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PNG Local Time Legend

The legends on the GFE are normally in GMT or ZULU time.  The generated PNG imagery can contain legends in either GMT or local time.

Legends display mode 0 for UTC, 1 for local time. Do not include a decimal point after the number.

Png_localTime = 1

 

PNG Image Size

The image size in height and width can be defined for Png imagery. You only need to set one of these since the other will be automatically calculated to preserve the aspect ratio of your office domain.  If both the height and width are set, the width will be used as the reference dimension.

You can set the height and width (in pixels) for the Png images. It is only necessary to set one of these, as the other will be calculated using the aspect ratio of your office domain. Do not include decimal points after the numbers. Both default to 400.

Png_height = 400
Png_width = 400

 

PNG Weather Element to be Displayed as an Image

By default, all weather elements displayed in the GFE for graphical product generation are displayed as a graphic, e.g., contours for scalars, wind barbs or arrows for vectors, and bounded areas for weather. If the user wishes to display one of the weather elements as an image, then this entry must be set to the parameter name of the weather element.  Only one weather element can be an image simultaneously.

If specified with the environment variable below, the weather element will be displayed as an image in the png. If nothing is specified here, then all weather elements will be displayed as a graphic. For non-surface based elements, the format is weatherElementName_level_image.

Png_image = 'T'

PNG Image Data Smoothing and Smooth Clipping

Data Smoothing, and Smooth Clipping options are available for Png images. The Png_smoothImage indicates if the Png image displayed should be smoothed (1 = smoothing enabled, 0 = smoothing disabled).  Note that smoothing will only apply to scalar and vector images.  The Png_smoothClip (1 = enabled, 0= disabled) provides smoothing clipping to the edit area mask defined in display filter .

Png_smoothImage = 0
Png_smoothClip = 0

The following rules apply if both Png_smoothImage and Png_smoothClip are used.
 

DataType	Png_smoothImage	Png_smoothClip	Result
SCALAR/VECTOR	0	0	No data smoothing, no smooth clipping
SCALAR/VECTOR	0	1	No data smoothing, clipped to the pixel level of the display filter (mask) indicated, uses the nearest "grid box" for the data
SCALAR/VECTOR	1	0	Data smoothing, clipped to the pixel level of the display filter (mask) indicated, uses bi-linear interpolation for the data values
SCALAR/VECTOR	1	1	Data smoothing, clipped to the pixel level of the display filter (mask) indicated, uses bi-linear interpolation for the data values
WEATHER/DISCRETE	0	0	No data smoothing, no smooth clipping
WEATHER/DISCRETE	0	1	No data smoothing, clipped to the pixel level of the display filter (mask) indicated, uses the nearest "grid box" for the data
WEATHER/DISCRETE	1	0	No data smoothing, no smooth clipping
WEATHER/DISCRETE	1	1	No data smoothing, clipped to the pixel level of the display filter (mask) indicated, uses the nearest "grid box" for the data

 
 

PNG List of Weather Elements for Display

The user can specify the list of weather elements to be displayed by specifying the Png_parms.  This entry only applies to the ifpIMAGE program.

The format of each entry is a coded weather element identifier in the following format:
"parmName_level:optType_modelName seq". For example, to display the QPF surface field for the Official database, the entry would be: "QPF_SFC:_Official -1"

Png_parms = ['FzLevel_SFC:_Fcst -1', 'Sky_SFC:_Fcst -1', 'QPF_SFC:_Fcst -1']

 

PNG Legend Display

The legend that appears on the PNG image can be enabled or disabled.  By default it is enabled.

This variable allows the ability to turn on/off legends for the graphic generation.  It applies only to graphic product generation and not the GFE.  It defaults to 'on' if it is not specified.  Do not include a decimal point after the number.

Png_legend = 1

 

PNG Legend Weather Element Name

By default, the weather element name placed on the legend of a PNG image is simply the 'SHORT'  weather element name, such as "T" for temperature.  The user can enable this option, which will instead use the long descriptive name for the weather element on the legend, such as "Temperature", or turn the name off completely.  An alternative form of the weather element name can be used if the Png_wxname_AltName entries are used in conjunction with this entry and this entry is set to "ALT".  If "ALT" is specified, and the corresponding Png_wxnamd_AltName is not found, then the short weather element name is used.

The applicable legend weather element name modes are 'SHORT' for weather element name,
LONG for weather element descriptive name,  ALT for alternate, and OFF for no name.

Png_descriptiveWeName = 'SHORT'

 

Png Alternate Weather Element Name

The Png Alternative Weather Element Name is used to define your own weather element name legend for the Png images.  For this feature to be enabled, you must set the Png_descriptiveName to ALT.

These entries define the weather element name to be displayed based on the weather element name (e.g., "T").  The string format is Png_WxElem_AltName. (For non surface-based weather elements, the format is Png_WxElem_Level_AltName.) For example, Png_MaxT_AltName = "Highs" will display "Highs" for the Wx element name rather than "MaxT" or "Maximum Temperature".  If it is not defined and 'ALT' is set, then the weather element name will be the 'SHORT' name.

Png_MaxT_AltName = "Highs"

 

PNG Legend Formats

The legend formats (for both Zulu mode and local time mode) may be controlled through the configuration file. The general ordering of each legend is:  duration + startTime + endTime.  Any of these may be disabled or enabled through the use of the format strings.  By setting a format string to "", that value is not output.  There are separate entries for the Zulu and Local Time legends.  The formatting entries consist of a keyword prefixed with an '%'.  The software will substitute the appropriate value in place of the %keyword in the format string.  To add extra characters, such as spaces or some text (e.g., "to"), simply add those characters to the format.    The following list specifies the acceptable formatting entries that are allowed:
 

%a	Locale's abbreviated weekday name.
%A	Locale's full weekday name.
%b	Locale's abbreviated month name.
%B	Locale's full month name.
%c	Locale's appropriate date and time representation.
%C	The century number (the year divided by 100 and truncated to an integer) as a   decimal number [00-99].
%d	Day of the month as a decimal number [01,31].
%D	Equivalent to the directive string %m/%d/%y.
%e	Day of the month as a decimal number [1,31], a single digit is preceded by a space.
%h	Equivalent to %b.
%H	Hour (24-hour clock) as a decimal number [00,23].
%I	Hour (12-hour clock) as a decimal number [01,12].
%j	Day of the year as a decimal number [001,366].
%m	Month as a decimal number [01,12].
%M	Minute as a decimal number [00,59].
%n	The New-line character.
%p	Locale's equivalent of either AM or PM.
%r	The time in AM and PM notation; in the POSIX locale this is equivalent to %I:%M:%S %p.
%R	The time in 24 hour notation (%H:%M).
%S	Second as a decimal number [00,61].
%t	The Tab character.
%T	The time in hours, minutes, and seconds (%H:%M:%S).
%u	The weekday as a decimal number [1(Monday),7].
%U	Week number of the year (Sunday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number [00,53].  All days in a new year preceding the first Sunday are considered to be in week 0.
%V	The week number of the year (Monday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number [01,53].  If the week containing January 1st has four or more days in the new  year, then it is considered week 1; otherwise, it is week 53 of the previous year, and the next week is week 1.
%w	Weekday as a decimal number [0(Sunday),6].
%W	Week number of the year (Monday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number [00,53].  All days in a new  year preceding the first Monday are considered to be in week 0.
%x	Locale's appropriate date representation.
%X	Locale's appropriate time representation.
%y	Year without century as a decimal number [00,99].
%Y	Year with century as a decimal number.
%Z	Time zone name (or by no characters if no time zone exists).
%%	The percent (%) character.

In addition to the above list, there are special entries that are substituted: [UNITS] can be substituted for the units for the weather element. Be sure to include the braces. For example, if you wanted the local time string to be displayed like Maximum Temperature  (F)  12 hours Ending Wed Mar 3, 2000 6:00 PM MST, then the format strings would be set up to be:

Png_legendFormat_LT_dur = "([UNITS]) %H hours "
Png_legendFormat_LT_start = ""
Png_legendFormat_LT_end = "Ending %a %b %d, %Y  %I:%M %p %Z"

If the duration, start time, or ending time is not desired, then the entry should be set to "".  Note that there are separate entries for Zulu and LocalTime.  The duration formats
can use the %H (hours) %M (minutes) formats.

Png_legendFormat_Zulu_dur = ""
Png_legendFormat_Zulu_start = "%b %d %H%MZ to "
Png_legendFormat_Zulu_end = "%b %d %H%MZ"
Png_legendFormat_LT_dur = ""
Png_legendFormat_LT_start = "%b %d %I:%M %p %Z"
Png_legendFormat_LT_end = "%b %d %I:%M %p %Z"

If Png_snapshotTime is enabled, then the single time depicted in the legend is the calculated snapshot time (typically based on Png_interval and Png_intervalOffset).  In this case, there are other legend format configuration file entries that are used:

Png_legendFormat_LT_snapshot = "%b %d %I:%M %p %Z"
Png_legendFormat_Zulu_snapshot = "%b %d %H%MZ"
 

Png Filename Prefix

By default, the naming of the png files are yyyymmdd_hhmm.png.   A prefix can be added to the name if desired using the Png_filenamePrefix item.  For example, if you wanted the filenames to be of a form Wind_Sky_yyyymmdd_hhmm.png, you would set the following string in the gfe configuration file:

Png_filenamePrefix = 'Wind_Sky_'

The date/time string can also be changed to a base time and relative offset from the absolute time.  See the ifpIMAGE User's Manual section on date/time string configuration.
 

Png Filename Format

By default, the naming of the png files are yyyymmdd_hhmm.png.  The date-time string may be changed to a user-specified format by using the Png_baseTimeFormat in the gfe configuration file.  The possible set of values are those defined above in the legend format section.  For example, if you wanted the filename format to only include the day and hour, then you could set the entry to:

Png_baseTimeFormat = "%d%H"

If the time of the file is 20010509_1800, then the filename would be 0918.png.  See the ifpIMAGE User's Manual section on date/time string configuration.
 

Png Interval and IntervalOffset

Images can be created at regular at intervals by setting an interval option in the ipfIMAGE configuration file.   The interval starting time can be varied by setting an offset.

By default, png images are generated for each and every possible change in the generated grids.  For example, if you are generating a grid for T and WaveHeight, and the T is a one hour grid and the WaveHeight a 6 hour grid, that starts at the same time (e.g., 12z), two different images will be generated.  The first will have T and WaveHeight together and will be time stamped to 12z; the second will just have WaveHeight and will be time stamped to 13z.  This is identical behavior to running the GFE with multiple visible weather elements.

You can override this behavior for the creation of the Png imagery by specifying an interval for which to generate imagery.  The interval is specified in hours.  Setting the value to 6 will generate grids at 00z, 06z, 12z, and 18z, assuming there is data available to generate the imagery.  The configuration line to set the generation to every 6 hours is shown below:

Png_interval = 6

To generate images that begin at a starting time other than 00z, you can specify an interval offset using a configuration option.   For example, specifying an interval offset of 1 and an interval of 6 (i.e., Png_interval = 6) will generate images at 01z,  07z, 13z and 19z.   The default for Png_intervalOffset is 0.

Png_intervalOffset = 1
 

Png_fitToDataArea

The Png_fitToDataArea works in conjunction with a fit to data algorithm.  If the user has specified a "All Grids over Area", or "Single Grid over Area", then the ifpIMAGE program needs to know which area is to be used.  For the GFE, it is always the active edit area.  For the ifpIMAGE, the concept of an active edit area does not exist.  The format of the entry is simply the name of the edit area.

Png_fitToDataArea = "BOU"
 

Png Logo and Logo String

The ifpIMAGE program can automatically add to the bottom of each image the NOAA and NWS logos.  The Png_logo entry enables the logo and the Png_logoString entry defines the text to appear between the two logos.

If Png_logo is set to 1, then a bar containing the noaa and nws logos will be inserted at the bottom of the image.

Png_logo = 0

If Png_logo is enabled, then Png_logoString can be set to a string you would
like to have in the "logo bar".  The string will be centered in the bar.

Png_logoString = ""
 

Png Legend Language

The Png_legendLanguage only affects the legends for the Png imagery.  If english is desired, then do not use this option.  If an alternate legend language is desired, then enter that here. Acceptable values those defined in the locale command (part of Unix).
Acceptable languages are "spanish" and "french".

Png_legendLanguage = "spanish"
 

Png Color Bar Removal

Setting Png_omitColorBar to 1, will omit the color bar in ifpImage

Png_omitColorBar = 0
 

Png Zoom Disable

Setting Png_wholeDomain to 1 or yes, will disable the automatic zoom that occurs when your data is clipped to a smaller region.  The default is zoom to the clipped data region.

Png_wholeDomain = 0
 

Png History Mask

Setting Png_historyMask to 1 or yes, will enables the display mask to follow the information contained in the Grid Data History of each grid.  When set to 1, the grids will automatically be masked by the site information and the background color will be shown for those areas without data.

Png_historyMask = 1

 

Png Info Files

Setting Png_infoFiles to 1 or yes, will enable the creation of the PNG info files along with the image PNG files.  Setting Png_infoFiles to 0 or no will disable the creation of these files.  The default is to create the Png info files.
 

Png_infoFiles = 1
 

Png Snapshot Time

Setting Png_snapshotTime to 1, will change the time displayed on the PNG images for each grid from the valid time of the grid, to the snapshot time.  You can use the legend formats to control how the time is formatted.  The snapshot time option is normally used with the Png_interval and Png_intervalOffset options.  Those options create images on a regular basis and thus are good candidates for displaying the time of the image, rather than the valid time of the grid.
 

Png_snapshotTime = 1
 

Png File Type

Defines the type of files that ifpIMAGE will produce. The default is png.  But you may also choose from the following list.  Note that these are case sensitive and only png, svg, and gif have been really tested. [ 'png', 'pnm', 'gif', 'svg', 'ai', 'ps', 'cgm', 'fig', 'pcl', 'hpgl', 'regis','tek', 'meta' ]

Png_fileType = 'png'

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