7.2. Data Viewer

INTERMAGNET provides software to work with the data from the DOIs, web downloads and from the INTERMAGNET Physical Media (IPM). This software can be installed from the Physical Media, or downloaded from https://intermagnet.org/software.html . The software is designed to be simple and easy to use. When the software starts for the first time on a new computer, a dialog is displayed describing how configure the software to find data. This same information, on how to find data, is available from the “Help” menu under “Help for New Users”.

The program has 3 main windows. The window that you see when the program starts shows a view of the world. The observatories that the program has discovered in its database(s) are shown as red dots on the world map. If you move your mouse over an observatory its name will be displayed. If you click on an observatory using the left mouse button then a popup-menu will appear with a list of data that you can view. If you use the right mouse button you will get the same menu, but in a permanent window that will not close when you select an item from the menu. The World Map window also holds the program’s menu bar. The World Map window is always present while the software is running. If you close this window, the program will exit.

There is also an Explorer window, available from the “View” menu. This window gives you an alternative view of data on the IPM. The view of the data that the window presents is similar in structure to the directory structure used to hold the data on the IPM. To view an object in the Explorer window, double click the object. For example, to plot data from an observatory using the Explorer window, expand the tree until the observatory is listed, expand the observatory, select and expand the data file that you want to view then double click the “Data Plot” icon. The Explorer window also shows you which databases the program is using. For more information about databases see the online help system.

The Data Catalogue option from the “View” menu displays a colour-coded graphical view of available observatories and data from the program’s database. Data can be accessed via sub-menus by clicking within the graphic.

The third main window, also available from the “View” menu, is the Export Window. This window allows you to create data files in IAGA 2002 and other data formats from the INTERMAGNET archive data. The window has been designed so that you can convert as much data as you want with the minimum of work. Further details are available in the online help system.

The software also includes an import function, allowing you to convert data from IAGA 2002 and other data formats into the INTERMAGNET Archive Format. This function is available from the “Database” menu. Using this software, observatories can convert their own data into IAF for delivery to INTERMAGNET. It’s also possible to use the import and then export functions to convert between data formats (e.g. to convert INTERMAGNET minute value format to IAGA-2002), but please note that between import and export the data will always be stored in IAF format and so the precision of the data will be that provided by the IAF format (1/10th nT and 1/10th minute of arc). For most modern data this precision is unacceptably low, particularly for angular measurements.

Prior to the current software, INTERMAGNET distributed a DOS-based program for working with the DVD/CD-ROM data. For historical purposes this software is documented in APPENDIX C4.