Plotting synops

[LaurierWilliams]

Tim, good move with the new BB. Great interface!

Some bugs and suggestions with surface plots. I'm working with the data file at
http://www.australianweathernews.com/di ... 112322.SYN which contains data for southeastern Australia, plotting it on the preset location map for Australia (NSW) and I'm using V0.32a. 866mhz 'puter running Win2000Pro.

fonts
I cannot adjust the fonts using preferences. I presume this hasn't yet been activated.

Is it possible to allow user specification of the colour of fonts used for individual plot parameters; e.g. red for pressure, blue for dew point. I know this would be fiddly, but it hugely improves the readability of densely plotted data.

symbols
Cloud, pressure tendency, weather and cloud amount symbols work fine

ICAO indicator
Doesn't plot, though WMONO does.

If the ICAO indicator can be made to plot, it is possible to put dummy abbreviated names as the ICAO id in digatmos.stn, then include them as part of the plot. Even a 4-letter station name abbreviation is a lot easier for non-meteorologists to identify with than the WMO code number. It would be even sweeter if you could plot, say, the first 8 or 10 letters of the station name field in digatmos.stn.

In DA2000, ship/buoy ids plot when WMONO is selected, but not when ICAO is selected. It would be nice if they plotted whichever of WMONO or ICAO was selected.

Visibility
Plots // in the VV code as -9999.

Is it possible to plot in kilometres rather than metres -- currently most visibility plots take 5 digits most of which are zeros. Could the visibility be in whole kilometres for 5km and above, and metres when below 5km? This would take less screen real estate, would draw attention to the lower visibilities and match the gradation of the reported data.

Rainfall
Rainfall in millimetres plots to two decimal places which also wastes screen space and is overkill. Again, could it follow the gradation of the code, reporting to one decimal 0.0 to 0.8, then in whole mm >=1

A few problems with analysing the chart referred to above
1. Remove last product doesn't work with various anaylses (msl pressure, temp/dp in C...)
2. Precipitation analysis temporarily locks the whole computer (about 15 seconds) then locks the DAWS screen, and program must be closed using Task Manager. Last status shown is "Preparing to expand grid". The data file above contains 24 hour data, including lots of 24 hour rainfall reports (6xxx4). The same happens with a similar file containing 6-hour (6xxx1) rainfall. Chart sizes tried are 2000x1500 and 1500x1100. Analysis type: Nearest neighbour, smoothing 0.25 and 2.

[Tim Vasquez]

I cannot adjust the fonts using preferences. I presume this hasn't yet been activated.

The Preferences > Fonts panel no longer functions and will be removed from the next version. This has been overridden by Preferences > Styles. You can change the font there, or direct-edit the style file to set a font typeface and size.

In DA2000, ship/buoy ids plot when WMONO is selected, but not when ICAO is selected. It would be nice if they plotted whichever of WMONO or ICAO was selected.

This is also a cross-referencing issue, but is more easily solved. I have fixed it by allowing the plot module to substitute the WMO (or ship ID) in an ICAO slot if the ICAO is not used. Likewise, in a WMO slot, I will substitute the ICAO if a WMO is not used. This will allow for better mixed WMO/ICAO plots.

Plots // in the VV code as -9999.

I have set this to plot as "M"]Is it possible to plot in kilometres rather than metres -- currently most visibility plots take 5 digits most of which are zeros.[/quote]
The change has been made for the next release.

Rainfall in millimetres plots to two decimal places which also wastes screen space and is overkill. Again, could it follow the gradation of the code, reporting to one decimal 0.0 to 0.8, then in whole mm >=1.

Thanks, I'll make a note to fix this.

Remove last product doesn't work with various anaylses (msl pressure, temp/dp in C...)

The image layer work is not finished yet.

Precipitation analysis temporarily locks the whole computer (about 15 seconds)

Sounds like a problem in the contouring using too small of an interval. The whole analysis module will be worked on shortly... thanks for reporting this particular bug.

Also -- I have went ahead and made updates to allow for city/station names to be plotted as part of a station plot.

Tim Vasquez

[mrvogt]

I cannot adjust the fonts using preferences. I presume this hasn't yet been activated.

The Preferences > Fonts panel no longer functions and will be removed from the next version. This has been overridden by Preferences > Styles. You can change the font there, or direct-edit the style file to set a font typeface and size.

Tim Vasquez

I'm assuming this includes contour line colors? When I change the contour color for surface pressure from the default light gray to another color, it will still plot it in gray.

Nice board design!

Michael

[Tim Vasquez]

I'm assuming this includes contour line colors? When I change the contour color for surface pressure from the default light gray to another color, it will still plot it in gray.

It is supposed to work from the Preferences > Styles panel, but hasn't been thoroughly checked out yet. I'll take another look at it. You can of course direct-edit the corresponding style file.

Tim

[Fred]

Take care you first select the right style (in preferences) you want to change. Also look under generate map if you use that style. It took me some time too before I noticed.

Fred

[Fred]

Tim

It possible to make a kind of a link between styles in preferences and color scheme (maybe good idea to give them same names) in generate maps. I see two possibilities:
- add a field in peferences which style is preference. This one is always shown in all places where you use it.
- the last style chosen in preferences or generate maps is the default and is shown in all places.

Regards

Fred