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ContentCreationGuidelinesUpdatedforSOS5.1.0+(08/2016)

NewdatasetsarealwayswelcomeforScienceOnaSphere®!Hereareafewsimpleguidelinestoassistinthecreationofcontent.TheSOSteamhassignificantexperiencewithtechnicalandaestheticissueswhencreatingcontentforsphericaldisplaysystems,andishappytoprovidefeedbackandsuggestionsduringproductiontoensurequalitycontent.

Part1coversusefulinformationforcreatingcontentPart2outlinesthestepsforaddinganewdatasettotheSOScatalog

Part1–CreatingNewContent

DataFormatTherearetwobasictypesofdatasetsforSOS:

Texture-SingleImageCanbedisplayedonthesphereandanimated,asinaplanetaryrotation.AnexampleofthisisaglobalimageoftheEarth'stopographyandbathymetry.It’sastaticimagethatcanbemanipulatedandrotatedinrealtimefromtheuserinterfaceorremotecontrolTimeSeries-ImageSequenceorMPEG4Animatesthroughtime.Anexampleofthiswouldbealoopofsatellitedata.Foranimagesequence,SOSwilldisplaytheimagesinsequenceandplaythemlikeamovieacrosstheentirespheresurface.Imagesequencescanbeofanyarbitrarylength,limitedmainlybydiskspaceandcanbeanimatedatframeratesupto30framespersecond(fps).MPEG4'sallowforhigherresolutionandfasterframeratesthanimagesequences.Transitions,specialeffects,andothercomputergraphicstechniquescanbeaddedtoasequencethroughtheuseofofftheshelfsoftwarelikeFinalCutPro.

MapProjection–EquatorialCylindricalEquidistantProjectionThisisasimplelatitude/longitudegridwiththelinesevenlyspacedwheretheimageistwiceaswideasitistall.TobeconsistentwiththeSOSDataCatalog,itisrecommendedthatthe0°linegothroughthemiddleofthemap,withthe+/-180°linesattheedges.

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ImageFormat–JPEGorPNGforsingleimagesandimagesequencesSOSwillacceptmostcommonformats(JPEG,PNG,GIF,TIFF,etc.),butJPEGandPNGarepreferred.VideoFormat–MPEG4RenderthevideowiththeMPEG4videocodecataminimumof25mbps.Justbecauseafilehasa.mp4extensiondoesnotmeanitwillplayperfectlyonSOS.Besuretocheckthecodecthatwasusedtorenderthefile.TheH.264codecshouldnotbeusedbecauseitcancauseerrorsintheSOSsoftware.AlternativeFormat–KMLThesoftwarealsohastheabilitytodisplayKML(KeyholeMarkupLanguage)filesonScienceOnaSphere.KMLisapopularspecificationandactivelyusedwithGoogleEarthfordisplayingdataonasphere.TheinitialSOSKMLcapabilitysupportsalimitedsetoftheentirespecification,whichincludesmanyofthecommonlyusedKMLfeaturesyouwouldtypicallydisplayinGoogleEarth.AnSOSplaylistcanreferencebothKMLandthecompressedKMZformatsusingthelayerdatakeyword.AlternativeFormat–WMSSOShasanexperimentalcapabilitytospecifyandloadimagesdirectlyfromanOpenGeoSpatialConsortium(OGC)WebMappingService(WMS).ThisfeaturerequiresaninternetconnectionandwillnotworkunlesstheSOSsystemhasaccesstotheinternetandthereferencedWMSServer.AWMSprovidesaserviceallowinguserstorequestdatathroughURLsusingspecifickeyvaluepairsdefiningtermssuchasthewidth,height,imagetype,etc.AuniquefeatureoftheWMSstandardallowsuserstorequestsubsetsofimagerybydefiningaboundingboxusingalowerleftandupperrightlatitudeandlongitudecoordinates.Thecombinationofthesefeaturesallowsuserstohostverylargehighresolutionimageryanduserscanrequestsmallerversionsorsubsetsoftheoriginalimagery.SOStakesadvantageofthisfunctionalitythroughthemagnifyingglass,allowinguserstoseemoredetailasyouincreasethezoomlevelonthesphere.AtutorialspecificallyforusingWMSwithSOScanbefoundhere:http://sos.noaa.gov/Docs/WMS-tutorial.pdf.AudioFormat–MP3,MPEG4,WAV,OGG,AIF…TheaudioplayerforSOSisfairlyversatileandmostcommonformatswillworkwithSOS.TheaudiofilecaneitherbeastandalonefileorembeddedinthesameMPEG4fileasthevideo.Resolution–2048x1024foranimations,4096x2048fortexturesThosearetherecommendedresolutions,thoughother2x1resolutions,suchas3000x1500willwork.Higherresolutionsarepossiblefortheanimations,butnotallSOSsystemsintheSOSUsersCollaborativeNetworkareabletoanimateat30framespersecondforhigherresolutions.Makesuretorenderthevideoswithsquare(1:1)pixelsforproperplayback.Ifpossible,thehighestresolutionoftheanimationthatisgeneratedshouldalsobeprovided,inadditiontothe2048x1024file,sothatitisavailableinthefutureasthecomputers,softwareandprojectorsimprove.Ifanimagesequenceisprovided,itwillberenderedintoaMPEG4file

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thatis2048x1024unlessthereisaspecificreasontokeeptheanimationasanimagesequence.Forsingleimages,resolutionsabove4096x2048arepossible,thoughloadtimeincreaseswithresolutionsize.Asofrelease5.0,theSOSsoftwareiscapableofrunninghigherresolution4Kprojectors.Ifyouwishtocreatehigherresolutionimagesandmoviestotakeadvantageofthehigherresolutionqualityof4Kprojection,thesame2:1ratiorulesapply.Movieswith4096x2048resolutionwillworkonsuchsystems,althoughdecreasedfpsratesmaybenecessaryandtheloadtimewillbelonger.Singleimagesof8192x4096willdisplaywellon4Kprojectorsandimagesaslargeas16384x8192shouldstillwork,althoughresolutionsabove8192x4096willresultinonlyslightlyincreasedquality.Werecommendthatyoutestanyhighresolutionimagesandmoviesyoucreateonafull4Kprojectorsystemtoensuretheywilldisplayasyouexpect.ContentConsiderationsFileNames–BasedonResolution,TimeStamp,andContentSingleimagesaretypicallynamedfortheirresolution,suchas4096.jpg.Imagesequencesarekeptinfoldersthatarenamedfortheirresolution,andtheimagesthemselvesshouldbenamedtosortinascendingorderfromearliesttolatest.Thiscaneitherbedonewithatimestampinthefilename,oraframenumberinthefilenamewithasufficientnumberofleadingzerosinensurepropersorting,shownintheexamplebelow.Videosshouldbenamedbasedoncontentandresolution,suchashurricanes_2048.mp4.Byincludingtheresolutioninthefilenames,SOSusersareabletoeasilydeterminewhatisavailableandappropriatefortheirsystem.LinuxandtheSOSsoftwaredonothandlespacesandspecialcharactersinfilenameswell.Donotusespacesandspecialcharactersinfilenames!

NamedbydateNamedbyframecount

Thedatashouldtakeupthewholeimage,withnobordersorextraspacearoundtheedges.Evenapixelborderwillshowupasaseam!Inmostcases,asimple1%stretchinthehorizontalwillfixtheproblem.Thedatashouldmatchupattheedgesoftheimage.Ifitdoesn’t,aseamwillappearwherethemismatchhappensanditwon’tlookseamlessonthesphere.Examplesofseamsproblemsareshownbelow.Inadditiontomakingsurethatthedatafillstheentireframe,from180°Westto180°East,alsomakesurethatthedatafillstheentireframefrom90°Southto90°North.Ifthereismissingdataatthepoles,fillintheareawithasolidcolororabasicland/oceanbackgroundtoensurethatthedatasetwrapsproperlyaroundthespherewithoutstretchingvertically.

snow_ice_2048_20110730.png snow_ice_2048_20110731.png snow_ice_2048_20110801.png snow_ice_2048_20110802.png snow_ice_2048_20110803.png snow_ice_2048_20110804.png snow_ice_2048_20110805.png snow_ice_2048_20110806.png

sos_jpl_4096.0001.jpg sos_jpl_4096.0002.jpg sos_jpl_4096.0003.jpg sos_jpl_4096.0004.jpg sos_jpl_4096.0005.jpg sos_jpl_4096.0006.jpg sos_jpl_4096.0007.jpg sos_jpl_4096.0008.jpg

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ExamplesofSeams–Aproblemtobeavoided

Labels–IdentifyingthedatasetLabelsandlegendsareimportant.Foreverydatasetthatneedsatimestamp,afilecalledlabels.txtshouldbegeneratedthatcontainsonelineforeachframeintheanimation.Alabels.txtfilecannotbeusedwithasingleimage.Typicallythelabelsincludethedate,butcancontainanydesiredinformation,asseenbelow.

Labelsshouldnotbe“burnedin”theimagesthemselvesduetowarping.Also,whenlabelsare“burnedin”theycanberotatedoutofviewandtiltedatoddangleswhenapresenterisinteractingwiththesphere.Thepositionofthelabelsthatappearfromthelabels.txtfileremainsstationaryasthesphereisrotated.Whilethepositionandcolorofthelabelscanbeadjustedintheplaylist.sosfile,thefontandsizecannotbeadjusted.Inadditiontousingthelabels.txtfile,thereareotherwaysoflabelingthecontentthatisonthesphere.Colorbarsandlegendscanbeaddedusingthepicture-in-a-picturefeature.Aswiththetimestamps,donot“burnin”colorbarsandlegends.Makesuretotestthesizeandfontsofcolorbarsandlegendsonthespheretoensurelegibility.Itseemsthatmostcolorbarsandlegendsaretoosmallandhavetobeincreasedinsizewhenactuallydisplayedonthesphere.Alsomakesuretotestthesizetoensurethatthecolorbarsaren’tsolargethattheyhindertheaudiencefromseeingtheunderlyingdataset.

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SSEC 08/31/2005 Katrina SSEC 08/31/2005 Katrina SSEC 08/31/2005 Katrina SSEC 08/31/2005 Katrina SSEC 08/31/2005 Maria Katrina SSEC 09/01/2005 Maria SSEC 09/01/2005 Maria SSEC 09/01/2005 Maria SSEC 09/01/2005 Maria SSEC 09/01/2005 Maria SSEC 09/01/2005 Maria SSEC 09/01/2005 Maria

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Thepurposeofaddinglabelstothesphereistoaidthevisitorinunderstandingthedataset.Considerusingpictographsforscalesbecausetheyhavebeenfoundtobeintuitiveandbeneficialforvisitorunderstanding.Also,usingcountryorcitylabelscanhelpvisitorsorientthemselvesinaglobalcontext.Anothersuggestionistouseverticaltemperaturecolorbarsbecausethatishowmostvisitorsareaccustomedtoreadingthermometers.Size,orientationandplacementofcolorbarsandlegendsareimportantforimprovingthevisitor’sunderstandingofthedataset.Picture-in-a-Picture–EnhancingthedatasetAPicture-in-a-Picture,orPIP,canbeusedtoenhanceanexistingdatasetorprovidesupplementarydocumentation.Logos,images,colorbarsandlegendsareaddedasPIPs.Whenusedforacolorbar,aPIPcanhelplabeladataset,asseenatright.Aswiththelabels,itisnotrecommendedto“burnin”thePIPs.Leaveitasanadditionalimagefilethatcanbeaddedintheplaylist.sosfile.ThisgivestheusercompletecontroloverthepositionandsizeofthePIP.Ingeneral,nothingshouldbe“burnedin”totheframesforadatasetbecausePIPsprovideabetterwayoflabelingthedataset.APIPcanalsobeusedtoprovideaclose-upviewofaregionorgivethevieweradditionalcontextforwhattheyareseeing.Intheexampleatright,theunderlyingdatasetshowsthetracksofelephantsealsinred,andthePIPisapictureofactualelephantseals.MultiplePIPscanbeshownatthesametime,orstaggeredtocreateaslideshoweffect.MakesuretoconsidertheplacementofthePIPinordertonotblockinformationintheunderlyingdataset,especiallyifthePIPisdisplayedforanextendedperiodoftime.ByusingPIPsthatarePNG’swithatransparentbackground,manydifferentshapescanbeprojectedonthespherewiththeunderlyingdatasetasabackground.PIPscanbesettodisplayinspecificlocationsonthesphereasmarkers,asseenatright.HereeachpushpinisaPIPthatidentifiesthelocationofaSOSinstallation.

StandardPIPsshouldn’tbeanylargerthan1024x1024inresolutionsize.However,PIPsthataresettowraparoundtheentirespherecanbeupto4096x2048.BeawarethatoverlappingandwarpingcanoccurifthedisplaysizeofaPIPissettoolarge.Makesuretotesteachdatasetbeforedistributingittoothersites,checkingthePIPsize,placementandtiming.Thedisplaysizecanbeadjustedusingpipheightandpipwidth.PIPscanalsobeMPEG4filesorimagesequences.APIPcanalsobesettobeaSharedPIP,whichmeansthePIPwillremainactiveacrossmultipledatasetsinapresentationplaylist.Inaddition,areal-timevideofeedcanbeplayedinaPIP.ThisfeaturemaybeusefulforsitesreceivingSphereCasts,where,insteadofneedingaseparate

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displayintheSOSroomtoshowvideoofthehostsite’spresenter,thevideocanbeshowndirectlyontothesphere.Thisfeaturemayalsobeusefulifasitewantstoshowareal-timevideofeedofaremotepresenterontotheirsphereforaparticularin-housepresentation.

FulldocumentationofthePIPoptionscanbefoundinthePlaylistFormat:http://sos.noaa.gov/Docs/Playlist.html.AnnotationandIcons–InteractivelylabelingdatasetsTheSOSRemoteapp,throughtheannotationfeature,givespresenterstheabilitytodrawonthesphereandplaceiconsonthesphere.ThereisasetofdefaulticonsthatcomewiththeSOSRemoteapp.Inaddition,siteshavetheabilitytocreatecustomicons.Ifyouwouldliketocreateyourownicons,useatransparentPNGwithaminimumresolutionof256x256.Totherightisanexampleofoneofthedefaulticons.Customiconscaneitherbespecifiedforspecificdatasets,ormadeavailableinthedefaulticonlibrary.Layers–AddingflexibilitytothedatasetThelayeringcapabilityinSOSallowspresenterstodynamicallyturnlayersonandoff.Amulti-layerdisplaycanbecreatedeitherstaticallyinthedatasetdefinition,orinteractivelyusingSOSRemote.ByusingthenewLayerstabinSOSRemote,theusercantoggleindividuallayersonandoff,adjusttheleveloftransparencyofeachlayer,ordeletealayer.AnylabelsorPIPsassociatedwithacliparenowautomaticallyplacedindedicatedlayersnamedLabelsandPIPs.Thesecanbeinteractivelymanipulatedlikeanyotherlayer.Thereisanoverlaysdirectorythatincludescommonlyusedlayers,suchascountryborders.Belowisanexampleofadjustingthetransparencybetweentwolayereddatasets.

Warping–SomethingtobeawareofWhenworkingwithasphericalsurface,warpingisalwayssomethingtoconsider.Theleastamountofwarpingoccursneartheequator,whilethemostwarpingoccursatthepoles.Becauseofthis,itisrecommendedthatanytextandlabelsareplacedneartheequator.Supplementarytext,labelsandimagesthataredisplayedasPIPsdon’twarpiftheirpositionissetwiththepipcoordskeywordintheplaylist.DatasetscanbetestedforwarpingissuesusingCCSphereinAdobeAfterEffectsor3DSphereinPhotoshop.TherearesomepluginsforAfter

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EffectssuchasCycoreEffect’sSphereUtilitiesthatcanalsohelpwithsphericalwarping.Inaddition,theseprogramscanbeusedtocheckforseams.

ColorSuggestions Acolorscalecandramaticallychangetheemphasisandmessageofadataset.Becauseofthis,theScienceOnaSphereUsersCollaborativeNetworkhashadmanydiscussionsonthecolorscalesthatareusedforSOSdatasets.Thegoalistocreatedatasetswithwell-chosencolorscalesthataremeaningful,intuitive,andscientificallyaccurate.Severalconclusionsaretheresultofthesediscussions:

1. Itcanbeconfusingtouserswhenthesamecolorschemeandtheirassociatedcolorbarsareusedfortwocompletelyunrelateddatasets.

2. Thesamecolorshouldnotbeusedtorepresentmorethanonething.i.e.ificeisshadedwhite,thenwhiteshouldnotalsobeusedforareasofmissingdata.

3. Usingrainbow-coloredlegendsandcolorschemesisoftenconfusingtotheaudienceandhardtoparse.Instead,considerusingshadesofgreentorepresentphytoplankton,andblueandredgradationstorepresenttemperatureanomalies.i.e.use“meaningful”colors

4. Avoidusingfullspherebackgroundsthatarecompletelyorpre-dominantlywhite.Theseamsbetweenprojectorsbecomemoreapparentwhenusingsolidwhite/brightbackgrounds.Ifusingbrightbackgroundcolors,consideraddingsomenoise/texturetothem.SamegoesforPIPs,especiallythosedisplayedattheseamsbetweenprojectors.

ToolsUsed–TocreateScienceOnaSphere®visualizations

• BecauseScienceOnaSphere®usesbasicimageformatslikeJPEG,andPNGasitsmaininputformat,therearemanytoolsavailableforcreatingSOSdatasets.CommonexamplesarePhotoshop®,ImageMagick®,GIMP,etc.

• TheSOSsystemcomeswithascriptcalled“convert2mpeg4”toconvertanimagesequencetoanMPEG4

• ForcreatingMPEG4fileswithtransitions,specialeffectsandnarration,programssuchasFinalCutPro®andAdobeAfterEffects®areuseful.

• ToolslikeIDL,AWIPS,McIDAS,andotherimageanalysisapplicationsaretypicallyusedtocreateimageryfromscientificdatasets.Graphicsdesignerscanusea3Dmodelingapplications,like3DStudio®,tocreateadvancedvisualizations.

• GISprogramssuchasArcGISorQuantumGIScanbeusedtocreatemaps.AtutorialforcreatingSOSdatasetswithQuantumGISisavailablehere:http://sos.noaa.gov/Docs/qgis_tutorial.pdf.

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Part2–AddingaDataset

ContentMaterialsEverydatasetthatisaddedbytheusertotheSOSDataCatalogshouldbeinitsownindividualfolderinthedirectory/shared/sos/media/site-custom.AlldatasetsprovidedbyNOAAwillbeinthedirectoriesorganizedbycategory.Donotputyoursite-createdcontentintothefolderscreatedbyNOAA.Complimentaryorsimilardatasetscanbegroupedtogetherinafolderthatcontainsindividualfoldersforeachdataset.Eachfolder,atveryminimumshouldcontainaplaylist.sosfileandeitheranimage,imagesequenceorvideo.Inadditiontothoserequiredpieces,folderscanalsocontain:

• Image,ImageSequenceorVideo–required• Playlist.sosfile–required• Labelsandcolorbars• Audiofile• Picture-in-a-Pictureimages,imagesequences,and/orvideos• Scriptsorsupplementarymaterials• Mediafolderwiththumbnailsandvideos(typicallycreatedbytheSOSteam)

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IntheaboveexampleofaNOAAprovideddataset,therearethreedatasetsthatarerelatedandallfromthesamesource.Tokeepthemtogether,afolderwascreatedintheatmospherecategorycalledaerosol.Intheaerosolfolder,eachdatasetwasgivenitsownfolder:sulfate,blackcarbon,andblackcarbon_and_sulfate.Noticethattherearenospacesinthenames!Ineachoftheindividualdatasetfoldersthereisanimagesequencenamedfortheresolutionoftheframes,aMPEG4video,amediafolderwiththumbnails,acolorbar,labels,andaplaylist.sos.

Playlist.sosFileEverydatasetfoldermustcontainataminimumafilethatisnamed“playlist.sos”.Playlist.sosfilescanbegeneratedusingatexteditor,suchasNotepadorgedit.Therecanbemultipleplaylist.sosfilesinthesamefolder,suchasplaylist.sosandplaylist_audio.sos,aslongastheyreferencethesamedataset.Whenworkingwithmultipledatasets,theyshouldeachbeintheirownfolderwiththeirownplaylist.sosfile,asshownintheaerosolexample.Noplaylist.sosfileshouldpointtomultipledatasets.Inthisblue_marbleexample,therearetwoplaylist.sosfilesinthefolderfortheblue_marble

dataset,playlist.sosandplaylist_audio.sos.Bothplaylistspointtothesamedata,andtheonlydifferenceisthatoneincludesaudioandatimerandtheotherdoesn’t.Theplaylist.sosfilenamemuststartwithplaylistandendwith.sos,butanythingcanbeaddedbetween,suchas_audioor_with_PIPs.Noticethattheaudiofileshavebeenputintotheirownfolder.IftherearemultipleaudiofilesorPIPs,afoldercanbecreatedinthedatasetfolderthatcontainsthosefiles.Whilethisisn’trequired,ithelpstokeepthefolderuncluttered.Whenfilesthatarereferencedintheplaylist.sosaren’tinthesamedirectoryastheplaylist.sos,thepathtothefileneedstobeincluded.Takenoteintheplaylist_audio.sosfilehowtheaudiopointstoaudio/BlueMarble.mp3sincethemp3fileisn’tinthesamedirectoryastheplaylist.sos.Eitherrelativepaths(audio/BlueMarble.mp3)orfullpaths(/shared/sos/media/land/blue_marble/blue_marble/audio/BlueMarble.mp3)canbeusedintheplaylist.sosfiles.Becarefultoavoidtypos,asthedatasetwon’tworkifanythingiswrong!

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Therearemanyoptionalsettingsthatcanbeincludedintheplaylist.sosfile.Foradatasetaddedbyasiteintothesite-customfolder,atminimumtheplaylist.sosfileshouldcontainthefollowingelements:

name=MyCustomDatasetdata=4096.jpgcreator=MyMuseumsubcategory=landkeywords=land,Earth,MyMuseumdescription={{AdescriptionformydatasetthatwillappearontheiPad.Thedescriptionisallowedtospanmultiplelinesandmustusebeenclosedwiththebracescharacters.}}

Theplaylist.sosfileshouldbeformattedaccordingtothespecificationsfoundhere:http://sos.noaa.gov/Docs/Playlist.html.Inorderforanewdatasettoshowupinthesite-customlibraryonthelocalSOScomputer,makesuretoupdatethelibrarybyclicking“Library”>“UpdateLibrary…”intheSOSStreamGUI.Afteryouhaveupdatedthelibrary,youhavetoclickthe“UpdateNow”buttonintheSettingstaboftheiPadinorderforittoshowupontheiPad.ItwillnotappearontheiPadifitisnotstoredinthesite-customfolderonthecomputer.IntheDataCatalogtaboftheiPadyouwillbeabletofindthenewdatasetinthesubcategorythatyouassignedunderthesite-custommaincategory.Youcancreateasmanydifferentsubcategoriesasyoulikewithinsite-custom.Note:Inyoursite-customdatasetfolder,ifyouhaveadatasetplaylist.sosfileANDvariationdatasetplaylists,suchasplaylist_audio.sos,thesubcategorykeywordisignoredforvariationplaylists.Youmustincludethesubcategorykeywordintheplaylist.sosfileifyouwantthisdatasetanditsvariationstobedisplayedinaparticularSubCategoryoftheSite-CustomMajorCategoryontheiPad.Withoutthesubcategorykeywordintheplaylist.sosfile,thisdatasetandanyofitsvariationscontainedinitsfolderwillappearunderthe“Uncategorized”SubCategoryoftheSite-CustomMajorCategoryontheiPad.AcompletelistoftheNOAA-createdcategories,subcategoriesandkeywordscanbefoundhere:http://sos.noaa.gov/_downloads/docs/main-categories-subcategories-sos.pdf.IfyouwanttocontributedatasetstotheNOAAcatalog,youmustselectcategoriesandsubcategoriesfromthislist.Additionalkeywordscanbeaddedtothelistasnecessary.Asitecanalsoaddtheirowncustomthumbnailstoacustomdataset.Simplycreateafoldercalledmediaandputitinthesamefolderwherethedataset’splaylist.sosfileislocated.Themediafoldershouldcontaintwoimagesinthe.jpgformatwiththefollowingnamesandresolutions: thumbnail_small.jpg(128x128) thumbnail_big.jpg(800x800)

CustomOverlayDatasetsTheSOSDataCatalogincludesanumberofOverlaydatasets,suchasCityNames,CountryBordersandAtmosphericGeneralCirculation.Overlaysaredatasetswithtransparent

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backgroundsthatcontainforegrounddatausedtoaugmentotherSOSdatasets.Overlayscanhelpprovidecontextforyouraudienceandmakethedatasetseasiertounderstand,aswellasprovideinformationthatmaybeusefultoillustraterelatedglobalideas.Inversion5.1+oftheSOSRemoteApp,youcannowhaveyourcustomoverlaysappearintheOverlaysdialogoftheiPadappjustastheNOAA-managedoverlaysappearforeasy,dynamiclayering.Todothis:

1. Inyourplaylist.sosfile,addthefollowingkeyword-valuepair(thisisoptional;itallowsyouroverlaytoshowupintheoverlayscategoryinSOSStreamGUI’sLibrarymenu):category=overlays

2. Inyourplaylist.sosfile,addthefollowingkeyword-valuepair(thisiswhatmakesyouroverlayappearintheiPadapp’sOverlaysdialog):subcategory=Overlays

3. OntheSOScomputer’sSOSStreamGUIapplication,selecttheLibrarymenu>UpdateLibrarymenuoptiontoupdatetheDataCatalogwithyournewoverlaydataset.Oncethisiscomplete,ontheiPadapp’sSettingstab,selecttheUpdateNowbutton,andyouroverlaydatasetwillappearintheOverlaysdialogoftheiPad.

NotethatOverlaysmayalsobepre-programmedintoadataset’splaylist.sosfilebyusingthelayerkeywords.

WrittenMaterialInadditiontotheabovematerial,awrittendescriptionofthedataset,alistof“NotableFeatures,”andalistofcreditsarealsorequested.AllofthisdocumentationisusedtocreateanentryintheSOSDatasetCatalog,asseenatright.Thewrittendescriptionshouldbeasimpleoverviewofthedatasetthathighlightsthesourceofthedata,whetheritismodeledormeasured,whatitshows,andwhyit’simportant.Itshouldbeanon-technicaldescriptionthatiseasilyunderstood.The“NotableFeatures”isabulletedsummaryofthehighlightsfromthedescriptionthatpresenterscanusewhenshowingthedatasettoviewers.Thecreditsareusedtofillinthecolumnontheright-handside.Thecreditslistedare:

• DatasetSource• DatasetDeveloper• DatasetVisualizationDeveloper• Contact(optional)

Thesecanbethesameforeachlisting,oralldifferentandcanincludelinkstotheoriginalsources.Forexamples,visittheSOSDatasetCatalog:http://sos.noaa.gov/Datasets/index.html.

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PresentationPlaylistsTogroupmultipledatasetstogether,createaplaylist,suchashurricanes.sos,thatpointstoeachindividualplaylist.sosfilewiththefullpathincluded.Theseplaylistsaretobestoredin/home/sos/sosrcor/home/sosdemo/sosrc.Hereisanexampleplaylistthatgroupsmultipledatasetstogether:

Presentationplayliststhatgroupmultipledatasetstogethercanbenamedanythingaslongastheyendwith.sos.Playlistscaneitherbetypedbyhand,orcreatedusingthePlaylistEditorontheSOScomputer,thePlaylistBuilderonthewebsite,orthePlaylistBuilderontheiPad.InordertoseenewdatasetsinthePlaylistEditor,theupdatethelibraryintheSOSStreamGUI.

Anewfeaturefor4.3.0istheabilitytoaddpresenternotestoyourplaylists.PresenternotesareaccessedfromtheiPad’sSOSRemoteapp’sPresentationtab,andcanbeeditedeitherfromtheapp’sPlaylistBuildertab,ormanuallyusingatexteditor.Ifeditingaplaylistfilemanually,eachlinethatistobeapresenternoteshouldbeginwith“#>”.Presenternotelinesshouldgoattheverybottomofthepresentationplaylistasshownhere:include = /shared/sos/media/land/blue_marble/blue_marble/playlist.sos include = /shared/sos/media/astronomy/mars/original/playlist.sos #> Features to note about blue marble: #> - Shading done in true color: gives Earth's appearance from space #> #> Features to note about mars: #> - Olympus Mons: highest point in the solar system at 88,500 feet

MoreInformationonVisualizationConsiderationsThefollowingarticle,researchingthepublicunderstandingofsciencecontent,waswrittenbySOSUsersCollaborativeNetworkmembers:

Phipps,M.andRowe,S.(2010)SeeingsatellitedataPublicUnderstandingofScience.doi:10.1177/0963662508098684

include = /shared/sos/media/land/blue_marble/playlist.sos include = /shared/sos/media/atmosphere/carbon_tracker/playlist.sos include = /shared/sos/media/astronomy/mars/playlist.sos