ARM Thumbnail Browser Interface

(11/22/2004; revised 11/29/2004 Giri Palanisamy and Raymond A. McCord)

Because the ARM data collection is very large, communicating specific information about its content to potential users is challenging. In early November, a new view called "Thumbnail Browser" joined the existing suite of user tools for finding and selecting data on the ARM Data Archive website. This new interface provides users with a graphical view of the data files before they decide to request them or download them for additional use. The new interface offers the following advantages:

The graphical images are small enough they can be stored online and dynamically displayed for each user.

The time needed to communicate the images within the user interface is reasonable.

The data plots show features in the data that are easily recognized visually, but very difficult to represent in other forms.

The first segment of the user interface enables the user to specify general criteria for "data of interest". The initial pages of the Thumbnail Browser are very similar to those of the Data Browser (select sites, facilities, date range, etc.). The user is provided three pathways to make these initial selections: novice user, power user, catalog of quick looks). These pathways are logically similar to the pathways in the Data Browser. Further steps in the Thumbnail Browser show the user views of thumbnails of graphs containing many of the primary measurements from ARM data streams. From the thumbnail views, the users can directly access larger-scale data plots called "quick looks", review Data Quality Reports, or select data files to be requested for retrieval and download. The selection of data files is made with graphical check boxes that allow selection by day or by multiple days for a single data stream or selection of all files for all datastreams.

The Thumbnail Browser provides the user with many options for customizing the thumbnail display within two thematic views:

"Date range" view - This has an appearance similar to a "multi-channel strip chart". It includes options to re-arrange the row of thumbnails and the width of the display interval (days per display). (Link to more documentation).

Day at a Time View - This is designed for concurrently showing 100's of thumbnails for the same date (Link to more documentation). The user can customize the row and column placement (More Info) of thumbnails.

Both of these views allow the user to easily view consecutive time ranges or days in a sequence. These thumbnail views may be saved for future reference or emailed as a link to other users to show them the same "views" and make additional specifications for their data requests

At this time, the data plot collection is focused primarily on ARM-collected measurements in data files generated after April 2001, and on the simpler plot types (single and multiple line plots, and a few profile plots.) Additional data plots will be added over the next few months. These will include the more complex plot types (profiles, sondes, etc.), external data streams, more Value Added Products, and data streams from earlier time periods.

Access to the Thumbnail Browser is made through the Archive Login process. It is now one of the "primary choices" offered to ARM Archive users after the login is completed. The ARM Archive user interface can be accessed at: http://www.archive.arm.gov/cgi-bin/arm-archive. The Thumbnail Browser link is shown on the next page after the login.

The thumbnails and data plots can still be viewed with other mechanisms and this is explained in http://www.archive.arm.gov/docs/dataplots/index.html.