OSCAR/Surface User Manual

Transcription

1 OSCAR/Surface User Manual Version 0.5 Last change: 17/6/2016 Version Date Change Author Initial draft Shanna Pitter Timo Pröscholdt /6 After Review by Timo Pröscholdt editorial Board /6/17 Luis review Luis Nunes /6/17 Russel review Timo Pröscholdt Table of Contents Finding information in OSCAR/Surface... 3 How to navigate the portal... 3 How to Search for Stations?... 7 How to find specific observing systems, such as Radars, Wind Profilers, Radiosondes etc.? Station report details Station characteristics Observations/measurements Station contacts, Bibliographic references and Documents How to Search for Contacts How to identify the National Focal Point for OSCAR/Surface of a country? How to Search for Bibliographical Reference How to Search for Instruments Changing information in OSCAR/Surface The authorization and access control model in OSCAR/Surface How to Log-on to OSCAR/Surface and register a new user How to create a new station? Saving a station as draft Inputting historic information Multipurpose station concept / duplicate stations Network affiliations and approval How to edit an existing station? Why can I not save my edits? Session timeout Editing Radars or JCOMM stations How to copy a station? How to delete a station? How get help and to report bugs... 26

2 How can I make mass changes / Is there an API / how can I synchronize my existing database with OSCAR/Surface? Table of figures Figure 1 Front page of OSCAR/Surface... 3 Figure 2 Search Tab... 3 Figure 3 Quick Search results... 6 Figure 4 Map Interface... 6 Figure 5 Search for Stations... 8 Figure 6 Search for Stations- expanded Figure 7 Geographic coordinates search Figure 8 Drag and draw selection Figure 9: The main categories of the station report Figure 10: The table in the station characteristics section of the station report shows the history of changes to this station s location together with the date of change. (here only one position is recorded) Figure 11: Station characteristics Figure 12: Observations/measurements section of station Figure 13 Search for Contacts Figure 14: Detailed attributes of a contact in OSCAR/Surface Figure 15 Search for Bibliographic References Figure 16 Search for Instrument- expanded Figure 17: Accessing the log-on and register new user functionality of OSCAR/Surface Figure 18: Supplying username and password from previous user registration in order to logon to OSCAR/Surface or registering a new user... 19

3 Finding information in OSCAR/Surface How to navigate the portal Figure 1 Front page of OSCAR/Surface The home page of OSCAR/Surface, Figure 1, has been labelled with large red letters, A F for the purpose of describing the various functionalities of the website. Each letter corresponds with a different functionality as follows. A. The Home, Search, and Critical Review tabs The Home tab allows for navigation to the OSCAR/Surface home page at all times. This functionality is also replicated by clicking on the OSCAR logo in the upper right of the page. Figure 2 Search Tab

4 The Search tab brings you to the search functionality page, Figure 2 that allows for queries to the information stored in OSCAR/Surface in a variety of ways: Search for Station searching by observing station attributes Search for Instruments searching by the instrument attributes within an observing station. Search for Contact (Figure 16) searching an address book of observing system owners or points of contacts. Search for Bibliographic reference (Figure 18) searching the records of peer reviewed articles that were documented with the observing stations. The Critical Review tab is currently not activated as the Critical Review functionality will be implemented at a later stage. B. This section in the upper right corner of the webpage in Figure 1 houses the links to pages for: a. About OSCAR/Surface Information about the development and history of OSCAR/Surface b. News An archive of the Latest news updates from related to OSCAR/Surface c. Glossary list of commonly used terms in WIGOS and OSCAR/Surface d. Frequently asked questions (FAQs) list of useful questions for the users of OSCAR/Surface e. Links list of useful links relating to WIGOS and observing systems f. Support A form requesting contact information from the user and a comments section to capture the user s request to be submitted to the OSCAR/Surface support and operations team. g. Feedback A form for submitting feedback to the OSCAR/Surface development team. h. Login- The permissions controlled access to edit the data contained in OSCAR/Surface. C. Search This text box allows for a quick text search across the description, title, name, and address. The results are returned in a drop down menu, as shown in Figure 4, arranged by categories: a. Search by station and, b. Search for contacts. In the right corner of each category, the user may access all the search results by clicking on the View all>> link associated with the three categories.

5 Figure 3: The station search screen

6 Figure 4 Quick Search results D. Quick access The quick access section allows for searches by station name and WMO ID (under Generate station report by: ) to retrieve/view the station s detailed information. Under Generate station lists by: there is also the capability to generate a list of all stations (named report in OSCAR/Surface) within a particular country and for a station type. There is a quick search for contact names (under Find people by: ) as well as that generates a report with the full contact information stored within OSCAR/Surface. E. Filter map The filter map functionality allows for the display of world-wide stations on the map. By default, all WIGOS component observing systems and other components/networks are selected, however, the user is able to remove check marks from components to view only those stations affiliated with the selected programs. Figure 5 Map Interface

7 F. Map interface and download Figure 4 shows the map plotting the observing stations in OSCAR/Surface coloured by the categories air, land or ocean surface, sub-surface and lake or rives. The map interface allows for the selection of individual stations by clicking on a station on the map. The user is able to zoom in/out using the +/- buttons on the upper left section of the map, or double click on any open spaces in the map. The mouse can also be used to move the map to the appropriate location of interest. Once the desired area is displayed, the user has the option to click on an individual station to generate a report of that station s information or choose to download the map in various formats for offline display purposes. The download functionality is accessible via the icon in the upper right section above the map (Figure 5) and allows for an image export as a PNG, JPG, GIF, and EPS, and also allows for the station location information to be downloaded in the KML format for use in Google Earth. How to Search for Stations?

8 Figure 6: Search for Stations The search for Stations, via the Search tab (see the previous section on Finding information in OSCAR/Surface) stored in OSCAR/SURFACE, as shown in Figure 5

9 , is available for users with prior knowledge of the Station name via a drop down menu under the button Browse by station name. Alternatively, other criteria may be used to narrow the results to probable stations meeting those attributes. These search criteria are available under the option Advanced search : a search term corresponding to a partial recall of the station s name; the periodicity of the data being near-real time or not, which is searched by checking the box for near-real time stations; the Station Type which is a categorization of the type of station at which an observation is made; The Station class, which corresponds to the most frequently used attributes of the Volume A codelist for Observing Remarks; the Program/ Network Affiliation a menu of WMO programs are provided via the button and allows for the selection of one or more WMO programs for listing. The X button allows for the selections to be removed from the search criteria. the WMO Region/Country Corresponds to the various WMO Regional Associations (RA), I-VI and the Members within each RA.

10 the Organization corresponding to the comprehensive list of supervising organizations for all stations in OSCAR/SURFACE. the Variable clicking on the second button, from the right, opens a menu that allows to select one or more variables from the following domains: o Atmosphere, o Earth, o Ocean, o Outer Space, and o Terrestrial, each with their own subcategories to further refine the search as detailed as the actual physical variable being measured. Figure 7 Search for Stations- expanded There are additional options for searching by Stations, as shown in Figure 6 that are accessible by clicking on the More Search Options hyperlink. This reveals the options: Search by Climate zone A climate zone can be selected from a drop down menu with a list of the Koppen classification types.

11 Search by Geographic Coordinates There are text boxes that allows the selection of a geographic range as Longitude from to Figure 8 Geographic coordinates search Longitude to, as well as Latitude from to Latitude to. It is possible to only insert a single value here. For example, inserting 66 into Latitude from will show stations roughly above the polar circle. Only numerical entries are valid for these boxes. Attempts to enter text and submit the search will result in an error dialog with the message The submitted data is invalid. Please look for the red widget in the sections for more information. Also noteworthy is the icon in Figure 7. in the middle of the text boxes, that allows the user to manual draw a box around the region of interest (Figure 8). Figure 9 Drag and draw selection Search by Elevation- the elevation range of the stations can be entered in meters in the text boxes. At the bottom of the page, there are two buttons: the Search one to submit the search criteria and the Reset button to clear all prior entries. How to find specific observing systems, such as Radars, Wind Profilers, Radiosondes etc.? One way to find stations by observation technology is to search by network affiliation. Another way is to use the station class. As with all information in OSCAR/Surface, the accuracy of the search results depends heavily on the quality of the metadata inserted into the system. The table below lists how to find commonly searched observing technologies. Technology Radars Wind Profilers Radiosondes Search by Network affiliation WRO (under WIGOS/GOS/GOS_Other_Elements) Station class WP Network affiliation RBSN(T), or

12 Network affiliation RBSN(S/T) under WIGOS/GOS/GOS_Surface_Networks/RBSN) Or: Station class WN Station report details This is the result of a station search (or report as named in OSCAR/Surface) which displays all station details (Figure 9), including the history of changes, as documented in OSCAR/Surface. The station report is organized into the following five sections: Station characteristic, Observations/Measurements, Contacts, Bibliographic references and Documents, which can be expanded by clicking on the respective buttons. Figure 10: The main sections of the station report Station characteristics The station characteristics section (Figure 11) gives an overview of the general situation of the station, such as country it is located in, coordinates, WMO identifiers and terrain properties. All changes that are inserted in OSCAR/Surface are recorded and can be shown when expanding the field in question, as shown in Figure 10. Figure 11: The table in the station characteristics section of the station report shows the history of changes to this station s location together with the date of change. (here only one position is recorded)

13 Figure 12: Station characteristics WIGOS Station identifier Stations are identified by the WIGOS station identifier (WIGOS ID) in OSCAR/Surface. WIGOS IDs are the official WMO identifiers and have to be used for all WMO stations from July 2016 on. Please see the official WIGOS ID documentation for more details. An initial WIGOS identifier was created for each station and initially imported into OSCAR/Surface. For stations formerly in Volume A, the WIGOS ID is based on the station identifier allocated to the station by the country in Volume A. In case of Radar, GAW or JCOMMOPS stations, it is based on the identifier used in these systems. This identifier should not be changed, as it provides a historic reference. Please contact the administrator if you think that this identifier should be changed nevertheless. Figure 13: WIGOS station identifier: The identifier is based on the indexnbr allocated to it in Volume A. The first 0 indicates that the identifier represents a station, is an issuer range allocated to WMO programs or networks, whereas the third 0 is the issuer number. Multiple identifiers can be attached to a station to reflect affiliation with different networks or programs. For this the dialogue programs / network affiliations can be used. The program or network in which the identifier is used must also be specified.

14 Figure 14: Additional identifiers can be added under "programs/affiliations" Observations/measurements This section shows all observations, past and present, that are/were taken at the station, together with details about the instrument used, data processing applied and the observation schedule. If the observations are made under a Programme/network, this affiliation and the identifier used are also displayed here. Observations are structured as data series and segments. Attributes such as data format and the data processing centre are recorded at the level of the data-series whereas observing schedule and instrument used are stored in data-segments. Major changes to the properties of a data-series or datasegment may warrant closing the current one and adding a new one instead of simply recoding a change in the current one. When this is the case is when in the eyes of the user the characteristics of series or segment were changed to such an extent that it is no longer continuous. The user may then decide to create a new data series or data segment based on the following concept and example: What is the difference between a data-series and a data segment? A data-series represents the entirety of observations of the same variable taken at this station. A segment is a sub-set of these observations, and represents those that were taken without major interruption and under roughly the same conditions. Example: The sampling method and observing schedule of a pressure observation are changed to 10 minutes and 30 minutes respectively, from 30 and 60 minutes on 1/1/2016. The current segment is closed (end date 31/12/2015) and a new one with the new observing schedule created. The segment remains part of the same pressure data-series.

15 Figure 15: Observations/measurements section of station Station contacts, Bibliographic references and Documents. These three sections list station contacts, references and the available documents with further information on the station. Station contacts include various roles, such as operators, national focal points, maintenance technicians etc. How to Search for Contacts

16 The search for contacts functions as a searchable directory of station owners or Points of Contact (POCs). Figure 16 shows the options to search by name, either by entering the text or using the drop-down menu to browse the entries, and the more advanced search using the Contact s country and the variables being measured at the station. Figure 16 Search for Contacts How to identify the National Focal Point for OSCAR/Surface of a country? In order to find the OSCAR/Surface National Focal Point, list all contacts of the country you are interested using the search for contacts detailed search criteria WMO region/country. Then examine the contacts role attributes. The roles of a contact are revealed when clicking on the person. Figure 17: Detailed attributes of a contact in OSCAR/Surface How to Search for Bibliographical Reference Another function in OSCAR/Surface is the ability to locate any citations input for the station. If the user knows the Author s name or the year of the publication, the search can return the stored references (Bibtex) corresponding to the matches. A keyword search allows for a wider search of the text of the citation, as shown in Figure 18.

17 Figure 18 Search for Bibliographic References How to Search for Instruments OSCAR/Surface stores the instrument metadata according to the WIGOS metadata standards. As such, a user is able to query the data for Manufacturer, Model, Serial number, and Period of observation in order to find Figure 19 shows the further search options available by clicking on the More search options link, which reveals criteria for the Variable, Program/Network affiliation, Organization, RA or Country of the instrument s location, Climate zone, geographic coordinates, and elevation. Figure 19 Search for Instrument- expanded

18 Changing information in OSCAR/Surface The authorization and access control model in OSCAR/Surface Only authorized users can change information in OSCAR/Surface. The administrator, working at the WMO Secretariat, creates National Focal Point (NFP) users for countries upon receipt of a nomination from the Permanent Representative. National Focal Points can in turn create additional users and associate them with stations, associated with their country. National Focal Points have the right to edit all stations in their associated country, whereas other users can only edit stations they are directly associated with as well as creating new stations. The table below details the access rights. Role Create Station Edit station Create user Admin all all All NFP For their country All in their country For their country Contact For their country Only own stations For their country Network focal point all Of own network For their country Table 1: user and role access rights Figure 20: Access and role model in OSCAR/Surface Having editing rights to a station, a NFP, or regular contact can add additional contacts to a station. This then grants them editing rights to this station. How to Log-on to OSCAR/Surface and register a new user The log-on or user registration procedure is needed in order to change information in OSCAR/Surface and therefore not required for searching information. The registration only has to be completed once to associate the authorized of a National Focal Point or

19 Station contact with the OSCAR/Surface system and the Electronic Identity and Access Management system used by OSCAR/Surface. Having completed this procedure, it suffices to supply username and password to log-on to OSCAR/Surface. Figure 21: Accessing the log-on and register new user functionality of OSCAR/Surface Figure 22: Supplying username and password from previous user registration in order to log-on to OSCAR/Surface or registering a new user

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23 How to create a new station? Once you are logged on to OSCAR/Surface, the Management console appears in the main menu. The register new station dialogue can be reached from there. Use this form to create a new station in OSCAR/SURFACE. Figure 23: Register new station form in Management console The dialogue in separated into the same five sections as the station report page, each of which allows to edit the elements corresponding to that category. Some elements, such as the name of the station, are mandatory, and the station cannot be saved unless all mandatory elements have been provided. Should incomplete information be supplied, an error message is shown upon saving, indicating that some elements are missing. The missing fields and section headers are then also coloured in red. However, it is possible to save the station as draft to save the information so far supplied for later editing.

24 Figure 24: missing fields are shown in red and error message indicating missing fields Saving a station as draft When saving a station as draft, it is not publicly visible. To continue editing, find the station in the list of my stations and continue editing. Note that once a station is published, an edit can no longer be saved as draft, as the station is already public. Inputting historic information The history of changes of almost all information in OSCAR/Surface is stored to be able to better understand the station history and development of capabilities over time. Therefore, all such fields have a date input field, in addition to the actual field capturing the information. When completing such a field, the date at which the change actually occurred should be indicated. For example, a change of instrument in a station may only be documented in OSCAR/Surface after the technician in the field has completed the work. In this case, the date when the instrument changed, and not the date when the information is input into the system, should be indicated here. Figure 25: date field enabling the date when a change occurred to be captured Multipurpose station concept / duplicate stations OSCAR/Surface is observation centric and focuses on documenting the observations made. The concept of a station in OSCAR/Surface is mainly used for describing the physical environment in which the observations take place. Therefore, it is possible that multiple traditional stations that report with different identifiers to various observing programs are grouped together in OSCAR/Space as a single station, each observation being affiliated to an observing program with its own identifier. At the same time physically identical stations may have initially been imported as separate stations into OSCAR/Surface. It is the responsibility of the station operator to decide whether stations should be represented as separate entities in the system.

25 Network affiliations and approval In order to indicate that a station is part of a specific observing program, the corresponding data-series can be affiliated with a list of WMO and related programs. This can be done from the observations/measurements screen by editing the data-series and selecting the programs/affiliations sub-form. In some cases, joining the program may be subject to approval. In this case, the program focal point of the program will receive an automatic asking for approval of the request. While the approval process in not completed, the affiliation will show as pending. Figure 26: Affiliating a data-series with a network How to edit an existing station? The edit menu can be reached by clicking on the edit button which is shown if the logged on user has editing rights to the station. To get to the station report any of the quick access, search or map filter methods can be used. Figure 27: The edit station button on the station report is shown when the user has editing rights Editing the station is then done using the same form as the register new station, except that most of the fields are already populated. Remember that the date of a change must be documented in OSCAR/Surface, too, as described above. Why can I not save my edits? When saving a change to a station it can happen that the system refuses to save the change because of missing information. However, the missing information has nothing to do with the change just made. This is because the information that was initially imported into the system is still incomplete and an edit not completing it therefore fails. Another reason why an edit cannot be saved is an internal error in the system. In this case, a red notification is shown, and the station is still in editing mode. In such a case, it is worthwhile checking whether the changes have been applied to the database or not. This can be done for example by opening the station report in another window, while keeping the current one open. If the changes have been submitted, the current windows can be closed. Otherwise try saving again after a short while.

26 Session timeout The session is closed after xx minutes of inactivity. Therefore, when making lengthy changes with long pauses between edits, is it recommendable to keep a second window open to check if the session is still alive before saving the edits. In case the session is no longer active, logon again in the second window before saving the change. Editing Radars or JCOMM stations OSCAR/Surface also contains information that is regularly imported from external portals; the stations maintained by JCOMMOPS as well as the Weather Radar Database operated by Turkish Meteorological Service. Therefore changes to these stations have to be made in the respective portals and cannot be done in OSCAR/Surface directly. How to copy a station? To copy a station, locate the station in the my stations screen. From there it is possible to copy it using the copy icon on the right. The new station will be opened as the edit screen. Only relevant attributes are copied. Figure 28: The copy action in the my stations screen How to delete a station? Only an administrator can delete stations. Please use the contact form to notify the administrator that a station should be deleted. The reason why stations cannot be deleted in OSCAR/Surface is that the record of the station should be documented in the system even though the station is no longer active. Therefore, rather than deleting the station it is more appropriate in most cases to set the end date of the data-series and set the reporting status to closed. Stations created for testing purposes can be removed by thee administrator. How get help and to report bugs There is a contact form in OSCAR/Surface that can be used to both get help and also to report bugs or request new features. Requests submitted to this forms are tracked and jointly addressed by the OSCAR/Surface operating team and the WMO Secretariat.

27 How can I make mass changes / Is there an API / how can I synchronize my existing database with OSCAR/Surface? OSCAR/Surface will provide a Machine2Machine (M2M) API that can be used to batch import stations as well as making mass changes to information in the system. The details of this interface are currently being specified and will be available in the next release. Annex I list of fields by OSCAR/Surface screen The list of fields will be provided in the next version of this guide. In order to get an overview of the information fields needed to complete a station, you can try creating a dummy station which is saved as draft or not saved at all, using the register new station dialogue. This allows browsing through all forms and fields required for creating a new station.