Support news

01/17/2006 - Fix for mosaic drill-down problem - Revision 18

Revision 17 introduced a problem with drill-down on the mosaics. The transition between regional to state would fail in some parts of the country. Revision 18 corrects the issue.

Download the update patch or complete install below.


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RadarLab Support FAQ

1 ) When I run RadarLabGIS, all I get is a national mosaic and none of the tabs work
2 ) Can I launch RadarLab GIS directly into a local site without drilling down through the mosaics ?
3 ) Can I "smooth" the radar data so that it looks nicer?
4 ) Is there a forum for Radar Lab GIS?
5 ) How do I import shapefiles?
6 ) Where can I get shapefiles with county roads?


Q) When I run RadarLab GIS, all I get is a national mosaic and none of the tabs work.

A) This is normal. When you first execute RadarLab GIS, a national mosaic is displayed to allow you to select a local radar site by "drilling down" to the local level. Clicking on the national mosaic will bring up a regional mosaic. Clicking on the regional will bring up a state mosaic and finally clicking on the state image will bring up a local site. The GIS features and tabs are enabled at the local site level.


Q) Can I launch RadarLab GIS directly into a local site without drilling down through the mosaics ?

A) Yes, you can. A 4-letter site identifier can be passed to the RadarLab executable on startup. If the identifier is valid then GIS will launch into that radar site rather than the mosaic screen. This feature can be most conveniently utilized by setting a desktop shortcut in Windows. To do that, simply right-click on the desktop, choose New->Shortcut, browse to the C:\Program Files\WeatherTAP\RadarLab GIS directory, select the "RadarLabGIS.exe" file then click "Ok". Windows should then display the "Create Shortcut" dialog with the path to the RadarLabGIS.exe file contained within the edit box. Click the inside the edit box, press the END key to go to the end of the path, then enter a space followed by the 4-letter site identifier (see below)

Click the NEXT button then enter a name for the icon. We recommend using something that will designate the radar site that the link goes to. After you've entered an appropriate name, click the "FINISH" button. You should now have a RadarLab GIS icon on your desktop. Clicking the icon should launch RadarLab GIS and immediately load up the local radar site.


Q) Can I "smooth" the radar data so that it looks nicer?

A) Yes

The WSR-88D radar that RadarLab GIS uses is limited to a fixed resolution of 1km x 1 deg. That means that the radar can broadcast a radio signal and measure the amount of energy reflected over an area of about .625 miles x .625 miles. That measurement is portrayed on the RadarLab GIS screen as a pixel (short for "picture element") of information drawn over a geographic area. The pixel is drawn in various colors to indicate the magnitude of the measurement. When viewing this data on a large geographic scale a finely detailed image is produced. At that scale a .625 mile x .625 mile area may be represented by a single dot on the monitor, resulting in a smooth-looking image. However, if one attempts to zoom up to a very small geographic area, then the number of screen pixels (not radar pixels) that is required to represent a .625 x .625 mile area will increase. Remember that the radar can only measure down to an area this size, so when plotted on a small scale the result is a large, solid-colored block. There can only be one measured reflectivity value over the .625x.625 area, therefore that much area has the same color. Although not entirely asthetically pleasing, this image represents the true nature of the radar measurement.

In recent years and months however, competition among local television stations within local markets has led to a radar "arms race". In an effort to one-up a competing station, many local TV stations began using software to artifically manipulate the radar image as to provide the illusion of greater resolution. Of course such techniques cannot actually increase the real resolution of the radar, but they can produce more asthetically pleasing images and it is that perception, rather than reality, that attracts viewers and draws ratings from the competition. Twisting facts into a more fictional form to better fit (and therefore reinforce and validate) the viewer's world-view is a time-proven technique for gaining media market share. It is no surprise the such techniques have been applied to weather data as well.

Such techniques have little place in actual analysis of radar data, however, RadarLab GIS is not only used for analysis. Many users report using it as a tool for presenting weather data to others. In such cases the primary emphasis is on communicating the basic information in a form that the audience can quickly and easily digest. Part of meeting this requirement is that the image be as asthetically pleasing as practical. To accommodate users who require this functionality, a "data smoothing" option was added to RadarLab GIS beginning with Revision 16. The purpose of this option is to manipulate the display to give the appearance of additional radar resolution. This is accomplished by applying a series of bitmap filters to the finished radar data, effectively expanding the grid and filling the spaces between measurement points with interpolated data.


Normal, unaltered image
(click for full-sized image)
  

Same image with smoothing
(click for full-sized image)


Q) Is there a forum for RadarLabGIS ?

A) Yes.


Q) How do I import my own shapefiles ?

A) If your license allows it, you can import and use your own shapefiles in RadarLabGIS. The procedure is simple. You simply need to copy all of the component files of the shapefile into the RadarLabGIS shapefiles directory. This includes the .shp file plus the .shx and .dbf files. There may also be additional files with the same name but different extension which must be copied.

The RadarLabGIS shapefiles directory is normally

C:\Program Files\WeatherTAP Studio\shapefiles

If there is any question, you can click on the “Settings” button and look in the “System Directories” section for the actual path.

After ALL of your files have been copied, the new shapefile will be available when you add a new GIS layer. It should appear in the drop-down list along with the regular shapefiles that ship with RadarLabGIS.

RadarLab GIS uses ESRI shapefiles.

A step-by-step example of downloading, importing, and using a shapefile is presented in the Getting Started guide.

 

Q) Where can I get shapefiles?

A) There are hundreds of local, state, and federal agencies that offer freely downloadable shapefiles. There are many commercial sources as well. A Google search should turn up many leads.

 

 

 

 

For more information, e-mail us or call 800-337-5263.