[Wrf-users] Re: IDV and VAPOR

[Alan Norton]

Mark,
Thanks for your input.  I realize that there is a lot of overlap in the 
descriptions of these tools so it is worthwhile helping users decide 
what tools are most relevant in their research.  It is important to note 
that this is not a UCAR policy question.   There are many different 
visualization packages either developed or supported by UCAR (e.g. NCAR 
graphics, NCL, Vis5d, PyNgl,...) and each package has application areas 
of particular importance and strength.  Likewise, there are, and always 
will be, areas where tools have overlap. UCAR generally is interested in 
making available many tools of value to the research community.

I also agree it would be valuable to hear feedback from users of both 
tools and other visualization tools as well, to help new users select 
the best tool for their work.

VAPOR has its origins in the turbulence research community and only 
recently have we been addressing the needs of the weather community.  
VAPOR is particularly strong at interactive visualization of very large 
(e.g. terabyte) data sets.   VAPOR utilizes some of the most recent 
advances in hardware graphics acceleration, for interactive volume 
rendering and isosurfacing.  VAPOR is also strong in flow integration 
capabilities, including a variety of techniques for exploring both 
steady and unsteady flow (including pathlines, streamlines, and 
image-based flow).

On the other hand, VAPOR's support for geoscience data is not as mature 
as IDV's.  Applying VAPOR to a WRF dataset requires a data conversion 
step because (in order to facilitate interactive access to very large 
datasets) VAPOR datasets are saved in a wavelet transformed format.  The 
'ingesting' of native WRF data requires this initial conversion step and 
is not as immediate as with IDV. 

Many needs of weather visualization are not yet addressed in VAPOR.  We 
are in the process of identifying and adding capabilities that are most 
important to understanding WRF datasets.  These include, for example, 
visualization of 2D variables, and support for the various map 
projections that are used in geoscience data visualization.

-Alan

Mark Stoelinga wrote:

>I'm curious about IDV and VAPOR, two relatively new visualization and
>analysis packages from UCAR (IDV from Unidata, first released in 2004, and
>VAPOR from NCAR/CISL, first released in 2006).  I admit I haven't tried
>either of them, but from the web pages, they both look like great software
>packages, with much effort poured into them.  I have seen a increasing
>discussion on the users' email list about both of these packages recently.
>
>My first question is from a policy perspective: Why is UCAR developing two
>major visualization/analysis packages that, at first glance, seem to have
>many of the same capabilities?
>
>I'm also curious about WRF users' experiences with these two packages.  How
>seamless are each of these packages with ingesting native WRF system data?
>What are users' experiences with using these two packages for analyzing and
>displaying WRF system data?  Has anyone used both, and has an opinion on
>relative strenghts and weaknesses?
>
>Mark
>
>=====================================================================
>|        Mark Stoelinga        |     University of Washington       |
>| Research Assistant Professor | Department of Atmospheric Sciences |
>=====================================================================
>| Phone:  206-543-6235   _______________  Mailing address:          |
>| Fax:    206-543-0308  ( ( __  ) _,-~     University of Washington |
>| Office: Room 508 ATG   ( _   ) )         Atmospheric Sciences     |
>| Email:  stoeling@       ( ( _ )  either: Box 351640 (regular mail)|
>|         washington.edu (______)      or: Rm 408 ATG (overnight)   |
>|                         V::///           Seattle, WA 98195-1640   |
>| Web: http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~stoeling                    |
>=====================================================================
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: wrf-news-bounces at ucar.edu [mailto:wrf-news-bounces at ucar.edu] On Behalf
>Of Alan Norton
>Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 3:47 PM
>To: wrf-news at ucar.edu
>Subject: [Wrf-news] VAPOR 1.3 released
>
>
>VAPOR 1.3 has been released (http://www.vapor.ucar.edu) with several new 
>capabilities useful in visualizing WRF-ARW datasets.
>Includes:
>     Image based flow visualization:  You can see and animate the wind 
>motion and direction in the probe, for interactive exploration of the 
>wind field.
>     Isosurfaces can be colored by mapping another variable onto the 
>isosurface
>     A new user preferences panel helps customize the app to individual 
>users and platforms.
>
>For more information, see the release notes at
>http://www.vapor.ucar.edu/doc/release-notes/index.shtml
>For questions or problems, contact: vapor at ucar.edu
>
>-Alan Norton, NCAR/CISL _______________________________________________
>Wrf-news mailing list
>Wrf-news at ucar.edu http://mailman.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/wrf-news
>
>  
>

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