Science On a Sphere® User Manual

Version 5.1.0+ August 2016

http://sos.noaa.gov

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Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 4

OVERVIEW AND BASIC SYSTEM USE .............................................................. 4

DEFINITIONS..............................................................................................................................................................4BASICSETUP..............................................................................................................................................................4TURNINGTHESYSTEMONANDOFF.....................................................................................................................5SOSSTREAMGUI.....................................................................................................................................................5SOSMenu....................................................................................................................................................................................5FileMenu....................................................................................................................................................................................6LibraryMenu............................................................................................................................................................................6ControlsMenu..........................................................................................................................................................................7UtilitiesMenu...........................................................................................................................................................................7DatasetDetails.........................................................................................................................................................................9Searching....................................................................................................................................................................................9

OPENINGAPLAYLIST................................................................................................................................................9USINGAPLAYLIST.....................................................................................................................................................9USINGTHEWIIREMOTE(RETIREDASOFSOS5.1).......................................................................................10USINGTHESOSREMOTEAPP.............................................................................................................................10ORGANIZATIONOFDATA......................................................................................................................................11TwoTypesofDatasets........................................................................................................................................................12DatasetPlaylists....................................................................................................................................................................12

PRESENTATIONPLAYLISTS...................................................................................................................................13MakingaPlaylist..................................................................................................................................................................14

GIVINGAPRESENTATION.....................................................................................................................................15LivePresentations................................................................................................................................................................16PresentationTools...............................................................................................................................................................16SplitterTool............................................................................................................................................................................16Autorun.....................................................................................................................................................................................17SOSAdd-ons............................................................................................................................................................................17AudienceConsiderations...................................................................................................................................................18

CONTENT CREATION ....................................................................................... 18

DATAORGANIZATION............................................................................................................................................18TYPESOFDATASETS..............................................................................................................................................19FILEFORMAT..........................................................................................................................................................19SYSTEMINTERACTIONSWITHDATA..................................................................................................................20OrientationofData..............................................................................................................................................................21

TOOLSTOCREATEDATASETS..............................................................................................................................21BASICOPTIONSINTHEPLAYLIST.......................................................................................................................22TextureDatasets...................................................................................................................................................................22TimeSeriesDatasets...........................................................................................................................................................22AutorunDatasets..................................................................................................................................................................23

PICTUREINAPICTURE..........................................................................................................................................24Pipstyle......................................................................................................................................................................................24PipTiming................................................................................................................................................................................24PipSize......................................................................................................................................................................................24SharedPIP...............................................................................................................................................................................25

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LIVEVIDEOPIP......................................................................................................................................................26IncorporatinginaPlaylist................................................................................................................................................26Requirements..........................................................................................................................................................................26Limitations..............................................................................................................................................................................27

ANNOTATIONICONS..............................................................................................................................................27DatasetSpecific.....................................................................................................................................................................27GeneralIcons..........................................................................................................................................................................28

LAYERS.....................................................................................................................................................................28PredefinedLayers.................................................................................................................................................................28OrientingLayers....................................................................................................................................................................29Overlays....................................................................................................................................................................................29

USINGKMLDATA..................................................................................................................................................30ImplementationNotes........................................................................................................................................................30SpecialNotes...........................................................................................................................................................................30Limitations..............................................................................................................................................................................31

USINGWMSDATA................................................................................................................................................31SpecialNotes...........................................................................................................................................................................32Limitations..............................................................................................................................................................................32

LABELSANDCOLORBARS.....................................................................................................................................32VISUALPLAYLISTEDITOR....................................................................................................................................34ADDINGNEWDATASETS......................................................................................................................................34REAL-TIMEDATASETS..........................................................................................................................................35SHARINGDATASETS...............................................................................................................................................35

OPERATION AND SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION .............................................. 35

OVERVIEWOFSETUP.............................................................................................................................................36SYSTEMSPECIFICATIONS......................................................................................................................................36SYSTEMMAINTENANCE........................................................................................................................................36PowerDownSchedule........................................................................................................................................................37ProjectorFiltersandLamps.............................................................................................................................................37ComputerMaintenance......................................................................................................................................................37

NETWORK................................................................................................................................................................38SYSTEMCONTROL..................................................................................................................................................38iPadRemoteControl...........................................................................................................................................................39

BACKUPS..................................................................................................................................................................39SITECONFIGURATION...........................................................................................................................................40SOSCRONTAB........................................................................................................................................................40REMOTELOGIN.......................................................................................................................................................41USAGESTATISTICS.................................................................................................................................................41FilteringResults....................................................................................................................................................................42DatasetResults......................................................................................................................................................................42

USERACCOUNTS.....................................................................................................................................................43

ALIGNMENT ....................................................................................................... 44

CONTACT ........................................................................................................... 44

APPENDIX .......................................................................................................... 45

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IntroductionThisUserManualismeanttoprovideageneraloverviewoftheoperationanddailyuseofScienceOnaSphere®.Insomecases,moredetailedreferencemanualsareavailable.YoucanfindalistofallthereferencemanualsintheAppendixattheendofthedocument.ThereferencemanualscanbeviewedanddownloadedfromtheSupportpageat:http://sos.noaa.gov/Support/index.html

OverviewandBasicSystemUse TheScienceOnaSphere®softwarehasevolvedovertimewiththegoalofbeingintuitiveandeasytouse.ThissectionismeanttofamiliarizeuserswiththebasicsoftheScienceOnaSphere®(SOS)system.

Definitions

1. Content–Generaltermthatweuseforanythingthatcanbedisplayedonthesphereandshouldbestoredsomewherein/shared/sos/media-mp4,jpg,png,pip,overlay,label,colorbar,etc.

2. Dataset–Apackagedcollectionofcoherentcontent,whichmayincludemultiplelayers,labels,legends,colorbars,etc.

a. Texture–Asingle,staticimageonthespherethatrotatesb. Timeseries–animatesthroughtimeandbydefaultdoesn’trotate.Canbean

imagesequenceorampeg4i. Imagesequence–adirectoryofimagesthatareplayedinsequenceii. MPEG4–theonlyvideoformatacceptedbySOS

3. Presentationplaylist–Acollectionofdatasetsgroupedtogetherinalistforapresentation

4. Playlist.sos–Atextfilethatspecifieshowadatasetshouldbedisplayedonthesphere.Eachdatasetmusthaveitsownplaylist.sosfile

BasicSetup SOSisacollectionofhardwarethatintegratescomputersandvideoprojectorstodisplayanimatedimagesontothesurfaceofalargesphere.Takeninpieces,thesystemconsistsofaspheresituatedinaroom,surroundedbyfourvideoprojectors,numberedonetofourstartingwithnumberoneclosesttothecomputerandthengoingcounterclockwise.Thevideoprojectorsareconnectedanddrivenbytheprimarycomputer.Eachprojectorisresponsibleforitsownquadrantofthesphere.The

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computerhasonesixoutputgraphicscardstosupportthefourprojectorsandasecondgraphicscardtoruntheuserinterface.Thecomputerpullsincontent,usuallysometypeofplanetaryimagery,rendersittoanEarthprojection,subsetsit,anduponcommanddisplaysitontothesphere.Thecomputerisresponsibleformanythings,namelyamongthem:runningthemainuserinterfacetothesystem,realtimedatacollection,andprovidingtheinterfacetotheautomationcontrolprotocol.AllofthecomputersusetheLinuxoperatingsystemUbuntu(currentlyversion16.04).Mostsitesbuya"hot"sparethatisidenticaltotheprimarycomputerintermsofhardware,asabackupsystem.AllofthesoftwarethatdrivesandcontrolstheSOSsystemiswrittenandmaintainedbyNOAA.

TurningtheSystemOnandOff Whenyouturnontheprimarycomputer,itwillautomaticallylogintotheusersosdemo.Theprimarycomputershouldbealwayson.Thesparecomputerdoesn’thavetobeon,butitisrecommendedtoleaveitonforbackuppurposes.Ifyouwanttochangeusersyouwillhavetologoutandthenloginusingyourusernameandpassword.Thereisaniconthatlookslikeapowerbuttoninthetoprightmenubarforlogginginandout.Toshutthesystemoffusetheiconthatlookslikeapowerbuttoninthetoprightmenubar.Thislistsmanyoptionsincludinglogout,shutdown,andreboot.Typing"sudoshutdown-hnow"toshutdownor"sudoreboot"torebootinaterminalalsoworks.Toforceasuddenpoweroffholdthepowerbuttonfor5seconds.Thislastoptionistobeusedonlyasalastresort.

SOSStreamGUI Onceyouareloggedin,findtheiconontheDesktoplabeled“SOSStart”anddoubleclickit.ThiswillbringuptheScienceOnaSphere®interface,calledtheSOSStreamGUI.TheSOSStreamGUImustbeopeninorderforyoutouseSOS.AtthetopofSOSStreamGUI,youwillseefivemenus:“SOS,”“File,”“Library,”“Controls,”and“Utilities.”Belowthatisawindowwithinformationaboutthecurrentdataset,buttonssimilartothoseonaDVDplayerthatallowyoutocontroltheopenedplaylist,alistofdatasetsinthecurrentplaylist,andaplaceatthebottomtosearchfordatasets.

SOSMenuTheSOSMenuonlyhastwoitems,“AboutSOS”and“Quit.”Clickingon“AboutSOS”willgiveyoutheversionofSOSthatyou’recurrentlyrunning.Oftenifsupportisrequired,we’llaskfortheversionofSOSthatyou’rerunning.The“Quit”buttonclosestheSOSStreamGUI.Youcanalsoclosethesoftwareusingthe“x”atthetopofthewindow.

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FileMenu TheFilemenugivesyoutooptionstoopen,reloadorupdateaplaylist,installnewdata,editplaylists,opendata,andturnonAutorun.The“OpenPlaylist…”optionwillopenadialogboxwhereyoucanselectaplaylisttoopen.Anytimeamodificationismadetoaplaylist,youmustreloadtheplaylistinorderforthechangestobereflected.Youcandothiswiththe“ReloadCurrentPlaylist”option.The“DownloadDataforCurrentPlaylist…”optionwillscanthroughyourcurrentlyloadedplaylistanddownloadanyfilesthataremissing.Thisisausefulfeatureifyouhaveloadedaplaylistwithnewcontentthatyouhaven’tyetdownloaded.Bydefault,allnewcontentfromNOAAisupdatedonyoursystemeveryMonday.The“DownloadAllMissingDatasets…”optionisusedtodownloadallthedatasetsintheNOAAdatacatalogthatarenotalreadyinstalledlocally.ThisisusefulwhenNOAAhasreleasedanewdatasetafteraMondayandyouwanttogetitimmediately.ItisalsoaconvenientwaytobesureyouhaveeverythingavailablefromNOAAonyoursystem.Notethatifalotofdatasetsaremissingonyoursystem,thisoperationmaytakeawhiletocomplete.YoucanlaunchtheVirtualPlaylistEditorapplicationusingtheicononthedesktoporbyclickingonthe“EditPlaylists…”optioninthe“File”menu.Thenextthreeoptionsinthe“File”menu,“OpenTexture…,”“OpenImageSequence…,”and“OpenMPEG-4File…”allowyoutoopeneitherJPEGs,PNGs,orMPEG4sdirectly,withoutaplaylistfile.Thisisausefulfeaturefortestingnewframesormovies.Thefinaloptionis“AutoRun…,”whichwillturnonAutorunmode.Whenrunning,awindowwillappeartoletyouknowthatAutorunison.Bydefault,eachdatasetintheopenplaylistwillbedisplayedforthreeminutes.

LibraryMenuTheLibrarymenuprovidesaccesstothedatasets,sortedbyMajorCategory,asdefinedintheSOSDataCatalog.Theseentriesare:Air,Extras,Land,Live_Programs,People,Snow_and_Ice,Space,andWater.Therearealsoafewadditionalentries:overlays,all,andSite_Custom.The“all”itemissimplyanalphabeticallistofeverydatasetontheSOSsystem.“overlays”containsalltheoverlaydatasetsandisneededonlyfortheiPhoneapp,whichdoesn’tusetheDataCatalog(unliketheiPadapp,whichdoes).The“Site_Custom”majorcategoryisusedfordatasetsaddedbyaparticularSOSsite.InorderforcustomdatasetstoappearintheSOSDataCatalog,theymustbeputinasubdirectoryof/shared/sos/media/site-custom.NotethatLive_Programsincludesdatasetswithaccompanyingscriptsfoundathttp://sos.noaa.gov/Datasets/live-programs.php. Toupdatethelibrary,includingsite-custom,usethe“UpdateLibrary…”option.Thisneedstobedoneeverytimeanewdatasetisaddedtothesystem.Also,ifyouareusingSOStranslations(newinversion5.0),the“PerformTranslations…”optionshouldberunimmediatelyfollowingUpdateLibrarysincethetranslationsmustberestored

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aftertheDataCatalogisupdated(seetheSOSTranslationsGuideforfurtherinformationonhowtranslationsareperformedinSOS).

ControlsMenuTheControlsMenuprovidesoptionsforcontrollingthesphereandgivesyouthekeyboardshortcutsthatareavailable.Theirfunctionisself-explanatory.Inaddition,thereareafewoptionsforadjustingthedisplayofthecurrentdataset.The“FrameDelay…”optionallowsyoutoadjusttheframespersecond,firstdwellandlastdwell.The“SphereTilt…”optionallowsyoutoadjustthetiltonthex,y,andzaxis.Andthe“ResetSphereTilt”optionwillresetthetiltofthesphere.Allofthesemodificationsarereflectedinrealtime.Anychangesmadearenotsaved.Ifyoulikethemodificationsthatyou’vemade,you’llneedtosetthoseinyourplaylist.Theseoptionsaregoodfortestingoutdifferentsettings.

UtilitiesMenuTheUtilitiesMenuhasanumberofspecialutilityoptions.The“ViewaSphereCast…”itemallowsyoutoconnectyourSOSsysteminordertoreceiveSphereCastingcommandsfromahostsite.Similarly,the“HostaSphereCast…”itemisforasitethatishostingaSphereCast.FormoreinformationaboutSphereCasting,visit:http://sos.noaa.gov/Support/spherecasting.htmlThe“SetUpaSharedPIP…”itemallowsyoutoplayalivestreamingvideooverawholeplaylistofdatasets.YoucanfindmoreinformationonthatfeatureintheContentCreationsection.StartingwithSOSversion5.0,therearefournewUtilitiesmenuitemsthatareusedtoperformtranslationtasksfornon-Englishlanguages.“LoadDatasetTranslations…”addsdatasetnameanddescriptiontranslationstotheSOSDataCatalogfromlanguage-specificplaylists,“LoadCategory/KeywordTranslations…”addsKeyword,MajorCategory,andSubcategorytranslationstotheDataCatalogfromlanguage-specificcommaseparatedvalue(csv)files,“ClearAllDataCatalogTranslations…”removesalltranslationsloadedintotheDataCatalog,and“PrepareiOSTranslations…”createsspecialtranslationfilesusedbytheiPadandiPhoneuserinterfacesfromlanguage-specifictabseparatedvalue(tsv)files.CompleteinformationabouthowtocreateandloadtranslationsisdescribedintheSOSLanguageTranslationGuide.The“RunSOSDiagnosticUtilities…”menuitemwillopenanewwindowwithanumberofutilitiesfortroubleshootingyoursystem.Thiswindowcanalsobelaunchedfromthe“SOSDiagnosticsUtilities”icononyourDesktop.YoumustbeloggedinastheusersosinordertoruntheDiagnosticUtilities.TheUtilitiesinclude:“Fixfilepermissions”

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• TheprogramwillattempttochangetheaccesspermissionsonSOSfiles.Typically,itisusefulifyoureceiveanyerrorsaboutnothavingtherequiredpermissionsoraccesstofiles.Thiscanonlyberunasusersos.

“Makeadiagnosticslogfile”

• Thiswillgenerateasos_diagnostics.logfileinyourhomedirectorythatcanthenbeemailedtotheSOSsupportteamatsos.gsd@noaa.gov.Pleaseprovideadescriptionofyourproblemintheemail.Thelogfileaidsinidentifyingtheproblemwithyoursystem.

“StartTeamViewer”

• LaunchestheTeamViewerapplicationsotheSOSsupportteamcanworktofixyourcomputerremotely.

“Changeprojectormodel”

• LaunchesaprogramthatletsyouchangethetypeofprojectorSOSisconfiguredfor.IfSOSisopenwhenthisprogramisrunitwillcrash.Thiscanonlyberunasusersos.

• Notetherearetwooptionsforeachprojectortype-“CRT”and“DFP”.IfyournewprojectorsareconnectedtothecomputerwithUXGAorVGAcables,choosetheoptionendingin“CRT”,ifyourprojectorsareconnectedwithDVIcables,choosetheoptionendingin“DFP”.Ifyouchoosethewrongoption,nothingwilldisplayonthesphere.

“Restartvideocardoutput”• Thiscanbeusefulifyouarehavingissueswithyourdisplaysuchasblank

projectors,projectorsdisplayingincorrectcolorsoryourmonitorisn'tblank.ItrestartstheXserver.(Yourdisplayswillallgodarkforabitbeforetheyrestart,thisisnormal.)Thiscanonlyberunasusersos.

“StartAutoAlignmentcamerastream”• ThisoptionworkswiththeAutoAlignmentexperimentalfeaturethatwas

introducedinSOS4.3andrequiresadditionalequipmenttobeused.MoreinformationonAutoAlignmentisdescribedintheUserManualforAlignmentusingtheiPad.

“StopSOSprogram”

• IfsomethinggoeswrongwithyourSOSprogramandyouneedtoterminateit,selectthisoption.

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DatasetDetailsFormoreinformationaboutthecurrentlyloadeddataset,clickthe“Details”buttonintheSOSStreamGUI.Thiswillopenawindowwithalltheparametersthataresetforthisdataset.

SearchingTofindaparticulardataset,usetheSearchBaratthebottomoftheSOSStreamGUItobrowsethroughthewholelibrary.Anewplaylistwillopenwithallthedatasetsthatmatchyoursearch.Toreturntoyouroriginalplaylist,simplycleartheSearchBar.Bydefault,thesearchisbasedonthetitleofthedatasets,butundertheadvancedsearch,youcansearchbytitle,keywords,andallparameters.Toopentheadvancedsearch,clickonthe“+”intheSearchBar.

OpeningaPlaylistAgenericplaylist,callednormal-demo.sos,isautomaticallyopenedwhentheSOSStreamGUIisstarted.Toopenauser-generatedplaylist,clickonthe“File”menuandselect“OpenPlaylist.”Inthewindowthatappears,selecttheplaylistthatyouwouldliketouse.Alloftheplaylistsaresavedinthedirectory/home/sos/sosrcfortheusersosand/home/sosdemo/sosrcfortheusersosdemo.Ifaplaylistcontainserrors,awarningmessagewillpopupwiththenamesoftheoffendingdatasetsandthepathsthattheyuse.Clickingonadatasetintheplaylistwillloaditonthesphere.Thedatasetbarwillturnyellowwhileloading,andthenturngreenifitloadsproperlyorredifitisunabletoload.Ifyoumakechangestoyourplaylistwhileitisopen,itwillnotautomaticallyreflectthosechanges.Youwillneedtoreloadtheplaylistbyclickingthe“ReloadCurrentPlaylist”buttoninthe“File”menu.AplaylistcanalsobeopenedwiththeSOSRemote(appforiOSmobiledevices)bytapping“Presentation”atthebottomoftheapp,andthentappingthefoldericonintheupperleft-handcorner.Youcanscrollthroughtheavailableplaylistsorjumparoundusingtheindexontheright-handside.Tappingaplaylistwillloadit.

UsingaPlaylist Onceaplaylistisopen,thereareseveraloptionsforusingit.ThefirstistosetthesystemonAutorunmode.Inthismode,thesystemwillrunthroughtheplaylistonanautomatictimer.ToturnonAutorun,click“Autorun”underthe“File”menu.InAutorunmode,thesystemwilldisplayeachdatasetforadefaultthreeminutesunlessotherwisespecifiedintheplaylist.Thesecondoptionistocontroltheplaylistfromtheprimarycomputer.Todothisyoucanusethebuttonsacrossthetopofthewindow,thecommandsinthe“Control”menuorthekeyboard.Thebuttonsacrossthetopof

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thewindowaresimilartothoseonaVCR.Thereisatimelineacrossthetopwithasliderbartoindicatetheframenumberofthedataset.Youcanmovethesliderbararoundwiththemousetofastforwardorfastbackwardthroughthedataset.Thecommandsinthe“Control”menuprovideallthesamefunctionsasthebuttonsacrossthetop.Thecontrolsforthekeyboardarelistedtherightsideofthecommandsinthe“Control”menu.Themostcommonkeyboardcommandsaretheupanddownarrowsthatallowyoutomovethroughtheselectedplaylist,andthespacebarwhichpausesandplaysthedatasets.ThethirdwaytocontroltheplaylistisbyusingtheSOSRemoteappforiOSdevicessuchasiPadsandiPhones.

UsingtheWiiRemote(retiredasofSOS5.1) Inthepast,theWiiremotewasusedtogiveliveSOSpresentations,buthasbecomeobsolete,withitsmanufacturerannouncingin2013thattheWiiwouldnolongerbemanufactured.UseoftheWiiremoteforSOSwasdeprecatedinversion5.0andasofSOS5.1,isnolongersupported.SOSisoperatedusingtheSOSRemoteApp(seebelow)usingeitherWi-FiorBluetoothconnections,aswellasNOAA’spublickiosksoftware(newinSOS5.0),describedintheNOAASOSPublicKioskguidehere:http://sos.noaa.gov/Support/public-kiosk-user-guide.html.

UsingtheSOSRemoteAppTheiPad,iPhoneandiPodTouchareusedtocontrolthesphere.AseparatemanualfortheSOSRemoteAppisavailableonline:http://sos.noaa.gov/Docs/SOSRemoteUserManual.pdf.TheSOSRemoteManualcontainsmuchmoredetailonthefunctionsoftheremote.Forconvenience,we’lljustrefertotheiPadfortheremainderofthedocument.InordertoconnecttheiPadtotheSOSsystem,itmusteitherbeonthesameWi-FinetworkastheSOSsystemorpairedusingBluetooth.RefertotheNetworkparagraphintheOperationandSystemAdministrationsectionforspecificsofthenetwork.TheSOSRemoteAppisfreelyavailablethroughtheAppleAppStorefordownloadontoAppledevices(iPad,iPhoneandiPodTouch).TheSOS5.1versionoftheRemoteApprunsoniOSversion8.0andabove.OncetheiPadisconnected,auserhastheoptiontoloadaplaylist,navigatethroughaplaylist,tiltandorientthesphere,browsethroughthelibrary,drawonthesphereandmuchmore.TheiPadandiPhonehavedifferentuserinterfacesthatpresentsomeofthesamefunctionality,althoughonlytheiPadoffersuseofthefullSOSDataCatalogandthePlaylistBuilder.OntheiPad,alongthebottomofthepagetherearefouricons:Presentation,DataCatalog,PlaylistBuilder,andSettings.OntheiPhone,alongthebottomofthepagetherearefiveicons:Presentation,Datasets,Layers,WebPage,andSettings.

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Formoreinformationabouthowtousetheseoptions,pleaserefertotheSOSRemoteUserManual.

OrganizationofDataBeforeyouthinkaboutmakingaplaylist,it’shelpfultounderstandhowthedataisorganized.AlloftheScienceOnaSphere®datasetsareputintooneofthesevenmaincategories.Thesecategoriesare:

• Air• Extras• Land• People• SnowandIce• Space• Water

The“Extras”categorycontainsassorteddatasetsthatdon’tfitintotheothercategories.Withineachcategorytherearemanysubcategories.Datasetscanbeputintomultiplecategoriesandsubcategories.AfulllistofallofthedatasetsavailableinthecategoriesisontheSOSwebsiteat:sos.noaa.gov/Datasets/index.html.Thedatasetsareallstoredintheirownfoldersinanorganizationthatfollowsanoldscheme.Youwillseeallofthesedirectoriesat/shared/sos/media/oneachcomputer.Eachdatasetfoldercontains(ifavailable):

• JPEGorPNGfilenamedforresolution(ifstillimage)• Folderwithimagesnamedfortheresolutionoftheimages• Anequatorialcylindricalequidistantvideo(.mp4)ofthedata• Textfilelabeledlabels.txt• Textfilelabeledplaylist.sos• Colorbarsandothersupportingimages• Mediafolderwiththumbnails,videos,andsupportingdocuments

Auniformnamingconventionhasbeenusedamongthefolders.Imagesthatareprojectedontothespherearenamedfortheirresolution,moviesthatareprojectedontothespherearenamedfortheirdatasetnameandresolution,alllabelsarenamedlabels.txtetc.Thishasbeendonetomakeiteasyfortheusertoknowwhatisavailableineachfolder.Datasetsthatarerelatedtooneanotherareallgroupedintoonefolder.Eachdatasetstillhasitsownfolder,butthenthosefoldersareallputintoonefolder.Forinstance,inthe“atmosphere”folderthereisan“aerosol”folder.This“aerosol”foldercontainsthreefolders,oneforeachofourrelatedaerosoldatasets.NOTE:Thefoldersare

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namedfromanoldcategorysystemanddon’tmatchthecurrentcategories.Youcanfindthelocationofadatasetbyclicking“Details”whenontheSOSStreamGUIwhenit’sloaded,orbyclicking“DataInfo”ontheiPad.

TwoTypesofDatasetsTherearetwomaintypesofdatasets,texturesandtimeseries.Texturesarethesimplerofthetwo.Theyconsistofonestillimagethatcanbesettorotateonthesphere.AgoodexampleofatextureisMars.IntheMarsfolderyouwillfindjustoneimage,namedforitsresolution,whichisprojectedonthesphere.Often,thetexturesareavailableinseveraldifferentresolutions.Astheresolutionincreases,sodoestheloadingtimeonthesphere.Texturescanberotatedinanywayusingthefunctionseitherinthe“Control”menuorontheremotes. Thesecondtypeofdatasetisatimeseries.AnexampleofatimeseriesistheIndianOceanTsunami;youcanwatchthewavespropagateacrosstheglobe.Thereareseveraldifferentwaysthattimeserieswork.Initsrawformatimeseriesisacollectionofimages.Theimagesarenamednumerically,inascendingorder.Alloftheseimagesareinafoldernamedfortheresolutionoftheimages.Theseimagescanbedisplayeddirectlyonthesphere.TherawimagescanalsobeconvertedtoaMPEG4.MPEG4sarenamedforthedatasetandtheresolutionofthemovie.ThisisthepreferredformatforshowingtimeseriesbecausethesystemcanplaytheMPEG4filesatafasterframeratethantheimagesequences.TheMPEG4sandrawimagescanalsobesettorotatewhiletheyareanimatingthroughafeatureintheplaylistandabuttonontheremotes.NOTE:EvenifyoumakeanMPEG4,it’sgoodtokeeptherawdataavailable.

DatasetPlaylistsWithineachdatasetfolderisatextfilenamedplaylist.sos.Thisfileisusedtospecifyhowthedataisdisplayedonthesphere.Thereisafairlystrictformatthatmustbefollowedwithintheplaylist.sosfile.Anyspecificationsthataremadeintheplaylist.soswillbeusedinalloftheplayliststhatincludethatdataset.Foracompletelistingofkeywordsavailablefortheplaylist.sosfile,visit:http://sos.noaa.gov/Docs/Playlist.htmlBecauseallofthedataisstoredinthesamefolderastheplaylist.sosfile,itisnotnecessarytoincludetheentirepathtothefile.Youonlyneedtoincludethedataname.Forexample,toincludelabelsallyouneedtotypeislabel=labels.txt.Ifthedataisstoredinanotherlocation,thenthepathneedstobeincluded.Forexample,label=/shared/sos/media/atmosphere/dataset/labels.txtAtypicalplaylist.sosfilewillnotincludealloftheseparameters.Atveryminimum,“name”and“data”mustbeincluded.Itisalsorecommendedtoalwaysincludekeywords,publisher,creator,andcategory.Anythingwitha“#”infrontofitisconsideredacommentandwon’taffecthowthedatasetisdisplayed.Ifthedatawasfoundonline,itisoftenusefultoincludethewebaddressofthedata’soriginallocation.

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Therecanbemultipleplaylist.sosfilesinonefolderfordifferentversionsofthedataset.Thefilenamessimplyneedtostartwithplaylistandendwith.sos.Forexample,youcouldhaveplaylist.sos,playlist_with_audio.sos,andplaylist_extra_labels.sosallinthesamefolder.Note:datasetplaylistssharethesameformataspresentationplaylists,whicharedescribedinthenextsection.The“include”linesusedinpresentationplaylistsshouldnotbeusedinadatasetplaylist,sincethepurposeoflattertypeofplaylististodescribeasingleself-containeddatasetwithoptionallayers,PIPs,etc.Anexceptiontothisruleisforsite-customdatasets,whichmayincludeasingleNOAAdatasetwith“modifications”madetoit,suchasrenaming,addingPIPs,etc.Butingeneral,onlypresentationplaylistsshoulduseincludelines.

PresentationPlaylists Apresentationplaylistisanorderedlistofdatasets.ItisoftenhelpfultothinkofaSOSplaylistasamusicplaylistiniTunes.Playlistscanbesavedandrepeatedlyused.Differentplaylistscanbemadefordifferentpresentationsorshows.Also,docentscanhavetheirownplaylists.Allplaylistfilenameshavetoendwiththeextension.sosandarestoredineither/home/sos/sosrcor/home/sosdemo/sosrcdependingontheuser.Thebasicformatofaplaylistisafilethatpointstoalloftheplaylist.sosfilesforthedatasetsthatyouwanttoshow.Forexample,hereisaplaylistthatincludesthreedatasets:include=/shared/sos/media/oceans/indian_tsunami/playlist.sosinclude=/shared/sos/media/astronomy/xray_sun/playlist.sosinclude=/shared/sos/media/models/ipcc_temp/gfdl/playlist.sosEach“include”isusedtopointtoadifferentdataset.ThisexampleplaylistincludestheIndianOceanTsunami,theX-RaySunandtheGFDLTemperatureChangeModel.Alloftheinformationaboutthelabels,colorbarsandtimingissavedineachoftheseparateplaylist.sosfiles.Thenicethingaboutthisformatisthateveryone'splaylistswillbeusingthesameversionsofthedata.However,ifyoudowanttoeditsomeoftheoptionsforadataset,withinonlyyourpersonalplaylist,youcandothat.Simplyincludethechangesinyourdemoplaylistundertheinclude.Forexample,ifyouwantafasterrotationrateonthesunandalongerlastdwellforthetsunamiinyourplaylist,youcanchangeitlikethis:include=/shared/sos/media/oceans/indian_tsunami/playlist.soslastdwell=7000include=/shared/sos/media/astronomy/xray_sun/playlist.sosfps=50include=/shared/sos/media/models/ipcc_temp/gfdl/playlist.sos

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AsofSOSversion4.3,PresenterNotesmaybeaddedtoanypresentationplaylistfile.PresenternotesareaccessedfromtheiPad’sSOSRemoteapp’sPresentationtab,andcanbeeditedeitherfromtheapp’sPlaylistBuildertab,ormanuallyusingatexteditor.Ifeditingaplaylistfilemanually,eachlinethatistobeapresenternoteshouldbeginwith“#>”.Presenternotelinesshouldgoattheverybottomofthepresentationplaylist.Followingisanexample.OnethingtonoteisthatifyouaddpresenternotestoapresentationplaylistmanuallyandthenopenthemintheiPadapp’sPlaylistBuilderandmakeedits,anynormalcommentlines(linesthatbeginwitha“#”symbol)thatwereoriginallyintheplaylistwillgetdeleted.include=/shared/sos/media/land/blue_marble/blue_marble/playlist.sosinclude=/shared/sos/media/astronomy/mars/original/playlist.sos#>Featurestonoteaboutbluemarble:#>-VastnessoftheSaharaDesert#>-Shadingdoneintruecolor:givesEarth'sappearancefromspace#>#>Featurestonoteaboutmars:#>-OlympusMons:highestpointinthesolarsystemat88,500feet

MakingaPlaylistTherearefourbasicwaystomakeaplaylist.Thefirstistomanuallytypetheplaylistinatexteditorandsavethefilewithan.sosextensionineither/home/sos/sosrcor/home/sosdemo/sosrcdependingontheuser.Forthisyouwillneedtoknowthepathtoeachofthedatasetsonyourcomputer.Theotherthreeoptionsinvolveusingprogramscreatedformakingplaylists.ThefirstisthePlaylistEditorontheSOScomputer,thesecondisthePlaylistBuilderontheSOSwebsite,andthethirdisthePlaylistBuilderontheiPadremoteapp.Thesearesimpleroptionsbecauseyoudon’tneedtoknowthelocationofthedatasetsonthecomputer.ThePlaylistEditorisadropanddragprogramthatletsyoudropanddragdatasetsintoyourplaylistandthenrearrangethemasyouplease.Theplaylisteditorcanbelaunchedfromthe“PlaylistEditor”iconontheDesktop,orthroughtheSOSStreamGUIwiththe“EditPlaylists”optionunder“File.”ThePlaylistEditorhastwomaintabsatthetop,“Playlists”and“ClipLibrary.”ThePlaylisttabhasalistofalltheplaylistsontheleftandshowsthecontentsofaselectedplaylistinthemainwindow.TheClipLibraryshowsthedatacategoriesontheleftandhasallthedatasetsinaselectedcategoryinthemainwindow.Tocreateanewplaylist,click“NewPlaylist”underthePlayliststab.Giveitanappropriatename(avoidusingspacesandspecialcharactersinLinux)andpressenter.Theplaylistwillbeautomaticallyalphabetizedwiththeotherplaylists.Findyoursandthendoubleclickonthenametoopenitinanewwindow.ThenselecttheClipLibrarytabanddragthe

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desiredclipsintotheplaylistthatwasopenedinanewwindow.Thereisasearchoptionintheplaylisteditortohelpyoufindthedesireddatasets.Entireplaylistscanalsobedraggedintoanewplaylist.Toeditaclip,selectthe“EditClip”buttonandmakeadjustmentsasdesired.Withtheplaylisteditoryoucaneditaclipandaddlayers,icons,pips,labels,colorbars,KMLlayers,andWMSlayers. Oneimportantnoteabouttheplaylisteditoristhatitsavescontinuously,sothereisno“Save”button.ThismeansthatyoucanviewyourplaylistasyoucreateitintheSOSStreamGUIbyusingthe“Reloadcurrentplaylist”buttonunder“File”.Whentheplaylisteditorisclosed,apromptappearsthatasksifthechangesshouldbesaved.Thisistheonlytimetoundoanychangesthathavebeenmade. TheBuildertoolontheSOSwebsiteallowsyoutomakeasimpleplaylistusingawebbrowseronanycomputerthatcanbesavedandtransferredtotheSOScomputerinthemethodyouchoose,suchaswithathumbdrive,usingonlinestoragespace,orthroughemail.Theplaylistshouldbecopiedto/home/sos/sosrcor/home/sosdemo/sosrcdependingonwhichuseryouareloggedinasontheSOScomputer.WhenyouviewadatasetdescriptionontheSOSwebsite,you’llseeaBuilderboxintheupperright-handcornerwitha“+”button.Clickingthatwilladdthecurrentdatasettoyourplaylist.ClickingtheListiconbuttonwillopenyourplaylistinapopupwindowandletyourearrangethedatasetsorsavetheplaylist.ThenumberinthecirclenexttotheBuildertitleshowsthenumberofdatasetsaddedtoyourplaylist.Bydefault,yourplaylistwillbecalledcustom_playlist.sos,butyoucanrenamethattoanythingyouwant.Usethe“Clear”buttontoclearyourcurrentplaylistandthe“Download”buttontosavetheplaylisttoyourlocalmachine.Besurethatthe“SOS”buttonisalsoselected(the“SOSX”buttonisusedonlyforNOAA’sseparateflatscreenSOSExplorerapplication,describedontheSOSwebsitehere:http://sos.noaa.gov/SOS_Explorer/).TheBuildertoolletsyoucreateaplaylist,butitdoesnotletyoumodifytheindividualdatasets.YouwillneedtoopentheplaylistintheVisualPlaylistEditorifyouwanttomakemodifications.ThePlaylistBuilderontheiPadremoteappallowsyoutomakeoreditaplaylistdirectlyontheiPad,whilesavingitdirectlytotheSOScomputerforimmediateuse.SeetheiPadUserManualforcompletedetailsonthisfeaturefirstintroducedinversion4.3.ThePlaylistBuilderalsoallowsyoutoaddpresenternotestoyourplaylistthatyoucanrefertoinapopupwindowontheiPadduringyourpresentation.

GivingaPresentation PresentationswithScienceOnaSphere®cantakeonseveraldifferentformats.Presentationscanbebroadandincludedatasetsfromallofthecategories,ornarrowly

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focusedonatopicsuchasclimatechangeorthesolarsystem.Thetypeofprogrammingisentirelyuptotheusers.

LivePresentationsThepreferredwaytopresentScienceOnaSphere®iswithalivepresentertoleadtheaudiencethroughaplaylistusingtheSOSRemoteapp.Thepresentercaneitherbearoundtoanswerquestionsasvisitorswanderthroughorleadastructuredpresentationonaschedule.Thelengthofapresentationcanvarywidelydependingontheaudienceandtopic.AstandardpresentationattheDavidHimesPlanetTheateratNOAAinBoulder,COis30–45minutesandincludes10datasetsonaverage.Presentationsinamuseumsettingtendtobeshorter,focusedpresentationswithlessdatasets.

PresentationToolsTheSOSRemoteAppoffersmanytoolsforenhancingalivedocentpresentation.Thesetoolsincludeannotation,zooming,andlayering.TheannotationandzoomingtoolscanbeaccessedthroughthePresentationicon.ThelayeringtoolcanbeaccessedthroughtheLayersicononthebottomoftheapp.Formoreinformationaboutthesetools,referencetheSOSRemoteAppUserManual:http://sos.noaa.gov/Docs/SOSRemoteUserManual.pdf

SplitterToolTheSplitterTool(newinSOS5.0)canpartitionadatasetintotwotofourslicesthatarereplicasofthesliceofdatathatiscurrentlybeingdisplayedonthesphereatthecenteroftheUserPosition(thereddot).Thisfeatureisespeciallyusefulforpresentingtolargegroupsofpeoplethatarelocatedallaroundthesphere.Intheexamplebelow,theBlueMarbledatasetwasdividedintofourslices,andthusononehalfofthesphere,wecanseeAustraliareplicatedtwotimes.

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TheSplitterToolworkswithbothanimationsandstillimages,butrotationcanbejitterywhentherearemorethantwoslicesdisplayed.Thepixelresolutionofthesplitimageisalsocontrollableusinganenvironmentvariablesettinginthe/home/sos/sos_stream_control.configfile.Anexampleofthespecificlinesfromtheconfigfilearebelowandthevaluescanbesettoeither2048(forbetterperformance)or4096(forhigherqualityresolution).

# Splitter texture size set env(SOS_SPLITTER_TEXTURE_SIZE) 4096

FormoreinformationonhowtooperatetheSplitterToolinteractively,seetheSOSRemoteAppUserManual.

AutorunThesimplestpresentationmodeisAutorun.IntheAutorunmode,thesystemdisplayseachdatasetforadefaultthreeminutes.Thisisagoodoptionwhenadocentisnotavailabletoleadapresentation.Ifthisformatisused,it’snicetohavesupportingaudioortextsothattheaudienceknowswhattheyarelookingat.Thereareaudiotracksavailablewithalimitednumberofdatasets.Manysitesgivelivepresentationswiththespherethroughouttheday,andinbetweenpresentationsleavethesphereonAutorun.

SOSAdd-onsSidewallprojectorsorflatscreentelevisionscanbelinkedtotheScienceOnaSphere®softwaretosyncaPowerPointpresentationwithaSOSdemo.Thiscanbeusedtodisplaysupportinginformationforeachdataset,whichisparticularlyusefulinAutorun

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mode.YoucanfindmoreinformationaboutthePowerPointsyncingsoftwarehere:http://sos.noaa.gov/Support/cu_side_projectors.html.InadditiontothePowerPointsoftware,thereisalsotheNOAASOSPublicKiosksoftware(beginninginSOS5.0)andotherthirdpartysoftwareavailabletoaccompanySOS.Theseutilizeatouchscreenmonitorthatallowsvisitorstoselectwhichdatasetstheywouldliketoviewandprovidesadescriptionofeachofthedatasets.SeetheNOAASOSPublicKioskguideformoreinformation.

AudienceConsiderationsAnotheraspectofthepresentationthatneedstobeconsideredisiftheaudiencewillsitinonelocationormoveaboutthesphere.WiththerotationcapabilitiesofSOS,itispossibletohaveyouraudienceseatedononesideofthesphereandrotateallofthedatasetstobeideallypositionedinfrontofthem.Thesecondoptionistohavetheaudiencewalkaroundtodifferentsidesofthesphere,ratherthanrotatingthedata.Therearepro’sandcon’stobothoptions,soit’suptotheuserstodecidewhichoptionbestfitstheirneeds.Beawarethatsometimesyouraudiencewillbedistributedaroundthesphereandtheywillnotallbeabletoseethesamethingatthesametime.Inthiscase,it’shelpfultoallowadatasettoplaythroughseveraltimes,rotatingitsothateveryonegetstoseeeverything. TheSplitterToolprovidesanadditionalwaytoaddressthesepresentationchallenges.Byinteractivelydividingthesphereinto2-4sectionsthatreplicateaportionofthesphere,theaudiencecanseethefeaturesyouwanttohighlightfromallsidesoftheroomwithoutrotatingthedataorhavingtheaudiencewalkaround.

ContentCreation KnowinghowtocreateandaddcontenttoyourScienceOnaSphere®allowsyoursitetohavethelatestandmostup-to-datedatasets.MembersoftheSOSUsersCollaborativeNetworkoftensharecontentthattheycreatewiththeotherSOSsites.Thissessionismeanttofamiliarizeuserswiththeprocessofcustomizing,adding,andcreatingcontent.Allofthedatasetsareownedbytheusersosandcannotbeeditedordeletedbytheusersosdemo.Thereisonefolderin/shared/sos/media/calledsite-customwheretheusersosdemocanadd,deleteandeditcontentthatiscreatedbythesite.ForanymodificationstothecontentfromNOAA,youmustbeloggedinastheusersos.

DataOrganization Eachdatasethasitsownfolderthatcontainsallofthepiecesthatareneededtodisplaythedatasetonthesphere.Theonlytwopiecesthatyoumustabsolutelyhaveinordertodisplayadatasetaretheimageorimages/mp4andaplaylist.sosfile.Alloftheother

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pieces,suchasthelabelsandcolorbars,areoptional,butnicetohave.EverydatasetfromNOAAisstoredinoneofsevencategories(land,water,air,space,people,snowandice,andextras).Itisrequiredthatanynewdatasetsdevelopedbyyoursitebestoredthesite-customfolder.AllofthedatafromNOAAissyncedregularlywiththeNOAAFTPserver,soanylocalchangeswillbeoverwritten.Byonlymakingchangesinthesite-customfolder,youaresuretonotloseanyofyourwork.Also,bykeepingyourcontentonlyinthissite-customfolderyoucanthensyncthedatasetstoshowupintheSOSRemoteApp.Anycontentthatisaddedtothesystemshouldbestoredsomewherein/shared/sos/media.DonotstoreanycontentontheDesktoporinthesosrcplaylistdirectories.

TypesofDatasetsWe’vealreadymentionedthattherearetwomaintypesofdatasets:texturesandtimeseries.Texturesareasingle,staticimagethatcanbesettorotateonthesphere.Texturedatasetsarerelativelysimpletomakebecauseyouonlyhaveoneimagetoworkwith.Youcansettherotationrateofatexturebysettingtheframespersecond(fps)settingintheplaylist.sosfile.TimeseriescaneitherbeimagesequencesorMPEG4videos.Makingatimeseriescanbealittlemoredifficult.Thereisnolimittothenumberofframesthatyouincludeinatimeseries,exceptforavailablediskspace.Youcananimatethetimeseriesatanyrate,but30framespersecondistherecommendedspeed.Wetrytocreateourtimeseriessothattheylooksmoothandanimatewellat30fps.Theframerateissometimeslimitedbasedonthetimeresolutionofthedataandthetypeofdata.Itisimportanttokeepthisinmindwhencreatingatimeseriessothatyoumakeenoughimagestoensurethatthedatasetplaysforareasonablelength.Ifyouonlymake30images,thenitwillonlytakeonesecondtoloopthroughthedatasetat30framespersecond.Theoptimalplaybackspeedischosenbasedonthenumberofframesandthedegreeofchangebetweeneachframeinthesequence.Togetsmoothtimeseries,thechangesbetweeneachframeshouldbesmallandtheplaybackspeedhigh.Ifatimeseriesiscoarse,thenitmightanimatebetterataslowerframeratesuchas10–15fps.

FileFormat

Inorderforthedatatowrapproperlyaroundthesphere,itisimperativethatyoufollowthespecificationsforthedataformatclosely.Imagesinthewrongformatwillprojectonthesphere,buttheywillnotcorrectlyrepresentthesizeofthecontinents.TheimagesneedtobeplottedusingtheEquatorialCylindricalEquidistant(ECE)projection.AnECEprojectioniscommonlyreferredtoasasimplelat/longrid,wheretheimageisastandardcartographicmapprojectionthatistwiceaswideasitistall(rectangular).Itisimportantthatthedatafilltheentireimagespace.Iftherearebordersorextraspace

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aroundtheedgesthenaseamwillappearonthespherewithspotsonthepoles.Itisalsoimportantthatthedatamatchoneithersideoftheedgesoftheimage. Fortextures,2048x1024isthesuggestedminimumsize,though4096x2048isrecommendedtooptimizetheappearanceoftheimageonthesphere.Fortimeseries,2048x1024istherecommendedsize.TheSOSsystemisfairlyflexibleastowhatfileformatsitcanhandle.ItwillacceptmostcommonformatssuchasJPEG,PNG,GIF,TIF,etc.fortextures.WepreferJPEGorPNG.Ifyouwanttouselayerswithtransparency,thenyoushouldusePNGbecauseitallowsfortransparency.Forimagesequences,thesameimageformatsfortexturesapply.Forvideos,theonlyacceptableformatisMPEG4.RendertimeserieswiththeMPEG4videocodecataminimumof25mbps.Justbecauseafilehasa.mp4extensiondoesnotmeanitwillplayperfectlyonSOS.Besuretouseaconstantbitrate.TheH.264codeccancauseerrorsintheSOSsoftwarewhenusedwithavariablebitrate.Foratextureyoujustneedoneimage.Ifyouwanttobeconsistentwiththecurrentorganization,thetexturesthatyoucreateshouldbenamedfortheirresolution,suchas4096.jpg.Foratimeseries,youwillhaveeitheranimagesequenceoravideo.Inanimagesequence,theframesshouldsortinascendingorderfromearliesttolatest.Todothis,weusuallyusethedateinthenameofthefileorembedaframenumberinthefilename,withasufficientnumberofleadingzerostosortcorrectly.Theframesforatimeseriesshouldbekeptinafoldernamedfortheframes’resolution.NameMPEG4fileswiththenameofthedatasetalongwiththeresolution,suchascurrents_2048.mp4.

SystemInteractionswithDataWhenadatasetisprojectedonthesphere,youarereallylookingatfourimagesthathavebeenmergedtogetherseamlesslyaroundthesphere.TheScienceOnaSphere®softwaresplitstheECEimagesthatyouloadusingtheSOSStreamGUIintofourdiskimageseverytimeyouloadanewdatasetontothesphere.Becausealloftheworkisdonebythesoftwareautomatically,youdon’tneedtodoanythingexceptpointthesystemtowherethedataislocatedbycreatingaplaylist.

Exampleofaborderseam

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OrientationofDataThemapscreatedforSOSshouldbecenteredonthePrimeMeridian,sothat0°N,0°Eisthecenteroftheimage,asseenbelowleft.ThemaponthenextpageisfromthedatasetintheextrascategorycalledSOSCoordinateSystemthatisusefulwhenlearninghowdatasetsareloadedonthesphere.Thecenterofthemaploadsbetween

projectorsthreeandfourwiththeedgesofthemapliningupbetweenprojectorsoneandtwo,asseeninthediagramtotherightofthemap.

ToolstoCreateDatasetsBecauseScienceOnaSphere®usescommonimageandvideoformats,youcanusemanytoolstocreateandeditdatasets.SomeofthecommontoolsusedarePhotoshop,FinalCutPro,ImageMagick,GIMP,etc.Youcanusewhateveryouhaveavailableandarecomfortableusing.AprogramlikeFinalCutProcanbeusedtoaddtransitions,specialeffectsandothercomputergraphictechniques.Atahigherlevel,toolslikeIDL,AWIPS,McIDAS,andotherimageanalysisapplicationsaretypicallyusedtocreateimageryfromscientificdatasets.Asanexample,wehaveusedAWIPS(AdvancedWeatherInformationProcessingSystem)tocreateimagesfromnumericalforecastmodels.Agraphicsdesignercanusea3Dmodelingapplication,suchas3DStudio,tocreateadvancedvisualizationsforSOS.

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Beginningwithversion5.1,anewtoolcalledtheVisualPlaylistEditorbecameavailabletocreateandmodifydatasetsasareplacementforthepreviousPlaylistEditor.Thisapplicationallowsforinteractivecompositionandpreviewofdatasetsastheyareconstructedandeditedandencompassestheconstructionofpresentationplaylists.FullinformationisavailableintheVisualPlaylistEditorguidehere:http://sos.noaa.gov/_downloads/docs/PlaylistEditorDocumentation.pdf.

BasicOptionsinthePlaylistYoucanoptimizehowadatasetisdisplayedbyunderstandingalloftheoptionsthatareavailabletoyouintheplaylist.sosfiles.Youcandomuchmorethansimplydisplaythedataset.Allofthefunctionsavailableintheplaylistcanbefoundonlinehere:http://sos.noaa.gov/Docs/Playlist.html.Therearetwoplaceswhereyoucanmodifyadataset:inyourpresentationplaylist(suchasweather_overview.sos)orintheplaylist.sosfile.Whenyoumodifyadatasetinapresentationplaylist,thechangeswillonlyapplyinthatspecificplaylist.Ifyoumodifyaplaylist.sosfile,theneverypresentationplaylistthatpointstothatplaylist.sosfilewillreflectthosechanges.Theplaylist.sosfilesthatyoucreateshouldbeconsideredthemastercopy.Note:Changesmadetoplaylist.sosfilesthatareprovidedbyNOAAwillbeoverwritteneveryweekwhenthesyncwithNOAAFTPserveroccurs.Ifyouwanttomakechangestothoseplaylist.sosfiles,firstcopythemintoyoursite-customfolder.

TextureDatasetsForatexturedataset,thereareonlyafewoptionsthatyouneedtoconsider.Whenatexturedatasetisinitiallyloadedonthesphere,youcansetwhetheryouwantittorotateimmediatelyoronlyafterplayispressed.Thefunction“animate”intheplaylistcontrolsthis.If“animate”isnotincludedintheplaylist,thenthedefaultisforthedatasettoautomaticallystartrotating.“animate”canbesettoeither0or1.0willpreventthedatasetfromanimatinguntilplayispressed,and1willcausethedatasettostartrotatingimmediatelywhenloaded.Foratexture,“fps”isusedtodefinehowfastthedatasetwillrotate,whileforatimeseries,itdefinestheanimationrate.Anothercommonfunctionusedwithtexturesisthetiltoption.Forinstance,wehaveourEarthtexturessettoloadata23.5°tilttoresembletheEarth’sactualtilt.Thisisalsousefulifyouareloadingadatasetthathighlightsthepoles,whicharehardtoseeifthereisnotilt.Tosetthetilt,set“tiltx,”tilty,”and“tiltz”tothenumberofdegreesthatyouwanteachaxistilted.Thetiltcanbepositiveornegative.

TimeSeriesDatasetsForatimeseries,youhavealloftheoptionsmentionedforthetexture,plusmanymore.Ratherthancausingadatasettorotate,“animate”causesatimeseriestostartanimating,butthefunctionalityisthesame.Thedefaultisforthedatasettostartanimatingimmediately.Whenapresentationisdocent-led,itisoftenhelpfultohavethetimeseriesanimateonlyafterplayhasbeenpressed.Thisgivesthedocenttimetoprovidebackgroundinformationaboutthedatasetandexplainwhatisgoingtohappen.

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(InAutorunmode“animate”isautomaticallysetto1regardlessofwhatisintheplaylist.)Anotheroptionistoset“firstdwell,”whichisanamountoftimethatthesystemlingersonthefirstframebeforeanimating.Thedefaultiszeroseconds.Thetimeislistedinmilliseconds,so“firstdwell=4000”willdwellonthefirstframefor4seconds.Youcanalsodwellonthelastframebysetting“lastdwell.”When“lastdwell”isnotset,thedatasetloopscontinuouslywithoutpausing.Especiallywithmodeldata,itisnicetoset“lastdwell”sothattheaudiencecangetagoodlookatthelastframebeforethedatasetloopsagain. Withparticularlylongdatasetsit’ssometimesnicetoshowonlyapieceofthedataset.Youcandothatbysettingthe“startframe”and“endframe”totheframenumbersthatyouwanttostartandendon.AnexampleofwhentousethiswouldbeifyoujustwanttoshowaloopofHurricaneKatrina,nottheentire2005season.Youwouldusethe2005Hurricanedataset,butsetthe“startframe”and“endframe”sothatonlythepieceofthedatasetwhenHurricaneKatrinawasvisibleisshown.The“endframe”canbeanegativenumber,whichcountsbackfromtheend.Anotherwaytoshortenadatasetistosetthe“skip”option,whichallowsyoutosetaskipfactor.When“skip”issettoone,itskipseveryotherimage,andwhenit’ssettwo,itplayseverythirdimage.Tostopananimation,youcansimplypauseadatasetwiththeremote.Butifyouwanttostoponanexactframe,thenyoushoulduse“stopframe”intheplaylist.Thisletsyousetanexactframethatyouwanttheanimationtostoponandstartanimatingagainafteryoupressplay.Thisisagoodfeaturetousewithmodeldatawhenyouwanttolookataparticularyear.Anotheroptionthatyouhavefortimesseriesistonotonlyhavethemanimating,butalsorotating.Forexample,thedefaultfortheIndianOceanTsunamidatasetisforthebaseimagetostaystationarywhilethewavespropagateacrosstheocean.ThismeansthatonlytheaudiencestandinginfrontoftheIndianOceancanseethewaves.When“zrotationenable”issetto1,thenthedatasetwillrotateaboutitszaxiswhileitanimates.Youcanalsouse“zfps”and“zrotationangle”tosettheframespersecondrateforthedatasetandtheangleatwhichthedatasetrotates.Makesurethatyousetyour“zfps”ataratethatallowsyouraudiencetostillgraspwhattheyarelookingatbeforeitrotatesoutofsite.Forespeciallybusyanimations,itcouldbedistractingtotheaudiencetoseeboththeanimationandtherotation.

AutorunDatasetsTherearealsosomefunctionsintheplaylistthatshouldbespecifiedwhenusingAutorun.Autoruncyclesthroughthedatasetsinaplaylistautomatically,showingeachdatasetforaspecificamountoftime.Youcanspecifytheamountoftimeeachdatasetisshownbysetting“timer”tothenumberofsecondsdesired.Ifthisisnotspecified,theneachdatasetisshownfor180seconds.If“timer”isspecifiedandyouarenotshowingtheplaylistinAutorunmode,then“timer”willbeignored.It’simportanttouse“timer”whenyoualsohaveaccompanyingaudiotrackssothatthedatasetisshownforthelengthoftheaudiotrack.Youwillwanttomakesurethattheaudioissynced

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withtheplaylist.Youcansetaudioforeachdatasetbyspecifyingthedesiredtrackwiththe“audio”keyword.TheaudiotracksmustbecompatiblewiththeLinuxmplayersuchas.mp3,.mp4,.wav,or.ogg.AudiotracksareavailablefromNOAAforalimitednumberofdatasets.Theyprovideagoodwaytogiveyouraudienceinformationwhenadocentisnotavailable.

PictureinaPicturePictureinaPicture(pip)allowsyoutodisplaysinglepictures(anyofthepreviouslymentionedimageformatsworks),animagesequence,orvideos(MPEG4only)ontopofanydataset.Thisfeaturecanbeusedtodisplayanyimage,butiscommonlyusedtodisplaycolorbars,chartsandgraphs,andotherimagesthatsupplysupplementalinformation.Also,youcanhavemultiplepipswhichcanbeeitherdisplayedallatonce,orsettorunlikeaslideshowonthesphere.Forexample,thereisaMoondatasetthathasallofthelandingsitesonMoonlabeled.Tocomplimentthis,pipsaresettocyclethroughaslideshowofimagestakenfromdifferentexplorationtripstoMoon.Youcanfindthisexamplein/shared/sos/media/astronomy/moon/landings.Imagesthatyouaregoingtouseaspipscanbestoredinthedatasetfolderthattheygowith.Whenapipisincluded,thereareseveraloptionsthatyouhavetoset.

PipstyleTherearethreedifferentstylesforpips:projector,room,andglobe.“Projector”isthedefault,wherethepipisreplicatedfourtimesandplacedwiththedefaultpositioncenteredinfrontofeachprojector.Astheimageryrotates,thepipremainsstationaryin“pipstyleprojector.”A“pipstyle”of“globe”placesonepipontheglobe,bydefaultwithlatitudeandlongitudebothzero.Asthesphereistiltedandrotated,thispipmoveswiththeglobe.Thisallowsyoutousepipsasgeo-referencedmarkers.A“pipstyle”of“room”placesonepipontheglobe,bydefaultwithlatitudeandlongitudebothzero.Asthesphereistiltedandrotated,thispipremainsstationaryrelativetotheroom,withthespheredataslidingunderneathit.

PipTimingThe“piptimer”hastobeset(inseconds)sothatthesystemknowshowlongtodisplaythepip.Ifthe“piptimer”issetto0,thenthepipwillbedisplayedforthedurationofthedataset,whichisthedefault.Youcandelaytheappearanceofapipbyusing“pipdelay,”whichisinseconds.Ratherthanhavingthepipsappearabruptly,youcanusethe“pipfadein”and“pipfadeout”tofadethepipinandoutinaspecifiednumberofseconds.Thetimetofadeinandoutapipisexcludedfromthetotalamountoftimeallottedforthe“piptimer.”Bydefault,aseriesofpipswillplaythroughonlyonce.Youcanset“duration”toagivennumberofsecondsandthepipsandunderlyingdatasetwillrestartbasedonthesetduration.

PipSizeInorderforthepiptobeanappropriatesizeforthesphereandintheproperproportions,youhavetosetthe“pipwidth”and“pipheight.”Thewidthandheightare

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measuredindegreeslatitudeandlongitude.Ifyousetjusttheheightorthewidth,thesoftwarewillautomaticallyscaletheimage.Ifyouareusing“pipstyle”“projector”youwon’twanttomakeyourpipmorethan90degreeswidebecausethepipappearsfourtimes(onceforeachprojector)anditwillstarttooverlap.Inadditiontothepipsize,youwillalsoneedtodeterminewhereyouwantitdisplayedonthesphere.Ifnothingisspecified,thenthepipwillappearinthemiddleofeachoftheprojectorviews.Toadjustthepositionofthepip,use“pipvertical”and“piphorizontal.”Bothoftheseareindegrees.“pipvertical”istheverticalpositionoftheimagerelativetotheequator,withpositivedegreesabovetheequator.Becarefulasyoumovethepipupanddownasimagesnearthepolesbecomewarped.Thehorizontalpositionisrelativetothecenteroftheprojector,withpositivedegreeseastoftheproject.Analternativetousing“pipvertical”andpiphorizontal”istouse“pipcoords,”whichissetindegreeslatitudeandlongitude.Thebenefitofusing“pipcoords”isthatthereisnowarpingoftheimages,evennearthepoles.“pipcoords”isalsousedwith“pipstyle”“room”and“globe”topositionthepip.Whenapipisamp4file,thedefaultplaybackspeedistheframerateofthedatasetonwhichitisoverlaid.Ifyouwanttocontroltheframerateofthepip,thenuse“pipfps”tosetanewframerate.Thefinaloptiontosetwithapipis“pipalpha,”oropacity.Ifnotspecified,thepipshowsupopaque.Ifyoudon’twantyourpiptocompletelyblocktheunderlyingimageyoucanadjusttheopacityoftheimagefrom0,whichiscompletelytransparentto1,whichiscompletelyopaque.

SharedPIPASharedPIPisaspecialPIPthatcandisplaycontinuouslyovermultipleclipsinaplaylistorbetweenplaylists.SuchaPIPisusefulduringaSphereCast,forexample,whereyoumighthaveavideofeedofaremotepresenteronthespheretalkingaboutaseriesofclipsintheplaylist.TheSharedPIPstaysactiveuntilyouexplicitlystopit.Initscurrentimplementation,aSharedPIPsupportsLiveVideoPIPsasdescribedinthenextsectionandstaticPIPimages.

ASharedPIPissetupthroughtheSharedPIPdialogbox,locatedintheSOSStreamGUI’sUtilitiesmenu.IntheSharedPIPdialogboxthatpopsup,youspecifyaLiveVideoPIPinthesamewayasdetailedinthesectionbelow.ForastaticPIPimage,youcanclickthe“Browse”buttontolocatetheimageonyourSOScomputer.ThefollowingPIPkeywordsworkwithaSharedPIP:pip,pipstyle,pipwidth,pipheight,pipcoords,piphorizontal,pipvertical,pipalpha

Onceyoupress“Start”,thePIPwillshowuponthesphere,andwillremainactiveevenifyou

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switchtoadifferentclip.Press“Stop”todeletetheSharedPIP.

LiveVideoPIPALiveVideoPIPisaPIPthatcontainsavideothatisstreamingeitherfromawebcamconnectedtoalocalSOScomputer,orfromanRTSPstream.RTSP(realtimestreamingprotocol)isanapplication-levelprotocolthatcontrolsthedeliveryofareal-timedatastream,suchasliveaudioandvideo.ThisfeaturemaybeusefulforsitesreceivingSphereCasts,where,insteadofneedingaseparatedisplayintheSOSroomtoshowvideoofthehostsite’spresenter,thevideocanbeshowndirectlyontothesphere.Thisfeaturemayalsobeusefulifasitewantstoshowareal-timevideofeedofaremotepresenterontotheirsphereforaparticularin-housepresentation.

IncorporatinginaPlaylistALiveVideoPIPisspecifiedinapresentationplaylistfile(orinaclip’splaylist.sosfile)similartohowanormalPIPisspecified.Forexample,ifyouareshowingatsunamidatasetandyouwanttoshowalivevideoonthesphereofaremotepresenterdiscussingthedataset(assumingthepresenterissetuptobroadcastanRTSPstream),oneentryinyourpresentationplaylistfilemightlooklike:

include=/shared/sos/media/oceans/japan_tsunami_waves/playlist.sosrename=JapanTsunamiwithLivePresenter

pip=rtsp://server_name/file.sdppipstyle=room

pipcoords=0,135pipwidth=65

Intheaboveexample,“server_name/file.sdp”wouldneedtobereplacedbytheactualnameoftheremotepresenter’sRTSPstream.IfyouareusingawebcamattachedtoyourSOScomputer,simplytype“webcam”forthe“pip”keyword,asin:pip=webcamThefollowingPIPkeywordsworkwithaLiveVideoPIP:pip,pipstyle,pipwidth,pipheight,pipcoords,piphorizontal,pipvertical,pipalphaOnceyouselectthisclipviatheiPadorSOSStreamGUI,thelivestreamshouldpopuponyoursphereasanormalpipdoes(note,however,itmaytakeafewextrasecondstoaminuteforthestreamtoshowuponthesphere,dependingonnetworkspeedetc.).

Requirements• AnRTSPsourcetobroadcasttheremotepresenter:Therearevariouslivevideo

streamingsolutionsavailable.Currently,weuseApple’sstreamingQuickTimetechnologywiththefreelyavailableQuickTimeBroadcaster.OtherstreamingtechnologiesthatsupportRTSPmaybeused.IfusingQuickTimeBroadcaster

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withtheNOAASOSvideoserverforhostingaSphereCast,youwouldneedtocontactusinadvanceforsetupinstructions(seehttp://sos.noaa.gov/Support/host_spherecasting.htmlformoreinformation).

• Areasonablyhigh-speedinternetconnectionisrequiredtosend/receivealivevideofeed.Werecommendadedicatedbandwidthofatleast1.5MBits/sec,thoughahigher3-4MBits/secispreferred.

Limitations• Thewebcamcurrentlydoesnotsupportaudio,andmayexhibitadelayinframe

rateovertime.• AlthoughRTSPsupportsbothlivedatafeedsandstoredvideo/audioclips,inour

currentimplementation,onlylivedatafeedsaresupportedfordisplayinaPIP.• IfthelivestreamisstoppedbythehostwhileaLiveVideoPIPisbeingshownon

thesphere,SOSStreamGUIwillhangforabouttwominutes,andthenitwillresumenormalactivity.So,thebestthingtodoifyounoticealivevideostreamisnolongerworkingonthesphereistowaitforatleasttwominutesbeforeusinganycontrolsontheiPadorSOSStreamGUI,otherwise,youmayhavetomanuallystopSOSandrestartit.

AnnotationIconsTheSOSRemoteapp,throughtheannotationfeature,givespresenterstheabilitytodrawonthesphereandplaceiconsonthesphere.ThereisasetofdefaulticonsthatcomewiththeSOSRemoteapp.Inaddition,siteshavetheabilitytocreatecustomicons.Ifyouwouldliketocreateyourownicons,useatransparentPNGwithaminimumresolutionof256x256.Totherightisanexampleofoneofthedefaulticons.Customiconscaneitherbespecifiedforspecificdatasets,ormadeavailableinthedefaulticonlibrary.

DatasetSpecificToaddanicontoyourdataset’splaylist.sosfilesothatitshowsupintheIconsdialogwhenyouloadthedataset,simplyaddanicons=valuekeyword/valuepairtothedataset’splaylist.sosfileandplacetheiconinthedatasetdirectory.Notethatyoucanspecifymorethanoneiconbymakingacommaseparatedlistwithnospaces.Forexample,ifyoucreateasatelliteiconandarocketiconandwanttoaddthoseiconstoyourBlueMarbledataset,yourBlueMarbleplaylist.sosfilemightlooklikethis:name=BlueMarble(23degreetilt)data=4096.jpgcategory=landicons=satellite.png,rocket.png

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Inthiscase,theiconfilesshouldbeplacedinthesamedirectoryastheplaylist.sosfile.Inotherwords,userelativepathswhenspecifyingtheiconsintheplaylist.sosfile.OnceyouloadthedatasetonSOSandthenopentheIconsdialog,thetwoiconsyouaddedwillappearatthetopofthelistofavailableicons.Anotherwaytospecifyaniconisviathepresentationplaylistlocatedinthesosrcdirectory.Youspecifytheicons=valuekeyword/valuepairforacliphereaswell,however,thepathnameoftheiconfilemustbespecifiedrelativetothelocationoftheclip’splaylist.sosfile.Forexample,ifyouhaveaniconcalledturtle.pnglocatedinyoursite-customfolder,andyouwouldliketomakethisiconavailablewiththeLoggerheadSeaTurtledataset,youcanaddthattoyourplaylistasfollows: #LoggerheadSeaTurtleTracksinclude=/shared/sos/media/oceans/LoggerheadSeaTurtleTracks/playlist.sosicons=../../site-custom/turtle.png

GeneralIconsFinally,ifyouhaveageneralsetoficonsthatyoucreateandthatyoursitemayuseoften,youcanaddtheseiconstothedefaulticonlibrarysothattheyareautomaticallyavailablewitheverydataset.Todothis,simplyaddyouriconstothedirectory/shared/sos/etc/AnnotationIcons/.

LayersThelayeringcapabilityinSOSallowspresenterstodynamicallyturnlayersonandoff.Amulti-layerdisplaycanbecreatedeitherstaticallyinthedatasetplaylistbeforehand,orinteractivelyusingtheSOSRemote.ByusingthenewLayerstabinSOSRemote,theusercantoggleindividuallayersonandoff,adjusttheleveloftransparencyofeachlayer,ordeletealayer.AnylabelsorPIPsassociatedwithacliparenowautomaticallyplacedindedicatedlayersnamedLabelsandPIPs.Thesecanbeinteractivelymanipulatedlikeanyotherlayer.

PredefinedLayersAmulti-layerdatasetmaybedefinedbyusingthenew“layer”keyword.Eachuseofa“layer=name”keyword/valuepairwithinaplaylist.sosfiledefinesanewlayerandspecifiesthenameofthelayer.ThespecifiednameofthelayerisusedtoidentifyitinthelayertableinSOSRemote’sLayerstab.Eachnewlayerspecifiedappearsvisuallyontopofanypreviouslayers.The“layerdata”keywordisrepeatedforeachlayertospecifythecorrespondingdatafileforthelayer.Alayerdefinedthiswaymayhavea“layervisible=no”keyword/valuepairdefinedtospecifythatthelayerisnotinitiallyvisible.Alayermayalsohavea“layeralpha”keywordpairtofurtherspecifytheinitialopacityofthelayer.Analphavalueof0.0meansthatthelayeristotallytransparent,and1.0meansthelayeristotally

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opaque.AsliderintheSOSRemoteinterfaceisavailabletointeractivelymanipulatetheopacityofeachlayer.Note:ForcompatibilitywithversionsofSOSpriortoSOSVersion4,adefaultlayeriscreatedwhenthe"data="playlistkeywordisseeninaplaylistbeforethe"layer="keyword.Thenameofthisdefaultlayerwillbethesameasthenameofthedataset,givenbythe"name="keyword.

OrientingLayersInorderforlayerstooverlapproperly,itisimportanttomakesurethatthemapsareorientedidentically.Inthecasewheretwolayershavedifferentcenterpoints,youcanset“layereast,”“layerwest,”“layernorth,”andlayersouth.”Thesecommandsspecifythegeographicextentofthedatawithinthelayer.Theyspecifytheeastandwestedgesofthedataindegreeseastlongitude,andthenorthandsouthedgesindegreesnorthlatitude.

OverlaysInaddition,wehavecreatednewoverlayswhicharelocatedinthe/shared/sos/media/overlaysdirectory,andwhichwillshowupasalibrarycategoryonSOSStreamGUIandontheiPhone/iPad.YouwillfindthemaccessiblethroughabuttononthepresentationtaboftheiPad.Theoverlayscontainusefulearth-relatedtransparentlayers(specifiedasclipsinastandardplaylist.sosfileformat)thatcanbeusedforbothpre-programmedlayering,aswellas,interactivelayering.AnexampleofalayerthatwillbeinthiscategoryisCountryBorders.Ifasitewantstoaddmoreoverlaysforgeneraluse,theyshouldbeplacedinthesite-customfolderwithaplaylist.sosfilethathasthecategorydefinedasoverlay.Examplesofplaylist.sosfilesforoverlayscanbefoundinthe/shared/sos/media/overlaysdirectory.Inversion5.1+oftheSOSRemoteApp,youcannowhaveyourcustomoverlaysappearintheOverlaysdialogoftheiPadappjustastheNOAA-managedoverlaysappearforquickanddynamiclayering.Todothis:

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

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

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

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UsingKMLDataSOSsupportsKeyholeMarkupLanguage(KML)datainadditiontothepreviouslyexistingmovieandimageformats.KMLisapopularspecificationandactivelyusedwithGoogleEarthfordisplayingdataonasphere.TheinitialSOSKMLcapabilitysupportsalimitedsetoftheentirespecification,whichincludesmanyofthecommonlyusedKMLfeaturesyouwouldtypicallydisplayinGoogleEarth.MoreinformationonKMLitselfcanbefoundhere:https://developers.google.com/kml/documentation/kmlreferenceAnSOSplaylistcanreferencebothKMLandthecompressedKMZformatsusingthelayerdatakeyword.SeetheSOSPlaylistReferenceFormatManualformoredetails.

ImplementationNotesTypically,KMLfilesareusedwithGoogleEarthwhichallowsuserstodisplayinformationonavirtualspheresimilartoSOS.Thereareacoupleofdifferencestobeawareof.GoogleEarthhasadditionalspacearoundthespherewherelegends,icons,orothermetainformationcanbedisplayed.SOShasonlythespherefordisplayingdata.Bydefault,allancillaryinformationisdisplayedatpoint0°North,180°East.Eachsubsequentpieceisstaggeredfromthisstartingpoint.Thisisuserconfigurable.Withintheplaylist,usekmllegendxoffsetandkmllegendyoffsettospecifyanewlocation.KMLPlacemarksorIconsreferencedinKMLmayappearsmallonthesphere.Additionalplaylistparametershavebeenincludedtoscaleicon’stomakethemmorevisibleonthesphere.Usekmlplacemarkscaletoscalethesefeaturesifnecessary.MoreinformationonthesecommandscanbefoundintheSOSPlaylistReferenceFormatManual.

SpecialNotesOften,KMLfilesreferenceremotedataviaawebaddress.KMLfilesofthisnaturerequireSOStohaveaccesstotheinternettoretrievethesefiles.DependinguponyournetworkconnectivityandthenumberofexternallinksreferencedintheKMLfile,theinitialloadmaytakesometime.SOSwillperformlocalcachingofdownloadedfilesandsubsequentloadswillperformfaster.*ItisstronglyrecommendedtotestKMLfilespriortoanypresentation*toinsuredataiscachedlocallyandthepresentationisnotdelayedbywaitingforremotefilestoberetrieved.WhenanSOSplaylistreferencesaKMLdataset,SOSwillparsethefileandstoreanytemporaryorcacheinformationinthesystemtemporarydirectory.Thedefaultis“/tmp”onSOSsystems.

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LimitationsTheSOSsoftwaredoesnotsupporttheentireKMLspecification.Hereisalistofmajoritemsnotcurrentlysupportedinthisrelease:Tours,FlyTo,Featureswith3Dimensions,ResourceMap,Model’s,Regions.IfKMLdataorKMLdataisn’tdisplayingcorrectly,pleasecontacttheSOSsupportteamandincludetheproblemKMLfileinyourmessage.YoucannothavemultipleKMLlayersdefinedwithinasingleplaylistitembecausewedonotsupporttimematchingcapabilitiesbetweenvariousKMLfiles.FutureversionsshouldallowmultiplestaticKMLfiles.

UsingWMSDataSOSsupportsloadingimagerydirectlyfromtheOpenGeoSpatialConsortium(OGC)WebMappingService(WMS).ThisfeaturerequiresaninternetconnectionandwillnotworkunlesstheSOSsystemhasaccesstotheinternetandthereferencedWMSServer.MoreinformationontheWMSstandardisavailablehere:http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/wmsAWMSprovidesaserviceallowinguserstorequestdatathroughURLsusingspecifickeyvaluepairsdefiningtermssuchasthewidth,height,imagetype,etc...AuniquefeatureoftheWMSstandardallowsuserstorequestsubsetsofimagerybydefiningaboundingboxusingalowerleftandupperrightlatitudeandlongitudecoordinates.Thecombinationofthesefeaturesallowsuserstohostverylargehighresolutionimageryanduserscanrequestsmallerversionsorsubsetsoftheoriginalimagery.SOStakesadvantageofthisfunctionalitythroughthemagnifyingglass,allowinguserstoseemoredetailasyouincreasethezoomlevelonthesphere.AtypicalWMSURL,willlooklikethefollowing:http://neowms.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/wms/wms?version=1.3.0&service=WMS&REQUEST=GetMap&LAYERS=MODAL2_D_CLD_CI&CRS=CRS:84&FORMAT=image/png&HEIGHT=1800&WIDTH=3600&TRANSPARENT=TRUE&BBOX=-180.0,-90.0,180.0,90.0&STYLES=rgb&STYLE=TousethisURLwithSOS,youwouldspecifydataasthefollowing(note:onlythelayerdatakeywordmaybeusedtospecifyWMSdata):#WMSDataExamplelayerdata=//WMS//http://neowms.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/wms/wms?version=1.3.0&service=WMS&REQUEST=GetMap&LAYERS=MODAL2_D_CLD_CI&CRS=CRS:84&FORMAT=image/

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png&HEIGHT=<IMAGE_HEIGHT>&WIDTH=<IMAGE_WIDTH>&TRANSPARENT=TRUE&BBOX=<BOUNDING_BOX>&STYLES=rgb&STYLE=Four(4)thingshavechanged://WMS//

HEIGHT=<IMAGE_HEIGHT>WIDTH=<IMAGE_WIDTH>BBOX=<BOUNDING_BOX>

All4itemsarerequiredinorderforWMSdatatoworkcorrectlywithSOS.ThefirstitemindicatesthefollowingpathtodataisadynamicWMSURL.Thelast3areplaceholdersfordynamicfieldsthatchangewhileinuseforSOS.ForeachWMSURLusedwithinSOS,thesevaluesmustbereplacedexactlyasabove.SOSwillautomaticallyreplacethesevalueswhenloadingthedata.

SpecialNotesAllWMSURL’sareremotedataandrequireSOStohaveaccesstotheinternettoretrievethecorrespondingimagery.DependinguponyournetworkconnectivityandtheperformanceoftheremoteWMSserver,theinitialloadmaytakesometime.SOSwillperformlocalcachingofdownloadedfilesandsubsequentloadingwillperformfaster.*ItisstronglyrecommendedtotestWMSPlaylistspriortoanypresentation*toinsuredataiscachedlocallyandthepresentationisnotdelayedbywaitingforremotefilestoberetrieved.WhenSOSplaylistreferencesaWMSdataset,SOSwillretrieveandstoreanytemporaryzoomfilesorcacheinformationinthesystemtemporarydirectory.Thedefaultis“/tmp”onSOSSystems.

LimitationsWiththeSOSmagnifyingglassenabled,SOSwilldetermineaboundingboxfortheareacurrentlyunderviewanddynamicallyretrieveandloadthatimage.AboundingboxcannotbedeterminedaroundeithertheNorthorSouthPole.Thenearestimagethatdoesnotcrossthepolewillbeused.

LabelsandColorbarsLabelsandcolorbarscanbeintheframesorprojectedontopofthemexternally.Itisrecommendedthatyoudonotaddthelabelsandcolorbarsdirectlytotheframesthatyoucreate.Bykeepingthemasexternalimages,youhavemuchmoreflexibilitywiththeirsizeandpositionwithintheplaylist.sosfile.Ifyoudochoosetoputyourlabelsandcolorbarsdirectlyontheimagesthatyoucreate,makesurethatyoumakethembigenoughsothattheyarelegibleonthesphereandthattheyarefarenoughfromthepolesthattheydon’tgettoowarped.

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Oneofthenicethingsaboutkeepingthelabelsandcolorbarsexternalisthattheydon’tmoveasyourotateadataset.Theystayinthesamepositionrelativetotheprojectors.Labelsandcolorbarsthatarepartoftheframerotatewiththeframe,whichcancauseviewingtroublefortheaudienceasyoumovethesphereabout.Withintheplaylist.sosfileyoucansetthepositionusing“labelposition,”whichissetbythexandypositionasapairofcoordinates(x,y).Bothxandycanvaryfrom-1to1.Thedefaultpositionis(-0.3,-0.5).Thelabelcolorcanbechangedwith“labelColor”whichcanbesettoR,G,B,Alpha,(orthesymbolicnames:white,black,red,green,blue,…).Thedefaultcolorforthelabelsiswhite.Whileyoucanchangethepositionandcolor,youcannotchangethesizeorfont.Thelabelsareasimpletextfilethatcontainsonelineforeachframeinthedataset.Ifyouhavelabelsforatimesseriesthatcontains2000frames,thenyouneedatextfilethathas2000lines.Intheplaylist.sosfile,iflabel=default,thentheimagefilenamesappearasthelabelsonthesphere.Youcaneasilycreateyourlabelsusinganytexteditor.Thelabelfileisstoredinthedatasetfolderandisnamedlabels.txt.Typically,thelabelscontainthedateandmaybeatitle.Herearesomeexamplesoflabels.txtfiles:

Ifyoudon’twanttoincludethetitleinyourlabelsfile,thenyoucanmakeanimageoftitlethatyoucanincludeasapip.Thisallowsyoutochoosethefontandcolorschemeofyourchoosingwhenyoumakethetitleimage.Thisisalsoaniceoptionbecausethenyoudon’tneedtoinsertthetitleintoeverylineofyourlabelsfile.Hereisanexampleofatitlethatwasmadeintoanimageforpip:

Thereisalotofflexibilitywiththecolorbars.Theyareinsertedintotheplaylist.sosfileasapip.Usingthisfunction,youcannotonlysettheposition,sizeandtransparency,butalsowhenthecolorbarappears,howlongitstaysvisible,andhowquicklyitfadesinandout.ThecolorbarscanbeanycommonimageformatsuchasGIF,JPEG,PNG,TIF,etc.Colorbarsaregenerallynamedcolor_barinordertokeepallofthevariousimagesinthefileseparate.

07/24/2004 06:45 07/24/2004 07:15 07/24/2004 07:45 07/24/2004 08:15 07/24/2004 08:45 07/24/2004 09:15 07/24/2004 09:45 07/24/2004 10:15 07/24/2004 10:45

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

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VisualPlaylistEditorAlloftheabovefeaturesfortheplaylist.sosfilecanalsobeusedwithintheVisualPlaylistEditor(VPLE)toeithercreatenewdatasetsthatgointhesite-customfolderormodifyexistingdatasetswithinyourpresentationplaylists.WhenyouusetheVPLEtomodifydatasetsinyourpresentationplaylist,changesyoumaketothedatasetswillaffectonlythepresentationplaylistthatyouareeditingandnottheunderlyingplaylist.sosfilesforeachdataset.Theplaylist.sosfileisthemastercopyofhowthedatasetisdisplayedandshouldnotbeeditedinanyoftheNOAA-supplieddatasets(theVPLEpreventsthat,bydefault).Ifyoumakechangesintheplaylist.sosfiles,thechangeswillappearineveryone’splaylistsandweeklyNOAAdatasetupdatesmayoverwriteyourchanges.Youmaypreserveyourowncustomizeddatasetsasdescribedinthenextsection.FormoreinformationontheVPLE,pleaserefertotheVirtualPlaylistEditorguidehere:http://sos.noaa.gov/_downloads/docs/PlaylistEditorDocumentation.pdf.

AddingNewDatasets TheSOScomputersareconfiguredtodownloadnewcontentfromtheNOAAFTPserveronceaweekandupdatethelibrarycatalogintheSOSStreamGUI.Makesuretocheckoftentoseewhatisnew.AlistofnewdatasetsisavailableontheSOSwebsiteintheDatasetssectionbysortingthedatasetsbyDateAdded.TheVPLEallowsyoutoeasilyconstructnewdatasetsforyoursystem.Yousimplyaddthelayers,pips,title,andothersettingsthatyouwantandwhenyousavethedataset,everythingyoureferencedissavedintoasinglefolderalongwithanautomaticallygeneratedplaylist.sosfile.Whencreatinganewdataset,makesuretospecifyonlyasubcategory.Themajorcategorywillautomaticallybesite-custom.Ifyouforgettospecifyasubcategoryforadataset,thenitwillbeputintoanuncategorizedsubcategoryinthesite-customcategory.Youmayalsowishtoincludekeywordsandcreatorforyoursite-customdataset,whichwillalsobeaddedtotheSOSDataCatalogentryforyourdatasetaswell.Youcanalsoaddadescriptiontoyourplaylist.sosfilethatwillshowupontheiPadandtheSOSkiosk.Toviewyournewdataset,youcaneithermakeaplaylistthatcontainsit,oryoucanupdatethelibraryintheSOSStreamGUIandthenupdatethedatacatalogontheiPad.ThismakesthedatasetvisibleintheSOSStreamGUIlibraryandtheiPadDataCatalog,bothundersite-custom.

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Itisagoodideatoviewandtweakadatasetbeforeusingitinademo,especiallyit’syou’veaddedlabels,colorbarsorpips.Makesurethateverythinglooksgoodandappearswhenandwhereyouwantittoo.Formoreinformation,consulttheContentCreationGuidelines:http://sos.noaa.gov/_downloads/docs/sos-content-creation-guidelines.pdf

Real-timeDatasetsThereisacollectionofover40real-timedatasetsthatareprovidedbyNOAA.Becausethesedatasetstendtobequitelargeandinternetspeedsvaryfromsitetosite,theSOScomputerscomeconfiguredtodownloadjustthefivemostpopulardatasets.Typically,sitesaresettodownloadreal-timedataeithereveryhouroreverythreehours.Thefrequencyofthedownloadsandtheamountofreal-timedatasetsdownloadedcanbeadjustedforeachsite.In/shared/sos/media/playlistsarevariousreal-timedatasetplayliststhatvaryfromjustafewdatasetstoallofthereal-timedatasets.Youcanalsocreateyourownplaylistofthereal-timedatasetsthatyoursiteisinterestedinusing.Acrontabisthenusedtokeepallofthereal-timedatasetsinyourplaylistuptodate.Formoreinformationonthecrontab,visit:http://sos.noaa.gov/Support/auto_update.html.

SharingDatasets Ifyoursitedoesnothavethenecessarytoolsortheexpertisetocreatedatasets,youcanstillgetnewdatasets.NOAAisconstantlyaddingnewdatasetstotheirlibrarythatareavailable.TheSOScomputerissettodownloadanynewdatasetsonceaweekfromtheNOAAFTPserver.CollaborationwithotherScienceOnaSphere®usersisencouragedandrecommended.Thisisagoodwaytogethelpmakingnewdatasets.CheckoutthelistofotherSOSsiteshere:http://sos.noaa.gov/What_is_SOS/sites.php.SitesarealsoencouragedtoprovidethedatasetsthattheycreatetotheNOAAlibrarysothatalloftheotherSOSsitescanusethemaswell.ASOSusersgrouphasbeencreatedasaYahooGroup.Thisisaplacetoaskquestions,getadviceandworkwithothersites.Tojoin,pleaseprovideyouremailaddresstotheNOAASOSteaminBoulder,CO.

OperationandSystemAdministration ThissectionisintendedforSystem'sAdministratorsandothersthathaveresponsibilityformaintainingthehardwareandsoftwarecomponentsoftheScienceOnaSphere®system(SOS).

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OverviewofSetup SOSisacollectionofhardwarethatintegratescomputersandvideoprojectorstodisplayanimatedimagesontothesurfaceofalargesphere.Takeninpieces,thesystemconsistsofaspheresituatedinaroom,surroundedbyfourvideoprojectors,numberedonetofourstartingwithnumberoneclosesttothecomputerandthengoingcounterclockwise.Thevideoprojectorsareconnectedanddrivenbytheprimarycomputer.Eachprojectorisresponsibleforitsownquadrantofthesphere.Thecomputerhastwodualoutputgraphicscardstosupportthefourprojectorsandathirdgraphicscardtoruntheuserinterface.Thecomputerpullsincontent,usuallysometypeofplanetaryimagery,rendersittoanEarthprojection,subsetsit,anduponcommanddisplaysitontothesphere.Thecomputerisresponsibleformanythings,namelyamongthem:runningthemainuserinterfacetothesystem,realtimedatacollection,andprovidingtheinterfacetotheautomationcontrolprotocol.AllofthecomputersusetheLinuxoperatingsystemUbuntu(currentlyversion16.04).Mostsitesbuya"hot"sparethatisidenticaltotheprimarycomputerintermsofhardware,asabackupsystem.AllofthesoftwarethatdrivesandcontrolstheSOSsystemiswrittenandmaintainedbyNOAA.

SystemSpecifications ThecomputerintheSOSsystemisastandardcomputersystemwithmid-tohigh-endgraphicscards.Thesystemisgenerallyspecifiedsothatboththeprimaryandsparecomputersareidenticalfromahardwareperspectivetoalloweasyswappingofcomponents(incaseofsystemfailures).Projectorsareusuallyspecifiedsothattheyworkwellinhighdutyhourenvironments.Mostly,projectorsclassifiedas"boardroom"projectorsmeetthisrequirement.Theseprojectorstypicallyhavemultiplefanstoprovideadequatecoolingduringtheday.Theprojectorsarealsospecifiedsothattheyproduceahighlightoutput(LUMENS),mostlyintherangeof3500to5000LUMENS.Thesupportedresolutionfortheprojectorsshouldbeatleast1024x768.AnaudiosystemispartofastandardSOSexhibit.Atypicalsetupincludesamixer,microphones,andfourspeakers.SomeofthecontentthatcomeswithScienceOnaSphereincludesanarrationtrackwithbackgroundmusic,requiringtheuseoftheaudiosystem.Also,presentersoftenusethemicrophones,ifavailable,duringlargepresentations.Eachsiteisresponsiblefordesigningtheiraudiosystemtomeettheirneeds.

SystemMaintenance

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Forsystemmaintenance,themainpriorityiskeepingtheprojectorsaligned.TherestofthecomponentsinSOStendtoberathermaintenance-free.Projectoralignmentshouldbecheckedfrequently(onceaweekideally)toensurethatthesystemisalignedproperly.Usually,thesystemonlygetsoutofalignmentwhentherehasbeensomedisturbancetotheprojectors.Itisrecommendedtocheckitweeklyjusttoensurethatthesystemisdisplayingdatainanoptimalmanor.Ifthealignmentisreallyoff,itwillbevisibleinthedisplayofdatasets.

PowerDownScheduleGenerally,itisrecommendedthatbothoftheSOScomputersremainpoweredupallthetimeinordertoreceiverealtimedataandforsystembackups.Theprojectorsonlyneedtobeonduringoperationandshouldbepowereddowntosavelamplifewhennotinuse.Iftheprojectorshavenetworkcapability,it’spossibletosettheprojectorsonatimerwithschedulepoweronandpowerofftimes.Ifacompletesystempowerdownisrequired,thenitisrecommendedtoclosetheSOSsoftwarebeforepoweringdownthecomputers.Asinglepressofthepowerbuttonstartsacleanshutdown.

ProjectorFiltersandLampsProjectorlampsarethemainconsumableforSOS.Atypicalprojectorlamplastsanywherefrom1500to3000hours.Indarkersettings,theeconomymodecanbeusedtoextendthelifeofthelamp.Asaprojectorlampsages,itwillstarttodimorshowdiscolorationandtheninmanycases,suddenlygoout.Generally,theprojectorwillturnonalampwarninglightindicatinganewlampisneeded.It'sagoodideatohaveasparelamponhandincaseofasuddenfailure.Itissuggestedtofollowthemanufacturer’srecommendationsonlampreplacement.Whenlampsarereplacedbecauseofage,itisrecommendedtoreplaceallofthematthesametime,sincethecolorandintensitydifferencebetweenanoldlampandanewlampwillmakethespherevisualizationlookbad.Projectoralignmentwillneedtobeadjustedafterreplacingthelamps.Whenreplacingthelamps,changeonelampandthenfixthealignmentofthatprojectorbeforemovingontothenextprojector.Ifyoureplaceallthelampswithoutadjustingthealignmentalongtheway,thenyouwillhavetostartfromscratchonthealignment.ForLCDprojectors,projectorairfiltersshouldbecheckedmonthlytoensureproperairflow.Atminimum,checkthefilterseveryquarter,thoughthisdependslargelyontheprojectorsenvironment.Dustyareasrequiremorefrequentfiltercleaning.Dirtyfiltersreducecoolingcapacityandshortenprojectorlamplife.Thisisprobablythemostimportantofthemaintenancetaskstoperform.ForDLPprojectors,theopticsaresealedanddustisnotasmuchofaconcern.Infact,manyDLPprojectorsdonothaveairfilters.Checkyourspecificmodeltodetermineifthereisanairfiltertoclean.

ComputerMaintenanceTheSOSsystemsarelikeanyothercomputersystem.Ingeneral,theyrunandrunwithouttheneedformaintenance.Ubuntureleasesoperatingsystempatchesfrequentlyandpatchesthataffectsecurityshouldbeappliedasneeded.Notificationof

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patcheswillappearintheleft-handmenuintheUbuntuUpdateManager.IfNOAAcomesacrossanoperatingsystempatchthatadverselyaffectssystemoperation,siteswillbeinformedthroughtheSOSYahooForum.Periodically,softwareupgradesfromNOAAfortheSOSsoftwarewillbedistributed.TheSOSsoftwareupgradeswillalsoappearintheUbuntuUpdateManager.Itisuptoeachsitetodecideiftheywanttoinstalltheupgrade.AnannouncementwithfullinstructionsfortheupgradeandadescriptionofthenewfeaturesintheupgradewillbepostedtotheSOSYahooForumwhenavailable.ShouldyouencounterproblemswiththeSOSsoftware,thelogfilescanbeagoodplacetoturntotrytodiagnosewhatishappening.ThelogfilesforSOSarestoredinthehomefolderforeachuserinadirectorycalledsoslogs.Thelogsvaryfromcrashreportstodownloadprogressreports.

Network Thecomputersareconnectedviaagigabitnetworktoenablehighspeedcommunicationanddatatransport.Theprimaryandsparecomputersresideinaprivate,non-routablenetworkspace(usuallyinthe10.x.x.xnetworkrange).Theprimarycomputer,however,alsousuallysitsontheborderbetweentheprivateSOSnetworkandthesiteslocalIntranet.Theprimarycomputersitsattheborderofthenetworktoenableoutsideaccessforremotesystemsadministration,softwareupdates,anddownloadofrealtimedatafromtheNOAAservers.Whilethelocal,privateSOSnetworkisgigabit,theexternalconnectioncanbewhateverthelocalsitesupportsintheirnetworkinfrastructure.Ifsupportedbytheprojectorinfrastructure,theprojectorscanalsobeconnectedtotheprivatenetworktoallowforremotepoweron/off.InmanycasesaWi-FinetworkisalsosetuptoallowuseoftheiPad/iPhoneSOSRemoteApp.AnexistingWi-Fiinfrastructurecanbeused,oradedicatedWi-FinetworkcanbesetupforusewithSOS.AdedicatedWi-FinetworkprovidesthemostresponsivecontrolofyourSOSsystembytheapp.Doingthisinasecurewayrequiressomenetworkexpertise.YoumayneedtoselectaWi-Fichannelthatdoesn'tconflictwithotherWi-Finetworks,forexample.Usingtheminimumtransmitterpowerthatyouneedisalwaysagoodidea.AndWPA2encryptionisprobablytheminimumlevelofencryptionyouwillwanttouse.YoumightwanttoturnoffthebeaconidentifierforyourWi-Firoutertomakeitlessobvioustocasualvisitorsatyoursite.YoumightalsoconsiderlimitingaccesstothespecificMACaddressesofyourportabledevices.SOSpersonnelworkwiththesitestafftodeterminethebestoptionsforeachindividualsite.

SystemControl

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ThereareseveralwaystooperateScienceOnaSphere®remotely.ThemainoptionthatcomessupportedbytheNOAASOSteamistheiPad/iPhoneapp(referredtoasiPadfortheremainderofdocument).ThroughtheAutomationControlProtocol,it’spossibleforsitestocreatetheirowninterfacestocontrolSOS.DocumentationontheAutomationControlProtocolcanbefoundonline:http://sos.noaa.gov/Docs/automation.html

iPadRemoteControlInordertoconnecttheiPadtotheSOSsystem,itmusteitherbeonthesameWi-FinetworkastheSOSsystemorbepairedtothecomputerusingBluetooth.RefertotheNetworksectionaboveforspecificsofthenetwork.ThemostrecentSOSRemoteAppisfreelyavailablethroughtheAppleAppStorefordownloadontoAppledevices(iPad,iPhoneandiPodTouch)withiOSversion8andabove.TogetstartedwiththeWi-Ficonnection,tapontheSettingsappicononthehomepageofyourdevice,andthentaponSOSRemotelocatedundertheAppscategory.IntheNameorIPfieldunderSOScomputertocontrol,enterthehostnameorIPaddressofyourSOScomputer.Now,checktheWi-FinetworkandmakesuretheiPadisconnectedtotherightSOSnetwork.ReturntothehomepageandtapontheSOSRemoteappicontoopentheapplication.TheiPadshouldautomaticallyconnect.Ifitcan’tconnect,analertbadgewillbedisplayedontheSettingstabandtherewillbeanerrormessagewithintheSettingstab.TheSOSStreamGUImustberunninginorderfortheiPadtoconnect.WhilevisitorshaveaccesstotheSOSRemoteAppthroughtheAppleAppStore,theywon’tbeabletotakecontroloftheSOSunlesstheyhavetheWi-FipasswordandtheIPaddressoftheSOScomputer.TheusermanualfortheSOSRemoteAppishere:http://sos.noaa.gov/Docs/SOSRemoteUserManual.pdf

Backups Thecomputersaresettorunbackupscriptsearlyeverymorningtopushdatafromtheprimarycomputertothesparecomputer.Ingeneral,allofthedatathatcomeswiththesystemcanberetrievedfromNOAA,however,therearesomedatafilesthatarecustomizedtobesitespecific.ExamplesofsitespecificdataincludethecustomplaylistdataintheSOShomedirectory,thealignmentconfigurationfilesthatareinthehomedirectory,andanycustomorlocalsitecontentthatwasdevelopedandinstalledonthesystem.Allofthemediafilesandplaylistfilesaresyncedfromtheprimarytothesparecomputersothatthereisabackupcopyonthesparecomputer.Backupcopiesoftheplaylistandalignmentfilesarestoredonthesparecomputerin/shared/sos/site-backup.hostname.Incaseoffailure,thesparecomputerhasaduplicatecopyofeverythingneeded,thoughthealignmentfileswillhavetobemovedfromthebackup

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folderto/shared/sos/site-config.Sitesarestillencouragedtobackupdataonaseparatesystemaswell.Generally,theplaylistandalignmentdataarejustafewmegabytes(usuallymuchless).Intermsofcontent,onlythecontentdevelopedbythesiteneedstobebackeduponaseparatesystem.AllofthecontentthatcomespreloadedonthesystemisalwaysavailablefromNOAA.Thecustomcontentcansometimesbemanygigabytes,butisdefinitelyworthbackingup.Inadditiontosyncingthecomputers,backupsarealsostoredonthelocalcomputerin/shared/sos/site-backup.hostname.Inthisdirectory,youwillfinddatedfilesforeverydaythatcontainallofthesamefilesthataresyncedtotheothercomputer(excludingthemediatree),includingconfigurationfilesandplaylists.Inaddition,backupsoftheplaylistfilesaretarredandstoredeverytimetheplaylisteditorisopened.Thosefilesareinthehomefolderforeachusersinadirectorycalledsosrc-backups:/home/sos/sosrc-backupsand/home/sosdemo/sosrc-backups

SiteConfigurationEachsiteisconfigureddifferentlyinregardstoprojectorheight,distanceandresolution.Allofthisinformationisstoredin/home/sos/sos_stream_control.config.Theparametersinthisfilearesetduringinstallationandnormallyshouldonlybechangediftheexhibitisreconfigured.However,tomodifythedefaultvolumesetting,addthefollowinglineto/home/sos_stream_control.config: setdefaultVolume[0…100]where[0…100]specifiesanintegerintherange0-100.InnewSOSinstalls(asopposedtoupgrades),thislinemayalreadybepresent,inwhichcasethelinemaybeedited.Everysitealsohasindividualalignmentfilesthatarestoredin/shared/sos/site-config.Inthisdirectoryyouwillfindthealignmentfiles.Allofthesefilesareincludedinthosethatarebackedupandsynceddaily.

SOSCrontabCronisatime-basedjobschedulerthatisusedtoautomateprocessesonthecomputer.Thecrontabisthefilethatcontainsalltheinformationaboutthejobsthatarescheduled.TheSOScomputerscomewithadefaultcrontabthatcanbeeditedbyeachsite.Includedinthedefaultcrontabarehourlyrealtimedatadownloads,dailydatasyncsandbackups,andweeklydownloadsofnewdatasets.Thecrontabcanalsobeconfiguredtoincludetheautomaticpowerupanddownoftheprojectorsifdesired.Inaterminal,entering“crontab–l”willdisplayeverythingthatisincludedinthecron.For

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moreinformationaboutthecron,watchthe“HowtoEdittheCrontab”videotutorialsfoundhere:http://sos.noaa.gov/Support/tutorials.html

RemoteLoginInorderfacilitatesupport,maintenance,andtroubleshooting,theSOScomputerscomeloadedwithaprogramcalledTeamViewer.ThisprogramallowstheSOSsupportteamtologonremotelytotheSOScomputersandtemporarilytakeoverthedesktop.ThesitemustlaunchthesoftwareandprovidelogininformationtotheSOSteaminorderforthemtologon.TheSOSteamwillonlyloginattherequestofthesiteandatascheduletimewhenitisconvenientforthesite.

UsageStatisticsThereareasetoffeaturesintheSOSsoftwarethatshowstatisticsabouthowoftenspecificSOSdatasetsaredisplayedacrosstheSOSnetwork.AteachSOSsite,everySOSplayeventisloggedinausagelog,inthe$HOME/soslogsdirectory.Periodically,theselogfilesareautomaticallycollectedandsenttotheSOSdevelopersinBoulder,CO.There,thelogsareprocessedandtheresultingaggregatestatisticsaredisplayedontheSOSwebsite.Fourmainparametersarerecorded:Plays,Autoplays,Duration,andAutoplayDuration.

PlaysrepresentallplaysofclipsontheSOSmachine.StatisticsareonlyshownforNOAAdistributeddatasets,buttheproportionofsitecreatedtoNOAA-provideddatasetsisshown.

AutoplaysrepresenttheplaysthatoccurredwhileSOSisinautorunmode.ThisnumberwillbeasubsetofPlaysandisrecordedsoadistinctioncanbemadebetweendocent-ledpresentationsandautorunpresentations.

Durationisthetotalamountoftimeacliphasbeenplayed,whileAutoplayDurationisthefractionofdurationthatacliphasbeeninautorunmode.

ThewebinterfaceontheSOSwebsiteshowsthenumberoftimesdatasetsweredisplayedandthetotalamountoftimetheywereplayed.Theinformationisfurthersubdividedbywhethertheplayoccurredduringautorunornot.Thequeriescanberefinedbytimeperiodandotherattributes.Informationaboutspecificsiteusageisnotpublicallyavailableonthewebsite,butifyouwouldliketotracktheusagestatisticsatyoursite,theSOSteamcanprovideyouwithaspecificwebpagelinkcorrespondingtoyoursite.BelowisthebasicviewfortheSOSusagestatisticswebpage.

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FilteringResultsTheusagestatisticsresultsonthewebsitecanbefilteredbydifferentattributes,suchasdatasetcategory,whoplayedthedataset,thedataset’sformat,andwhenthedatasetwasplayed.Whenmultipleattributesareselected,theresultsareadditive.Thisjustmeansthatifyouselect‘Atmosphere’and‘Ocean’fromthe‘DatasetCategory’filter,sitescategorizedasAtmosphereorOceanwillbereturned.PlayedBy:Thesefiltersallowyoutofilterplayeventsbysitecategorizations.Thisisusefulif,forexample,you’reaplanetariuminterestedinthemostpopulardatasetsamongallplanetariums.DatasetCategory:Thesefiltersallowyoutofilterdatasetsbasedontheircategorization.Selectingdifferentcategorieswillactivatethecategorybychangingthebutton’sfonttoblack.Bydefault,datasetsforallcategoriesareshown,sothe‘AllCategories’buttonisactive.TimePeriod:Thesefiltersallowyoutopickplayeventsthatoccurduringaspecifiedwindowoftime.Ifyouselect‘week’,‘month’,or‘year’,playeventsfortheweek/month/yearsofarwillbereturned.Specificdatesmayalsobespecified.Keepinmind,playeventinformationwillalwaysbeonedaybehind.FilterBy:Thesefiltersallowyoutofilterdatasetsbytheirformat.Forexample,‘Movies’getsdatasetsthathavemoviesassociatedwiththem.‘StaticImages’getsdatasetscomposedofstaticimages.‘Real-timeData’selectsourreal-timedatasets.‘KMLFiles’getsdatasetsthathaveKMLtypefilesassociated.Onceyouhavespecifiedyoursearchfilters,besuretoclickthe‘Display’buttontoapplythem!‘Clear’willremoveactivesearchfilters.

DatasetResultsClickingonadatasettitlewillexpandthesectiontoshowagraphofspecificplayeventinformationbymonth.You’llnoticethattherearetwobarsforeachmonthonthex-axisandtwoy-axes.Thelefty-axisspecifiesnumberofplaysandcorrespondstotheblue(left)bar.Therighty-axisspecifieslengthofplaydurationandcorrespondstoorange(right)bar.Theplaybaranddurationbarbothhaveembeddedbars,whichrepresentautoplaysandautoplayduration,respectively.Hoveringyourmouseoveranyofthebarswilltellyouwhatthebarrepresentsanditsvalue.

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Exports raw data for all filtered datasets

Exports the raw data for this dataset only

Autoplay duration for April

Total play duration for AprilTotal plays for April

Autoplays for April

Link to dataset catalog URL

Dataset Title - expands and collapses

dataset graph

Hovering over different parts of the bars will tell you exact values

Forsitesinterestedindoingtheirownnumbercrunching,an‘exporttocsv’functionhasbeenprovided.The‘Exportalltocsv’willexportrawdataforallthedatasetsonthepage.Ifyoujustwantdataforasingledataset,thereisan‘Exportdatato.csv’undereachdataset’sgraph.Ifyouwantrawdataforsomeselecteddatasets,activatethecheckboxnexttothedatasetsyou’reinterestedin,clickthe‘Display’button,thenclick‘Exportallto.csv’.

UserAccounts EveryprocessthatrunsunderLinuxmusthaveauserid.TheSOSsystemusestwouserid's:sosandsosdemo.Theuseridsosisanadministrativeaccountthathastheabilitytodownloadnewdata,runthealignmentsoftware,installupdatesandmanagethereal-timedatadownloads.TheuseridsosdemoisusedfordaytodaysystemoperationandrunningtheSOSsoftware.Theusersosdemodoesnothavepermissiontodeletedata,editthesoftwareorrunalignment.Thisuserisintendedtoserveasa“safe”mode,wherethecomputeroperatorwillbeabletodoverylittledamagetothesoftwareorthedata.AdministratorsofLinuxsometimesneedaccesstothesuperuseraccount(similartotheWindows"administrator"privileges).ThesuperuseraccountinLinuxiscalled"root".Thepasswordissetatmachineinstallationandcanbechangedlocallyatthesite.Itisgenerallyconsideredsafer,oratleastabetterpractice,tonotuserootdirectly,butratherusethe"sudo"commandthattemporarilyraisesanormalusersprivilegetorootforthedurationofasinglecommand.Onlythesosuserhassudoprivileges.

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Alignment InordertooptimizetheappearanceofScienceOnaSphere®,itisimportanttohavethesphereproperlyaligned.Becauseofthis,itissuggestedthatmorethanonepersonatthesitelearnshowtoalignthesphere.Forthemostup-to-datealignmentdirections,pleaseconsultthefollowingreferencemanuals: AlignmentwiththeiPad/iPhone/iPodTouch:http://sos.noaa.gov/_downloads/docs/sos-remote-app-user-manual.pdf

Contact Pleasecontactsos.gsd@noaa.govifyouhaveanyquestionsregardingScienceOnaSphere®.

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AppendixBecausethisUserManualismeanttoprovideageneraloverviewoftheoperationanddailyuseofScienceOnaSphere®,itdoesnotcontainallthedetailsyoumightbewanting.Insomecases,moredetailedreferencemanualsareavailable.HereisacompletelistofreferencemanualsavailableforScienceOnaSphere®:ProjectorAlignmentforSOSUsinganiPhone,iPodTouch,oriPad

http://sos.noaa.gov/_downloads/docs/sos-remote-app-user-manual.pdfPlaylistFormatReference

http://sos.noaa.gov/Docs/Playlist.htmlContentSubmissionGuidelines

http://sos.noaa.gov/_downloads/docs/sos-content-creation-guidelines.pdfSOSRemoteApp http://sos.noaa.gov/_downloads/docs/sos-remote-app-user-manual.pdfAutomationControlProtocolReference

http://sos.noaa.gov/Docs/automation.htmlSOSDocentBestPractices

http://sos.noaa.gov/Docs/SOS_Docent_Best_Practices.pdf

SphereCasting http://sos.noaa.gov/Support/spherecasting.htmlSOSTranslationsGuide http://sos.noaa.gov/Support/sos-translation-guide.htmlNOAASOSPublicKiosk http://sos.noaa.gov/Support/public-kiosk-user-guide.htmlVisualPlaylistEditor http://sos.noaa.gov/_downloads/docs/PlaylistEditorDocumentation.pdf