Unidata's Integrated Data Viewer > Overview
1.3 Data Formats and Sources
The IDV can read a variety of data formats either from local
files or remote data servers (e.g., HTTP, TDS, ADDE, RAMADDA)(1). This page contains information about some data
sources that work with the IDV.
To connect the IDV to data sources, see Choosing Data Sources.
1.3.0 Supported Data Types and Formats
| Data Type |
Description |
Supported Formats |
Access method |
| Gridded data |
Numerical weather prediction models, climate analysis,
gridded oceanographic datasets, NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis |
| - netCDF(2) |
| - GRIB (versions 1&2) |
| - Vis5D |
| - GEMPAK |
|
| - local files, HTTP, TDS servers |
| - local files, TDS servers |
| - local files, HTTP |
| - local files, TDS servers |
|
| Satellite imagery |
Geostationary satellite imagery, MODIS, derived satellite
products |
| - ADDE (3) |
| - McIDAS AREA |
| - GINI |
|
| - ADDE servers |
| - local files, ADDE servers |
| - local files, TDS servers |
|
| Radar data |
NEXRAD Level II, Level III, TDWR, Universal Format (UF) and DORADE
radar data |
| - Level II |
| - Level III/TDWR |
| - Universal Format (UF) |
| - DORADE |
|
| - local files or TDS (bzip2 compressed or uncompressed) |
| - ADDE servers, local files or TDS |
|
| Point observations |
Surface observations (METAR, SYNOP, Ship/buoy), earthquake observations |
| - ADDE |
| - netCDF (Unidata, AWIPS/MADIS formats) |
| - GEMPAK (Surface) |
| - Text (ASCII, CSV), Excel spreadsheet4 |
|
| - ADDE servers |
| - local files |
| - local files |
| - local files |
|
| Trajectories |
Aircraft observations |
| - netCDF (RAF convention) |
| - Text (ASCII, CSV)4 |
|
| - local files |
| - local files |
|
| RAOBs |
Global balloon soundings |
| - ADDE |
| - netCDF(Unidata, AWIPS/MADIS formats) |
| - CMA text format |
|
| - ADDE |
| - local files |
| - local files |
|
| Profiler |
NOAA Profiler Network winds |
ADDE |
ADDE servers |
| GIS data |
Data typically used in Geographic Information
Systems (GIS)
|
| - ESRI Shapefile |
| - USGS DEM |
|
| - local files, HTTP |
| - local files |
|
| QuickTime |
QuickTime movies (without extensions) |
QuickTime |
Local files, HTTP |
1.3.1 Remote Data Servers
Extensive meteorological and oceanographic data is available from
remote data servers for use in research and education. Some of these
data have restrictions on their use, see
here for that information.
Abstract Data Distribution Environment (ADDE)
The Unidata community maintains a set of cooperating ADDE servers
which serve up real-time and archived atmospheric datasets for use
in IDV and McIDAS. Most of the data choosers in the IDV use
ADDE as the access method (satellite imagery, Level III radar,
surface, profiler and RAOB). The ADDE choosers are pre-configured
with a list of these cooperating servers. You can use any of these
to access the near-realtime data available to the Unidata community.
For more information on accessing data on ADDE servers, see
the Choosing Data Sources section.
Image data sets include:
RTIMAGES: GOES East and West images in native view, not
remapped. Also some global Mollweide images, and an Antarctic
composite.
GINIEAST: GOES East images, remapped to conic, Mercator
(cylindrical equidistant), or polar projections
channel 1.
GINIWEST:GOES West images, remapped to conic, Mercator
(cylindrical equidistant), or polar projections
channel 2.
GINICOMP: GINIEAST AND GINIWEST composited
CIMSS: products derived from one or more channels, made by
CIMSS, SSEC.
NEXRCOMP: composites of NEXRAD imagery (1km (14 megs per
image), 6km, 10 km radar coded message, 1-hour precip total, storm
total precip)
You can configure defaults for particular images by creating
a custom defaults file. For more information, see
Configuring Image Defaults.
OPeNDAP/THREDDS Data Server (TDS), RAMADDA
The IDV can access gridded data (netCDF/GRIB/GEMPAK) and NEXRAD radar
data stored on a THREDDS Data Server (TDS) or RAMADDA through the OPeNDAP
(formerly called DODS) protocol.
See
Choosing a Cataloged Data Source from a Remote Server
for more information.
HTTP
Many of the data sources listed in the table above can read files
directly from web servers (e.g. Apache) through the HTTP protocol.
In most cases, the server must support the HTTP 1.1 protocol and
be configured to set the "Content-Length" and "Accept-Ranges: bytes"
headers. See the
See Choose a URL for more information.
1.3.2 netCDF files
The Network Common Data Form (
netCDF)
provides a common data access method for Unidata applications. This
format can be used to store a variety of data types that encompass
single-point observations, time series, regular grids, and satellite and
radar images. The mere use of netCDF by itself is not sufficient to make
data "self-describing" and meaningful to the IDV.
Generally, the IDV requires that datasets in netCDF format use meta
data conventions to be able to fully understand and geolocate
the dataset. These conventions provide documented "best
practices". The whole point of using netCDF is to ensure your
data is complete and self-describing, and can be used by others.
Using conventions helps ensure this. We recommend you use the Climate and Forecast (CF)
convention (http://cf-pcmdi.llnl.gov/) for netCDF data files for the
IDV.
1.3.3 ASCII Text Point Data
The IDV can read point data and trajectories (aircraft tracks) from
comma-separated value (CSV) text files. See the documentation on
the Text (ASCII) Point Data Format.
Unidata's Integrated Data Viewer > Overview