🗺️ DataNET · Quick Tutorial 1 of 8

Data Library & Workspace

Find, filter, and organize data layers from webservices. Navigate by geographic region, format, environmental category, or keyword. Build a workspace, inspect layer metadata, and prepare layers for display or transfer.

DataNET Tutorial 1 Prereq: MAGNET4WATER account 6 topics

This tutorial covers

  1. Get layers using the Region Filter
  2. Get layers using Format, Data Category, or Keywords
  3. Data Layer Results
  4. Layer Information and Metadata
  5. Workspace tools

1Overview

This interface is used to find and select data layers (webservice products) for display in the Map Display, 3D visualization, or for transfer to other MAGNET4WATER modeling platforms. Data can be located by geographic region, webservice format, by environmental category, and/or by keyword(s).

The recommended workflow is:
1) Get layers from the library database (input search criteria and click "Get Layers").
2) Choose a layer of interest by displaying it on the map (check the box next to a layer), and inspecting the metadata (click the 'i' next to the layer name).
3) After identifying a layer of interest add it your user Workspace: a) open the Workspace (click the 'Workspace' button in the Data Layer Library, or launch from the Title Toolbar: Data Layers > Open Workspace), b) add the layer to the Workspace (click the '+' next to the layer name).
4) repeat steps 1-3 to add multiple layers of interest to the Workspace.

When using the Data Layer Library, the most recently added layer will be overlaid on the front of the Map Display. Layers in the Workspace can be "dragged up or down" to change which layer is overlaid on the front of the Map Display. More details on layer manipulation are provided below (see Layer Information).

Click the 'Reload deafault setting' button (Reloadtreeview) to "reset" the Data Layer Library to its original state (i.e., clear the filters).

2Get layers using the Region Filter

The top part of the interface allows the user to specify data layers for a particular region and "database level" (e.g., world-wide data, national data for a particular country, statewide data and so on.).

The user may use the expandable 'Region' filter layer tree to navigate to the region and scale of interest (World > (Continent) > (Country) > (State/Province) > ...), or they can use the search to "intelligently navigate" (expand) the filter layer tree to a specific continent, country, state, etc.

Check the box(es) next to region(s) to apply filter(s). The selected regions will be displayed at the bottom of the 'Region' section. After selecting region(s) of interest click the 'Get Layers' button to search the library and get data layers. This will populate the 'Results' section and allow the user to view and select data layers.

Note that multiple boxes can be checked in the Region filter if you wish to use data from different "database scales". For instance, if you wanted to include data from the national scale and statewide scale for, say, the State of Michigan, you would check the boxes next to Michigan and United States.

3Get layers using Format, Data Category, or Keywords

Below the 'Region' seach area, the user can choose additional search criteria. Check boxes are provided to filter data based on webservice format. The end use case for data may require images, rasters, or vectors. Additionally an environmental category can be selected that corresponds to a particular interest. Lastly, keywords can be entered to search for a particular data layer (e.g., input the data layer title), or more general search terms that may be contained in the abstract or other supporting information.

After making entries and/or selections click 'Get Layers' to search the library and populate results.

4Data Layer Results

Data Layer results can displayed in either 'Relevance' (top 50 results), or 'Category' (expandable groups) mode. In category mode, when the category is expanded, the number of layers selected and total number within that category for the searched region(s) is displayed.

If layers are added to the user Workspace they will be removed from the 'Results' section. If removing layers from the user Workspace they will be added back to the relevance mode, but will only be added back into a category if they were originally in the search results.

5Layer Information and Metadata

There are several buttons/icons next to each layer listed within a particular category.

Clicking the "information" icon (Information) opens a sub-interface with layer metadata, including: layer abstract; layer name and title; layer bounding box; service type (WMS, WCS, WFS, WMTS); and a layer legend (if available).

If a layer has a lettered icon M, C, F, T next to it, it means the layer is available as a WMS (image) product, WCS (raster) product, WFS (vector) product, or WMTS (tiled-image) product, respectively.

6Workspace tools

In addition to the capability to show/hide a single layer, there are additional tools available in the user Workspace.

Loading workspaces There are two options for loading workspaces.
1) Click the cloud icon to load the last workspace saved to the server, or a set of default layers from the server.
2) Click the upload icon to load any workspace file from the local machine.

Saving workspaces Click the save icon at the top of the workspace window to save the current workspace (and if present, the drawn analysis area). A prompt will ask the user to choose whether to save the workspace to the server, or to download a copy to their local machine. Saving to the server will overwrite any existing saved workspace as a user can only store a single workspace in their account. No such limit exists for locally stored workspaces.

Show/hide workspace layers Click the layers icon, to toggle on and off the displayed layers on the map.

Remove all workspace layers To remove all layers from the user Workspace click the trash can icon at the top of the workspace. The layers will be moved back to the Data Layer Library (layers are always added to the search results relevance tab, but only added back to the category tab, if that layer is in the most recent search results).

Remove single workspace layer To remove a layer from the user Workspace click the '-' symbol next to the layer name. The layer will be moved back to the Data Layer Library. It will always be added to the search results relevance tab, but only added back to the category tab, if that layer is in the most recent search results.

Organize layers Within the user workspace, layer can be dragged up or down to change the display order. Layers above will display in front, and layers below will display behind. In general drag raster/coverage (WCS) layers down, and feature/point (WFS) layers up.

Layer display options If a layer is checked (displayed on the map), the user can click the gear icon next to the layer name to open the 'Layer Display' interface. Here the layer opacity can be adjusted, and an option is available to zoom to the layer extent.

Resize the workspace To resize the user workspace, click and drag the bottom right corner up or down to make the window taller or shorter.