HydroView
User’s Guide
March 10, 2008
Build 8.2
NWS Office of Hydrologic Development
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 Introduction 1
2.0 New Features in HydroView 2
2.1 Reorganized Main Menubar Options 2
2.2 Display Best Estimate QPE 2
2.3 Modified Point Data Control User Interface 2
2.4 User Configurable Overlays 2
2.5 Alert/Alarm Window Lower Limit and Obs/Fcst Difference Checks 3
2.6 Low Water Statement Window 3
2.7 Impact Statement Window Changes 3
3.0 The HydroView Graphical User Interface 3
3.1 The Main Window 3
3.2 The Main Menubar 4
3.2.1 File Menu Options 4
3.2.1.1 Save as Gif 5
3.2.1.2 Print Image 5
3.2.1.3 Print Reverse Image 5
3.2.1.4 Close 5
3.2.2 Tools Menu Options 5
3.2.2.1 Areal Zoom 6
3.2.2.2 Point Zoom 6
3.2.2.3 Pan 6
3.2.2.4 Recenter 6
3.2.2.5 Tool Bar 7
3.2.2.6 Set Font 7
3.2.3 Projections Menu Options 7
3.2.4 Overlays Menu Options 8
3.2.5 Map Data Menu Options 9
3.2.5.1 Point Data Control 10
3.2.5.2 Station Selection 10
3.2.5.3 Refresh Data 10
3.2.5.4 Dam Locations 11
3.2.5.5 Best Estimate QPE 12
3.2.5.6 Flash Flood Guidance 13
3.2.5.7 Clear Data 15
3.2.6 Live Data Menu Options 16
3.2.6.1 Time Series Graphs/Tables 17
3.2.6.2 Site Specific Headwater Model 17
3.2.6.3 Alert and Alarm Data Option 17
3.2.6.4 Questionable and Bad Data Option 19
3.2.6.5 Rejected Data Trash Can Option 21
3.2.6.6 Station Reporting Status/Latest Observations Option 22
3.2.6.7 Point Precipitation Accumulations Option 25
3.2.6.8 Station Profile Option 27
3.2.6.9 River Summary 27
3.2.6.10 Reference Data Menu Options 29
3.2.6.11 Staff Gage 30
3.2.6.12 Impact Statement Option 30
3.2.6.13 Rating Curve Option 31
3.2.6.14 Data Sources Option 32
3.2.6.15 Contacts Option 34
3.2.6.16 Crest History Option 35
3.2.6.17 Text Reports Option 36
3.2.7 Product Menu Options 37
3.2.7.1 Product Viewer Option 37
3.2.8 Help Menu 38
4.0 Mouse Controls and Hot Keys 39
4.1 Pop Up Menu Options 41
4.2 Hot Keys 41
Appendix A – Color Scale Manager 43
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TABLES
Table 4- 1 Hydroview Mouse Functionality 39
Table 4- 2 Pop up Menu Options 40
Table 4- 3 Hydroview Hot Keys 41
FIGURES
Figure 1 File Menu Options 5
Figure 2 Tools Menu Options 6
Figure 3 Font Menu Options 7
Figure 4 Projections Menu Options 7
Figure 5 Overlays Menu Options 8
Figure 6 Streams/Lakes Submenu 8
Figure 7 Highways/Roads Submen 9
Figure 8 MapData Menu Options 9
Figure 9 Point data Control Window 10
Figure 10 Dam Display Control Window 11
Figure 11 Display Best Estimate QPE 12
Figure 12 Flash Flood Guidance Window with FFG Options Displayed 14
Figure 13 Flash Flood Guidance Window with Areal FFG Options Displayed. 14
Figure 14 Live Data Menu Options 16
Figure 15 Time Series Control Window 17
Figure 16 Alert Alarm Window 18
Figure 17 Questionable and Bad Data Window 20
Figure 18 Data Trash Can Window 21
Figure 19 Station Reporting Status Window 23
Figure 20 Point Precipitation Accumulations Window 24
Figure 21 Station Profile Window 26
Figure 22 River Summary Window 27
Figure 23 Reference Data Menu Options 28
Figure 24 Staff Gage Window 29
Figure 25 Impact Statement Window 30
Figure 26 Rating Curve Window 30
Figure 27 Data Source Window 31
Figure 28 Contacts Window 33
Figure 29 Crest History Window 34
Figure 30 E19 Text Reports 35
Figure 31 Product Menu Options 36
Figure 32 Product Viewer Window 37
Figure 33 Hydroview Station Plot Legend 38
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1.0 Introduction
For AWIPS Release 7.1, the HydroView/MPE application has been split into two separate applications, HydroView and MPE Editor. For a future AWIPS release, there are plans to integrate many of HydroView’s tools and features into D2D. The separation of HydroView from MPE is an intermediate step towards this goal. Also, new gage editing tools from the Western Region developed Mountain Mapper DailyQC program are being incorporated into MPE Editor. The separation of MPE from HydroView will make more room for these tools and focus MPE Editor on precipitation processing and editing operations.
HydroView’s focus is primarily the display of point hydrometeorological data such as river and stream gage readings, precipitation amounts, and similar environmental information that is typically observed and forecast for a specific location. It assists in the preparation of hydrologic forecasts by allowing the user to display this data along with station reference information such as river action and flood stages, historic river crests, emergency contacts, river rating curves, and dam catalogs.
In this document, the new functionality added to HydroView will be described first in Section 2. Following this, the overall appearance and operation of the HydroView application and all of its tools will be the subject of Section 3. If you are already familiar with HydroView, then Section 2 will be of the most use to you. However, if you are new to this application, then both Sections 2 and 3 will provide you with insight into how the HydroView operates. Finally, in section 4 the mouse and hot key controls are discussed.
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2.0 New Features in HydroView
The creation of HydroView has resulted in a reorganization of menu options. The MPE specific menus have been removed. Several of the HydroView menu options have been reorganized to emphasize related functionality. New HydroView features in AWIPS Release 7.1 include the following:
2.1 Reorganized Main Menubar Options
The MPEcontrol and MPEfields menus have been removed. Some of the options on the LiveData menu have been placed into a new menu named MapData. The options placed on the MapData menu include Point Data Control, Station Selection, Refresh Data, Dam Locations, Flash Flood Guidance, and Clear Data. The distinguishing factor between the MapData options and the LiveData options is that the MapData options draw or plot data on the HydroView display while the LiveData options do not.
2.2 Display Best Estimate QPE
The options to display and edit the set of MPE precipitation fields and mosaics have been removed from HydroView. To provide the user with the ability to display and time lapse the MPE generated Best Estimate QPE, the Best Estimate QPE option has been added to the MapData menu.
2.3 Modified Point Data Control User Interface
The Point Data Control window has been modified to allow the incorporation of point data display features from the Western Region Mapper application. These include the ability to preprocess and cache point datasets so that they can be quickly retrieved and displayed. This rapid retrieval and display will allow the user to time step through the point data sets without the delays sometimes experienced when retrieving point data from the IHFS database.
The layout of the Point Data Control window has been changed to make it easier and more intuitive to use. The changes in the GUI layout will also make it easier to use the enhanced features to be delivered in AWIPS Release 72.
2.4 User Configurable Overlays
Up to 20 user-defined overlays may now be added to the HydroView Overlays menu. This is accomplished by adding new records to the HydroView overlay configuration file. The user-defined overlays must be shape files or bcd files. More information about adding user-defined overlays can be found in the MPE Editor Implementation Document.
2.5 Alert/Alarm Window Lower Limit and Obs/Fcst Difference Checks
SHEF Decoder has been modified to generate alert/alarm notifications on lower limit checks in addition to upper limit checks. Also, Obs/Fcst Monitor generates notifications when the difference between observed data and forecast data exceeds alert/alarm criteria. The HydroView Alert/Alarm window now displays the Alert/Alarm thresholds for the lower limit and observed/forecast data comparison checks. The threat descriptor column in the Alert/Alarm window indicates the source of the alert/alarm (upper limit check, lower limit check, diff check).
2.6 Low Water Statement Window
The Low Water Statement option has been added to the ReferenceData menu. This option launches the Low Water Statement window. This window displays information from the LwStmt table in the IHFS database. It provides low water statements associated with low water river stages where the stages may be expressed as height or flow. This window is under development and will likely be further modified for AWIPS Release 7.2.
2.7 Impact Statement Window Changes
The Impact Statement window has been modified to display impact statements for a station for different river physical elements. For example, impact statements can be displayed for both River Stage (HG) and River Flow (QR).
The “Stage” column and the “Stage” value text field have been renamed to “Impact Value”. An additional column of information under the header “Impact PE” has been added to the list of impact values. The Impact PE column shows the Physical Element of the Impact Value.
3.0 The HydroView Graphical User Interface
This section of the document describes in greater detail all of the various utilities available through the menubar displayed across the top of the HydroView main window.
3.1 The Main Window
The Main window is the first window which appears when the application is opened, and it is the primary controlling window for the HydroView process. This simple window consists of a main menubar across the top and a large display area. The user has control over what is shown in the display area. The user can set which overlays are shown in the application by selecting the various overlay options under the Overlays menu. Also, the user has the ability to modify the initial overlays displayed by editing the overlay configuration file. This is described in more detail in the accompanying MPE Editor Implementation Document. Tokens also exist to control the initial point control data display which determines whether or not point data are initially displayed in HydroView.
3.2 The Main Menubar
The menubar which spans across the top portion of the HydroView viewer shows the following menu headings, listed from left to right: File, Tools, Projections, Overlays, MapData, LiveData, ReferenceData, Product, and Help. Utilities are logically grouped by function under these menu headings. The options on each of these menus are described in detail below. Note that each of these menus can be “torn-off”. This is done by clicking on the perforation at the top of the menu.
3.2.1 File Menu Options
The File menu has the following available options: Save as Gif, Print Image, Print Reverse Image, Close (Figure 1).
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Figure 1 File Menu Options
3.2.1.1 Save as Gif
Displays a popup window which allows the user to screen capture the current HydroView display and save it as a gif-formatted file. The user must make certain that the filename chosen to save the GIF image has the extension “*.gif”. If it does not, an error will result.
3.2.1.2 Print Image
This option will perform a screen capture of the current HydroView display and output the resulting image to the printer. In order to print an image to a specific printer, the user must take care to properly set the following token:
whfs_printcommand_LX - This token must be set to contain the full print command including any non-default user desired destinations. For example, to print the image to lp2, the whfs_printcommand_LX token should be set to “lp -dlp2". This token defaults to value “lp”.
3.2.1.3 Print Reverse Image
This option will perform a screen capture of the current HydroView display and output the resulting image in reverse video to the printer. In order to print an image to a specific printer, the user must take care to properly set the whfs_printcommand_LX token outlined in the previous section on printing images.
3.2.1.4 Close
This option will close the application.
3.2.2 Tools Menu Options
The choices of Tools submenu are Areal Zoom, Point Zoom, Pan, Recenter, Tool Bar, and Set Font (see Figure 2).
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3.2.2.1 Areal Zoom
Figure 2 Tools Menu Options
Areal Zoom and its associated hot key combination <Ctrl+Z> allow the HydroView display to be zoomed into an area bounded by a zoom rectangle. They also allow the HydroView map to be returned to its prior state after a zoom, pan or recenter operation.
The zoom rectangle is drawn by holding down the left mouse button and dragging the mouse. Once the rectangle is the desired size the left mouse button may be released. By selecting Areal Zoom or pressing Ctrl+Z the HydroView map display will zoom into the area inside the rectangle. Selecting Areal Zoom or pressing Ctrl+Z again will unzoom the display, returning it to its initial prezoomed state.
3.2.2.2 Point Zoom
Selecting Point Zoom brings up a small menu with the options “In” and “Out” on it. “In” zooms into the map. “Out” zooms out of the map.
3.2.2.3 Pan
Selecting this option brings up a small menu with the options “Up”, “Down”, “Right”, and “Left” on it. These options allow the user to easily navigate around the map. Selecting “Up” pans the map image up. Selecting “Down” pans the map image down. Selecting “Right” pans the map image right. Selecting “Left” pans the map image left.
3.2.2.4 Recenter
Selecting this option changes the mouse pointer to a leftward pointing hand. A single left mouse button click on the HydroView display while in this mode will recenter the map display around that point on the map.
3.2.2.5 Tool Bar
This option is a toggle button which enables or disables the display of the application’s toolbar. This toolbar by default is “off”. When it is enabled through this menu option, it is displayed just below the main menubar. This toolbar contains the following items from left to right: the pan up button, the pan down button, the pan left button, the pan right button, the recenter button, the zoom in button, the zoom out button, the latitude box, and the longitude box. These buttons offer an alternative means of accessing the map zoom, recenter, pan functions, and cursor location functions.
3.2.2.6 Set Font
Figure 3 Font Menu Options
This option allows the size of text shown on the HydroView map window to be made larger or smaller. Selecting Set Font on the Tools menu leads to the submenu shown in Figure 3. This submenu allows six font sizes to be chosen. The font choices are Miniscule, Very Small, Small, Normal, Large, and Very Large. The default font size is Small.