustable with data • Created temperature ( banded ) contours • Refine streamline ( and other ) parameters • Fine tune map coords; Increase resolution? • Implement month selector • Allow flexibility in pre-processor John T. Bell - CS 526 - Spring 2004
References • Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring Program. Illinois Climate Network. (2004). Illinois State Water Survey, 2204 Griffith Drive, Champaign, IL 61820. • DeLorme, “Illinois Atlas & Gazetteer”, 1996 • http://www.mapathon.com/il.html • http://www.cnn.com/TRAVEL/CITY.GUIDES/US/ illinois/bigmap.html John T. Bell - CS 526 - Spring 2004