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ContentCreationGuidelinesUpdatedforSOSx1.1(10/2016)

NewdatasetsarealwayswelcomeforSOSExplorer!Hereareafewsimpleguidelinestoassistinthecreationofcontent.TheSOSxteamhassignificantexperiencewithtechnicalandaestheticissueswhencreatingcontentforsphericaldisplaysystems,andishappytoprovidefeedbackandsuggestionsduringproductiontoensurequalitycontent.

Part1coversusefulinformationforcreatingcontentPart2addinganewdatasetusingTourBuilderPart3outlinestheflexibilityofcreatingatourusingTourBuilder

Part1–NewContentFormatsandConsiderations

A.DataFormatTherearethreebasictypesofdatasetsforSOSx:

Texture-SingleImageCanbedisplayedonthesphere.AnexampleofthisisaglobalimageoftheAgeoftheSeafloor.It’sastaticimagethatcanbemanipulatedandrotatedinrealtimefromtheuserinterfaceorremotecontrolTimeSeries-ImageSequenceAnimatesthroughtime.Anexampleofthiswouldbealoopofsatellitedata.Foranimagesequence,SOSxwilldisplaytheimagesinsequenceandplaythemlikeamovieacrosstheentirespheresurfaceatapre-determinedfps(framespersecond).Imagesequencescanbeofanyarbitrarylength,limitedmainlybydiskspaceandcanbeanimatedatframeratesupto60framespersecond.Video-MPEG4'ssavediskspacebutdonotshowtimeonSOSx.ThismeansthatwecannotdisplaythedateandtimefordatausinganMP4.WesuggestusingTimeSeriesfordatasetswheredateandtimeareneeded.Transitions,audio,specialeffects,andothercomputergraphicstechniquescanbeaddedtoasequencethroughtheuseofofftheshelfsoftwarelikeFinalCutPro.

MapProjection–Forcompleteglobedatasets:EquatorialCylindricalEquidistantProjectionàThisisasimplelatitude/longitudegridwiththelinesevenlyspacedwheretheimageistwiceaswideasitistall.TobeconsistentwiththeSOSDataCatalog,itisrecommendedthatthe0°

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linegothroughthemiddleofthemap,withthe+/-180°linesattheedges.Forpartialglobedatasets:Aboundingboxcanbesetfornorth,south,east,westtoshowonlyapartoftheworld.Thisworksbestifthedatais.pngformat,asthebluemarblebasemapwillshowupunderneath.ImageFormat–Forsingleimages-JPEG,PNG,orDDS.Forimagesequences–DDSonly.TheTourBuildersoftwareapplicationincludedinyourinstallationcanconverttoDDSforanimagedirectory.VideoFormat–MPEG4,OGV,WMVRenderthevideowiththeMPEG4videocodecataminimumof25mbps.AlternativeFormat–KML,KMZThesoftwarealsohastheabilitytodisplayKML(KeyholeMarkupLanguage)andthecompressedKMZfilesonSOSx.KMLisapopularspecificationandactivelyusedwithGoogleEarthfordisplayingdataonasphere.AudioFormat–MP3,MPEG4,WAV,OGG,AIF…Iftheaudiofileisstandaloneasanarrationforatour,youcanusetheaboveformats.Ifitisusedforamovie,itshouldbeembeddedinthesameMPEG4fileasthevideo.Resolution–4096x2048foranimations,8192x4096forsingleimages(textures).Thosearetherecommendedresolutions,thoughother2x1resolutions,suchas3000x1500willwork.Werecommendaminimumof2Kforanydataset.B.ImageConsiderationsThedatashouldtakeupthewholeimage,withnobordersorextraspacearoundtheedges.Evenapixelborderwillshowupasaseam!Inmostcases,asimple1%stretchinthehorizontalwillfixtheproblem.Thedatashouldmatchupattheedgesoftheimage.Ifitdoesn’t,aseamwillappearwherethemismatchhappensanditwon’tlookseamlessonthesphere.Examplesofseamsproblemsareshownbelow.Inadditiontomakingsurethatthedatafillstheentireframe,from180°Westto180°East,alsomakesurethatthedatafillstheentireframefrom90°Southto90°North.Ifthereismissingdataatthepoles,fillintheareawithasolidcolororabasicland/oceanbackgroundtoensurethatthedatasetwrapsproperlyaroundthespherewithoutstretchingvertically.ExamplesofSeams–Aproblemtobeavoided

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Layers–AddingflexibilitytothedatasetThelayeringcapabilityinSOSxallowspresenterstodynamicallyturnlayersonandoff.

ColorSuggestionsAcolorscalecandramaticallychangetheemphasisandmessageofadataset.Becauseofthis,theScienceOnaSphereUsersCollaborativeNetworkhashadmanydiscussionsonthecolorscalesthatareusedforSOSxdatasets.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.

C.PreparingYourContentFileNamesBasedonResolution,TimeStamp,andContent

• Singleimagesaretypicallynamedfortheirresolution,suchas4096.jpg.• Imagesequencesarekeptinfoldersthatarenamedfortheirresolution,andtheimages

themselvesshouldbenamedtosortinascendingorderfromearliesttolatest.Thiscaneitherbedonewithatimestampinthefilename,oraframenumberinthefilenamewithasufficientnumberofleadingzerostoensuretimecompatibility,shownintheexamplebelow.

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• Videosshouldbenamedbasedoncontentandresolution,suchashurricanes_2048.mp4.Donotusespacesandspecialcharactersinfilenames.

NamedbydateNamedbyframecount

EstablishingTime(forimagesequences)InorderforSOSxtodisplaytimeanddateforyourimagesequencedataset,youneedtobeabletoestablishaPeriod,Start&EndTimeandaFilenameMask.TheseareaddedintheTourBuilderwhenaddinganewdataset.PeriodcodingforSOSxcanbefound:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601Forexample:Ifyouhaveanimageforeveryday,youwouldenter:P1DIfyouhaveanimageforevery15minutes,youwouldenter:PT15MStart&EndTimeareenteredasyear,month,dayandhour.Forexample:Ifyourimagesrunforallof2015(andaredaily)youwouldenter:Starttime:2015-01-01T00:00:00EndTime:2015-12-31T00:00:00FilenameMaskallowsSOSxtounderstand,accordingtothePeriodandStartEndTime,whatischangingforeachimageinthesequence.Thechangingintegersaremarkedwithbrackets[].UsingtheexamplefromaboveNamedbydate,yourfilenamemaskwouldbe:Snow_ice_2048_[yyyyMMdd].png(Ifminutesareapplicabletheywouldbe“mm”andweeks“WW”).Seethiswebsiteforhelp:http://php.net/manual/en/function.date.php*UsingtheexamplefromaboveNamedframecount,yourfilenamemaskwouldbesos_jpl_4096.[####].jpg*Ifusingaframecount,youwouldalsoenterFileSequenceStartandFileSequenceIncrement.InNamedframecountexample:FileSequenceStartis1andFileSequenceIncrementis1.ColorbarsandLegends–EnhancingthedatasetColorbarsandlegendscan(andshould)beusedwhenapplicableastheyprovidecontextandunitsforthedata.Theseshouldbestandaloneimagefiles(.pngor.jpg)andnotburnedintotheglobalimages.500xpixelsisusuallyalargeenoughresolution.Neverburnimagesintothedataitselfaswarpingcanhappenwhenwrappingaroundasphere.

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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Part2–UsingTourBuildertoAddNewDatasets

Videotutorialsarealsoavailablehere:sos.noaa.gov/SOS_Explorer/documentation.htmlA.DatasetEditorWindow

• OpenTourBuilder• SelectMenuTools>DatasetEditor• Selectadirectoryforyournewdataset(itneedstoexistinlocal-datasetstoshowupin

SOSx)• Enteralloftheinformation“required”inthewindowshownbelow.• North/South/East/Westcanbeusedasaboundingboxforanimagethatisnotglobal.• DataLinkpointstoafile(imageorvideo)oradirectoryofimages.

Categories–BrowsingdropdownintheSearchWindowdisplaycategories.YoursystemcomeswithAir,Experiences,Extras,Land,Movies,People,SnowandIce,Space,Tours,Water.Addnewcategoriesasdesired.Addasmanycategoriesasisappropriateforyourdataset.

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TimeSequence–Foranimagesequence(directoryofimages),youmustenterthePeriod,FilenameMaskandforframecounts,alsoaddFileSequenceStartandIncrement.SeeabovePart1–C.PreparingyourContentformoreinformation.

AddingLayers–GivethelayeraTitle.DataLinkisthenameofthefile,i.e.map.jpg.ChooseFormat.Save.Youmayaddmanylayers.

EnablingProbing–Ifyourcolorbar.pngisalinear,continuousgradientandyourdataisfullcolorthanyoumaywanttoconsiderfillingouttheprobingtable.

Other-IfyourdatasetisnotEarthandisa“celestialbody”thencheckingthisboxdisablesgeographicoverlaysspecifictoEarth.KMLIconScaleFactorscalesthesizeoficons.KML

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OverrideIconallowsyoutobrowsetoa.pngfilethatwillbeusedforyourKMLplacemarks.

ToolsUsedtoCreateImagesfromData• BecauseSOSxusesbasicimageformatslikeJPEG,andPNGasitsmaininputformat,

therearemanytoolsavailableforcreatingdatasets.• CommonexamplesarePhotoshop®,ImageMagick®,GIMP,etc.• ForcreatingMPEG4fileswithtransitions,specialeffectsandnarration,programssuch

asFinalCutPro®andAdobeAfterEffects®areuseful.• ToolslikeIDL,AWIPS,McIDAS,andotherimageanalysisapplicationsaretypicallyused

tocreateimageryfromscientificdatasets.• Graphicsdesignerscanusea3Dmodelingapplications,like3DStudio®,tocreate

advancedvisualizations.• GISprogramssuchasArcGISorQuantumGIScanbeusedtocreatemaps.Atutorialfor

creatingSOSxdatasetswithQuantumGISisavailablehere:http://sos.noaa.gov/Docs/qgis_tutorial.pdf.

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

Part3–UsingTourBuildertoCreateTours

Videotutorialsarealsoavailablehere:sos.noaa.gov/SOS_Explorer/documentation.html

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Description: SOSxdatasetscanoftenbecomplex.Weinvented“Tours”inordertotellastorywithdatasetsandtohelpourusersmaketangible,understandableconnectionsbetweentheanimationsandtheirlives.Toursarescriptedpresentationsthatwalkauserthroughthedatasetsusingastorylineandalearninggoal.Theseoftenincludetext,guidingquestions,pop-upwebcontent,videos,pictures/diagrams,andclick-ableplacemarks.Forexample,see“BecomeaDataExpert”Tourscreenshotbelow.

UsingournewTourBuilder,youcannowbuildyourowntours!Oncebuilt,yourtourswillshowupinyoursearchwindow(ifdesired).AccessingTours:NOAAmanagedToursarelaunchedthreeways:

1. “HotButtons”thatshowuponthelowerrightcornerofthetouchscreenarelinkedtothetours.Whenclicked,hotbuttonslaunchrightintoatour.

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2. Toursareallnamed“Tour-WeatherLesson”(forexample)inorderforthemalltoshowupundertheletterTinthealphabeticalsearchwindow.

3. Toursaretagged“Tour”intheir

metadatafilesinordertoshowupintheTourdropdowncategorywhenbrowsing.*

*Tip:Wesuggestthatwhenyoumakeyourowntours,youfollowprotocol#2&3inordertofindyoursthesameway.

TourBuilderApplicationTourBuilderarrangestasksinatimeline.EachTourtaskisaddedtothemainTimelineandrunsinorder.ForalistofthepossibleTourTasksseetheTourBuilderTaskTable.sos.noaa.gov/SOS_Explorer/documentation.html