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Visualizing large data sets in the earth sciencesThe authors describe the capabilities of McIDAS, an interactive visualization system that is vastly increasing the ability of earth scientists to manage and analyze data from remote sensing instruments and numerical simulation models. McIDAS provides animated three-dimensionsal images and highly interactive displays. The software can manage, analyze, and visualize large data sets that span many physical variables (such as temperature, pressure, humidity, and wind speed), as well as time and three spatial dimensions. The McIDAS system manages data from at least 100 different sources. The data management tools consist of data structures for storing different data types in files, libraries of routines for accessing these data structures, system commands for performing housekeeping functions on the data files, and reformatting programs for converting external data to the system's data structures. The McIDAS tools for three-dimensional visualization of meteorological data run on an IBM mainframe and can load up to 128-frame animation sequences into the workstations. A highly interactive version of the system can provide an interactive window into data sets containing tens of millions of points produced by numerical models and remote sensing instruments. The visualizations are being used for teaching as well as by scientists.
Document ID
19890067535
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Hibbard, William
(Wisconsin Univ. Madison, WI, United States)
Santek, David
(Wisconsin, University Madison, United States)
Date Acquired
August 14, 2013
Publication Date
August 1, 1989
Publication Information
Publication: Computer
Volume: 22
ISSN: 0018-9162
Subject Category
Computer Operations And Hardware
Accession Number
89A54906
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAS8-36292
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAS8-33799
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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