Slide 1 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June Metview 4 & Magics++: Answering new challenges of increasing volumes of data Stephan Siemen & Fernando Ii Graphics Section ECMWF

Slide 2 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June Overview Magics++ Metview OGC Terralib

Slide 3 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June Magics++ Further export versions have been released We received very active feedback from external users - as a result, the next release (2.8) will include many new features requested by external users The current available export version is Platforms -Linux (32 and 64 bit) (at ECMWF we tested OpenSuSE 10.3, 11.1 & SLES 9) -IBM: AIX 5.3 -We know of Ubuntu, Fedora, Mac, FreeBSD and HP-UX users -We appreciate feedback from Member States on which platforms (operating system / distributions + compilers) they use

Slide 4 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June Magics++ overview

Slide 5 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June Magics++ - ready for the web It is a new software: can handle web requirements -Produces wide range of web formats: PNG, PDF, SVG, KML -Generates metadata info regarding the data displayed and legend -Generates simple Javascript codes to enable map navigation An XML based interface: MagML -The XML convention makes it easy to use in a web context -A MagML interpreter can be easily embedded in a complex web project allowing the generation of plot on demand -The MagML syntax is similar to the Metview icons convention

Slide 6 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June Web developments

Slide 7 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June Magics++ - our programming experience Autotools (configure) based installation enables easier spread of Magics++ -Users are more confident to update -Debian and Fedora community have or plan to package Magics++ C++ proved again to be a good choice -Already used in Metview for 15 years -Fast, clear structured object-oriented code -Only issue: compiler support Backwards compatibility -Important in an operational environment -Can limit new developments

Slide 8 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June Magics++ - KML/KMZ output Generates OGC compliant KML 2.2 Very different to other 2D outputs Generates time series Able to write different layers

Slide 9 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June Metview Main developments focus on Metview 4 However we plan a ‘service release’ of Metview 3.11: -New compilers tested (PGI 8 and GCC 4.3) including more up-to- date optimisation options -Ready for the future high-resolution (T1279) upgrade -Add modules to handle ODB’s (previously only available in internal releases) -Add more functionality for handling Geopoints -Number of small fixes

Slide 10 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June Metview in the age of web services Now that there is the ability of powerful web services, where does a meteorological workstation, such as Metview, come in? The increasing amount of data to be processed does still need processing speed best achieved by an optimized software While maps allow visualisation on the web a workstation can give more tools to analyse and work with data itself The tool, once installed, is always available and independent of network and other services

Slide 11 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June Metview 4 - new development choices Replace MAGICS with Magics++ -Enables 64 bit version (even hybrid is possible in Metview 3) -Offers all features of Magics++ Replacement of Motif with Qt Continue to use OpenGL API -Efficient -Well established Use autotools for installation Offer tools for: -post-processing & visualisation of model analysis and forecasts -observation monitoring -development of web products -logging & debugging for operations (SMS) -model verification

Slide 12 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June Replacement of Motif with Qt The use of Motif became too restrictive for new developments, such as dynamic dialogues Qt offers a wide range of standard dialogues, such as for printing and choosing colour Better documentation, training and more examples than other toolkits we looked at (Gtk) Has a big commercial company, Nokia, as backer Thanks to the new license model, LGPL 2.1, it is now available for commercial and free software We plan a step-by-step replacement, starting with the visualisation window and data examiner tools

Slide 13 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June Metview 4 – plans (1) A new visualisation module to take advantage of all the benefits provided by Magics++ More functionality to handle NetCDFs More facilities to handle satellite data MagML integration OGC service client (and server?) Full 64 bit memory support Better installation tools (Autotools)

Slide 14 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June Metview 4 – plans (2) Macro language -Powerful meteorologically oriented language -automatic generation, drag&drop icons - Interfaces with user’s Fortran/C/C++ programs -Simple script language + modern computer language: a = retrieve( param:’T’, date:-1 ) #fieldset with several levels b = read( “/home/observ.gpt” ) #geopoints data c = (a – ) – b plot( c ) -Improvements:  Multiple outputs  New enhanced editor  New data manipulation functions

Slide 15 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June MV4 - improved magnification Option to show values in magnification

Slide 16 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June MV4 - zoom stack

Slide 17 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June MV4 - improved data examiners & validators

Slide 18 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June MV4 - improved Macro & MagML Editor

Slide 19 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June Handling observation data (1) Added new modules to handle ODB data The ODB examiner allows the fast analysis of the metadata contents of an ODB -Data structure is shown graphically

Slide 20 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June Handling observation data (2) New tool GeoTool and symbol plotting facilities -allow more options to plot and analyse point data -improve the handling & plotting of large amounts of data coming from satellites (stored in ODBs)

Slide 21 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June Terralib library: our link to GIS Library to build geographical applications -Developed by our partner INPE/CPTEC (Brazil) -Open Source Policy (LGPL) Terralib is integrated into Metview 4/Magics++ -Access to a diverse set of GIS data and algorithms -Support geographical projections and interpolation routines Continuous work to take more advantage of Terralib’s ability to handle GIS data -Handling of spatio-temporal data types (e.g. Shape file) -Communication with GIS systems and spatial databases -Handling large image data sets (high-res satellite data)

Slide 22 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June OGC standards and web services ECMWF is committed to investigating the use of OGC standards and (web) services We hosted jointly with Met Office and Météo France a Workshop in Nov 2008 ECMWF wants to take an active role in the OGC Meteorology DWG First practical work concentrates on WMS & KML -Magics++ as server to deliver maps in PNG & SVG -Metview 4 as client to enable users to integrate maps from other providers -Support KML/KMZ as output format Work after this will aim at catalogue and feature services

Slide 23 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June Challenges of OGC standards Any implementations need to be tested with external partners to ensure interoperability Definition and use of Projection needs to be assessed -E.g. definition of polar stereographic projections How should WMS served maps be updated? -On request, once or periodically

Slide 24 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June OGC: WMS client in Metview 4 (1)

Slide 25 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June OGC: WMS client in Metview 4 (2)

Slide 26 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June OGC: WMS test with Météo France

Slide 27 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June th Workshop on Meteorological Operational Systems 2 nd – 6 th November 2009 at ECMWF, Reading, UK Speakers are invited to report on “new trends in meteorological visualisation applications” More information at

Slide 28 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June st Meeting of the European Working Group on Operational meteorological Workstations (EGOWS) We are looking forward to hosting the next EGOWS at ECMWF! June 2010 at ECMWF, Reading, UK We will provide more information (web + s) nearer the time

Slide 29 20th EGOWS, De Bilt, June Summary MAGICS -MAGICS 6.11 export version - no further releases Magics++ -Magics export version -Next Export version planned early Summer 2009 Metview -Metview 3.11 export version -Next ‘service’ export version 3.11.x planned for June Metview 4 internal release 4Q 2009 For more information and to keep up-to-date with developments, please visit our webpage or subscribe to our RSS at