Slide 1 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Update on Metview and MAGICS/Magics++ Stephan Siemen Graphics Section ECMWF

Slide 2 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Overview MAGICS Magics++ Metview

Slide 3 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June MAGICS 6 The maintenance of the current operational MAGICS has continued The changes for the switch to the new extended ECMWF VarEPS were successful The latest internal Test Version is 6.12 The current available Export Version is Released Support for gfortran added Tested platforms - Linux: SuSE 9.1- IBM: AIX SGI: IRIX 6.5- HP: HP-UX B Alpha: OSF1 V5.1- Sun: SunOS 5.7

Slide 4 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Magics++ Export version to Member states has been released The current available export version is Released The latest internal test version is Tested platforms -Linux: SuSE 9.1 / 10.x (32 and 64 bit) -IBM: AIX 5.3 -Tested compilers: g++, icpc, xlC (gfortran, pgf90, ifort, xlf90) -We are collecting feedback from Member States which platforms (operating system / distributions + compilers) they use to get a better overview

Slide 5 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Magics++

Slide 6 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Magics++ - Grib 2 Used in monitoring TIGGE’s Grib 2 data using MagML

Slide 7 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Magics++ Metgrams Used to produce the new 15 day VarEPS metgram Thanks to MagML it is easy to adopt metgrams to new requirements

Slide 8 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Magics++ - new features Boxplots available for users through easy interface Maps with more than 360° in Longitude with wrap- around display of data Different resolutions of coastlines MapGen data files allow users to add own borders and rivers User logo

Slide 9 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Magics++ - MagML XML based format to describe Magics++ plots Descriptive, not procedural No need for (re-)compilation magml interpreter program processes a MagML file and produces output graphics Interpreter can be easily called in user code Description close to Metview’s icon convention Can be integrated into more complex XML request descriptions

Slide 10 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Magics++ - MagML usage MagML is very popular with individual users at ECMWF Main aim is the large scale automatic production of plots MagML enables easy use of new features of Magics++ to make it more attractive for producing web output -Generating meta information to support scripting of web output -Transparency support in improved drivers -Layers -New formats: SVG, GIF, PDF Used in this way in the Services-On-Demand project at ECMWF Ideal as backend for web interfaces with constant layout and visual properties but changing data

Slide 11 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June <text font='Times-Roman' colour='rgb(0.1,0.6,0.2)' bottom="90%" display="inline" >Z500 Contour Plot MagML - example - the code Variables can be passed to interpreter

Slide 12 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June MagML - example - the output

Slide 13 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Magics++ - plans Support for satellite data New MagML syntax – taking into account all the feedback we received Support for observations Extensions to Metgrams, such as display of wind direction and climate Improve support for NetCDF (3D data sets)

Slide 14 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Metview ECMWF's meteorological data visualisation and processing tool Complete working environment for the operational and research meteorologist GRIB BUFR Matrix other MAGICS output PostScript PNG, JPEG Macro Metview Visualisation Processing InteractiveBatch script routine production Mars

Slide 15 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Metview Principles First Metview Principle: “Everything in Metview is an Icon” Second Metview Principle: “Every Metview Task is a sequence of actions on icons”

Slide 16 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Metview user interface Edit to open Desktop Click-Right for Desktop Menu Main Desktop Opened Desktop Icon Drawers Menu Bar Desktop Menu

Slide 17 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Metview Icon Editors (1) Graphical editor (Display Window) Standard editor (MARS Retrieval) Family editor (Simple Formula) Text editor (Macro)

Slide 18 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Icon Id (click to see contents in plain text format) Input area Input element: Check Button Templates Drawer: Stores predefined (frequently used) icons Save/Exit area Help Button (linked to HTML Help Pages) Input element: Icon Field Input element: Option Menu Input element: Alphanumeric Field Metview Icon Editors (2)

Slide 19 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Metview - Display Window Menu Bar Frame Menu (Click-Right) Content Tab Controls Tab Command Buttons (‘Tool Tip Help’ when pointing to) Plot Size Control Generate Macro

Slide 20 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Metview UI – user feedback Easy to learn and use Users like small menus Icon concept reflects meteorological content Icons and Macro objects are the same – future Macros can be easily prototyped in the GUI Default behaviour can be easily adjusted, and templates of icons exchanged between Metview users … still long list of improvements: -Macro editor needs improving -More features to process satellite data -Eventually replace Motif

Slide 21 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Metview – developments (1) There is a continuing routine effort to incorporate new facilities into Metview. These constant improvements include -New requirements, such as enhancements for BUFR Edition 4 -'Percentile' application (EPS) -'Height' and 'Expand' applications were added into Hovmöller Family -Satellite Image re-projection application -EPS-metgram, 15 Days EPS metgram, and Classic Metgram now use Magics++ -Enhanced Macro memory usage

Slide 22 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Metview - Percentile

Slide 23 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Metview - Hovmöller Diagram

Slide 24 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Metview – developments (2) New features were added into Metview to meet user requirements, including several Metview Macro functions: -remove_duplicates, var_a, stdev_a, covar_a, corr_a, search, tmpfile, frequencies, integer, unipressure, unithickness Add macro functions for code timing New compilers, such as GCC 4 and gfortran, were tested Routine efforts also include training courses, software maintenance and support for both internal and external Metview users

Slide 25 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Metview Macro – inline Fortran & C

Slide 26 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Metview - releases The latest internal Metview version is which is based on Magics 6.12 and Emoslib cycle Metview 3.9-export, released , supports the extended VarEPS Tested platforms - Linux: SuSE 9.1- IBM: AIX 5.1 / SGI: IRIX 6.5- HP: HP-UX B Sun: SunOS 5.7

Slide 27 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Metview - plans Tests have been started to use the grib_api within Metview to handle Grib 2 data. This will be part of the next export version A general purpose Macro library A new visualisation module to take advantage of all the benefits provided by Magics++ The first prototype using Magics++ aims to execute current operational Metview Macros

Slide 28 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Magics++ Future Benefits for Metview Magics++ and Metview will both use C++ More input and output formats Improvements in user interactivity, such as legend/text handling The ability to dynamically toggle certain graphical objects, such as contour labels and maxima/minima Querying the properties of graphical objects displayed on screen Generate MagML for service-on-demand (web)

Slide 29 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June th Workshop on Meteorological Operational Systems 12 th – 16 th November 2007 at ECMWF, Reading, UK Speakers are invited to report on “new trends in meteorological visualisation applications” More information at

Slide 30 18th EGOWS, Dublin, June Summary Metview -Metview 3.9 export version -Next export version 3.10 planned for 4Q2007 MAGICS -MAGICS 6.11 export version Magics++ -Magics export version -Next Export version planned 3Q2007 For more information and to keep up-to-date with developments, please visit our webpage or subscribe to our RSS at