content creation guidelines - science on a sphere · 2017-05-31 · content creation guidelines...
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ContentCreationGuidelinesUpdatedforSOSx1.1(10/2016)
NewdatasetsarealwayswelcomeforSOSExplorer!Hereareafewsimpleguidelinestoassistinthecreationofcontent.TheSOSxteamhassignificantexperiencewithtechnicalandaestheticissueswhencreatingcontentforsphericaldisplaysystems,andishappytoprovidefeedbackandsuggestionsduringproductiontoensurequalitycontent.
Part1coversusefulinformationforcreatingcontentPart2addinganewdatasetusingTourBuilderPart3outlinestheflexibilityofcreatingatourusingTourBuilder
Part1–NewContentFormatsandConsiderations
A.DataFormatTherearethreebasictypesofdatasetsforSOSx:
Texture-SingleImageCanbedisplayedonthesphere.AnexampleofthisisaglobalimageoftheAgeoftheSeafloor.It’sastaticimagethatcanbemanipulatedandrotatedinrealtimefromtheuserinterfaceorremotecontrolTimeSeries-ImageSequenceAnimatesthroughtime.Anexampleofthiswouldbealoopofsatellitedata.Foranimagesequence,SOSxwilldisplaytheimagesinsequenceandplaythemlikeamovieacrosstheentirespheresurfaceatapre-determinedfps(framespersecond).Imagesequencescanbeofanyarbitrarylength,limitedmainlybydiskspaceandcanbeanimatedatframeratesupto60framespersecond.Video-MPEG4'ssavediskspacebutdonotshowtimeonSOSx.ThismeansthatwecannotdisplaythedateandtimefordatausinganMP4.WesuggestusingTimeSeriesfordatasetswheredateandtimeareneeded.Transitions,audio,specialeffects,andothercomputergraphicstechniquescanbeaddedtoasequencethroughtheuseofofftheshelfsoftwarelikeFinalCutPro.
MapProjection–Forcompleteglobedatasets:EquatorialCylindricalEquidistantProjectionàThisisasimplelatitude/longitudegridwiththelinesevenlyspacedwheretheimageistwiceaswideasitistall.TobeconsistentwiththeSOSDataCatalog,itisrecommendedthatthe0°
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linegothroughthemiddleofthemap,withthe+/-180°linesattheedges.Forpartialglobedatasets:Aboundingboxcanbesetfornorth,south,east,westtoshowonlyapartoftheworld.Thisworksbestifthedatais.pngformat,asthebluemarblebasemapwillshowupunderneath.ImageFormat–Forsingleimages-JPEG,PNG,orDDS.Forimagesequences–DDSonly.TheTourBuildersoftwareapplicationincludedinyourinstallationcanconverttoDDSforanimagedirectory.VideoFormat–MPEG4,OGV,WMVRenderthevideowiththeMPEG4videocodecataminimumof25mbps.AlternativeFormat–KML,KMZThesoftwarealsohastheabilitytodisplayKML(KeyholeMarkupLanguage)andthecompressedKMZfilesonSOSx.KMLisapopularspecificationandactivelyusedwithGoogleEarthfordisplayingdataonasphere.AudioFormat–MP3,MPEG4,WAV,OGG,AIF…Iftheaudiofileisstandaloneasanarrationforatour,youcanusetheaboveformats.Ifitisusedforamovie,itshouldbeembeddedinthesameMPEG4fileasthevideo.Resolution–4096x2048foranimations,8192x4096forsingleimages(textures).Thosearetherecommendedresolutions,thoughother2x1resolutions,suchas3000x1500willwork.Werecommendaminimumof2Kforanydataset.B.ImageConsiderationsThedatashouldtakeupthewholeimage,withnobordersorextraspacearoundtheedges.Evenapixelborderwillshowupasaseam!Inmostcases,asimple1%stretchinthehorizontalwillfixtheproblem.Thedatashouldmatchupattheedgesoftheimage.Ifitdoesn’t,aseamwillappearwherethemismatchhappensanditwon’tlookseamlessonthesphere.Examplesofseamsproblemsareshownbelow.Inadditiontomakingsurethatthedatafillstheentireframe,from180°Westto180°East,alsomakesurethatthedatafillstheentireframefrom90°Southto90°North.Ifthereismissingdataatthepoles,fillintheareawithasolidcolororabasicland/oceanbackgroundtoensurethatthedatasetwrapsproperlyaroundthespherewithoutstretchingvertically.ExamplesofSeams–Aproblemtobeavoided
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Layers–AddingflexibilitytothedatasetThelayeringcapabilityinSOSxallowspresenterstodynamicallyturnlayersonandoff.
ColorSuggestionsAcolorscalecandramaticallychangetheemphasisandmessageofadataset.Becauseofthis,theScienceOnaSphereUsersCollaborativeNetworkhashadmanydiscussionsonthecolorscalesthatareusedforSOSxdatasets.Thegoalistocreatedatasetswithwell-chosencolorscalesthataremeaningful,intuitive,andscientificallyaccurate.Severalconclusionsaretheresultofthesediscussions:
1. Itcanbeconfusingtouserswhenthesamecolorschemeandtheirassociatedcolorbarsareusedfortwocompletelyunrelateddatasets.
2. Thesamecolorshouldnotbeusedtorepresentmorethanonething.i.e.ificeisshadedwhite,thenwhiteshouldnotalsobeusedforareasofmissingdata.
3. Usingrainbow-coloredlegendsandcolorschemesisoftenconfusingtotheaudienceandhardtoparse.Instead,considerusingshadesofgreentorepresentphytoplankton,andblueandredgradationstorepresenttemperatureanomalies.i.e.use“meaningful”colors
4. Avoidusingfullspherebackgroundsthatarecompletelyorpre-dominantlywhite.Theseamsbetweenprojectorsbecomemoreapparentwhenusingsolidwhite/brightbackgrounds.Ifusingbrightbackgroundcolors,consideraddingsomenoise/texturetothem.SamegoesforPIPs,especiallythosedisplayedattheseamsbetweenprojectors.
C.PreparingYourContentFileNamesBasedonResolution,TimeStamp,andContent
• Singleimagesaretypicallynamedfortheirresolution,suchas4096.jpg.• Imagesequencesarekeptinfoldersthatarenamedfortheirresolution,andtheimages
themselvesshouldbenamedtosortinascendingorderfromearliesttolatest.Thiscaneitherbedonewithatimestampinthefilename,oraframenumberinthefilenamewithasufficientnumberofleadingzerostoensuretimecompatibility,shownintheexamplebelow.
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• Videosshouldbenamedbasedoncontentandresolution,suchashurricanes_2048.mp4.Donotusespacesandspecialcharactersinfilenames.
NamedbydateNamedbyframecount
EstablishingTime(forimagesequences)InorderforSOSxtodisplaytimeanddateforyourimagesequencedataset,youneedtobeabletoestablishaPeriod,Start&EndTimeandaFilenameMask.TheseareaddedintheTourBuilderwhenaddinganewdataset.PeriodcodingforSOSxcanbefound:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601Forexample:Ifyouhaveanimageforeveryday,youwouldenter:P1DIfyouhaveanimageforevery15minutes,youwouldenter:PT15MStart&EndTimeareenteredasyear,month,dayandhour.Forexample:Ifyourimagesrunforallof2015(andaredaily)youwouldenter:Starttime:2015-01-01T00:00:00EndTime:2015-12-31T00:00:00FilenameMaskallowsSOSxtounderstand,accordingtothePeriodandStartEndTime,whatischangingforeachimageinthesequence.Thechangingintegersaremarkedwithbrackets[].UsingtheexamplefromaboveNamedbydate,yourfilenamemaskwouldbe:Snow_ice_2048_[yyyyMMdd].png(Ifminutesareapplicabletheywouldbe“mm”andweeks“WW”).Seethiswebsiteforhelp:http://php.net/manual/en/function.date.php*UsingtheexamplefromaboveNamedframecount,yourfilenamemaskwouldbesos_jpl_4096.[####].jpg*Ifusingaframecount,youwouldalsoenterFileSequenceStartandFileSequenceIncrement.InNamedframecountexample:FileSequenceStartis1andFileSequenceIncrementis1.ColorbarsandLegends–EnhancingthedatasetColorbarsandlegendscan(andshould)beusedwhenapplicableastheyprovidecontextandunitsforthedata.Theseshouldbestandaloneimagefiles(.pngor.jpg)andnotburnedintotheglobalimages.500xpixelsisusuallyalargeenoughresolution.Neverburnimagesintothedataitselfaswarpingcanhappenwhenwrappingaroundasphere.
snow_ice_2048_20110730.png snow_ice_2048_20110731.png snow_ice_2048_20110801.png snow_ice_2048_20110802.png snow_ice_2048_20110803.png snow_ice_2048_20110804.png snow_ice_2048_20110805.png snow_ice_2048_20110806.png
sos_jpl_4096.0001.jpg sos_jpl_4096.0002.jpg sos_jpl_4096.0003.jpg sos_jpl_4096.0004.jpg sos_jpl_4096.0005.jpg sos_jpl_4096.0006.jpg sos_jpl_4096.0007.jpg sos_jpl_4096.0008.jpg
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Part2–UsingTourBuildertoAddNewDatasets
Videotutorialsarealsoavailablehere:sos.noaa.gov/SOS_Explorer/documentation.htmlA.DatasetEditorWindow
• OpenTourBuilder• SelectMenuTools>DatasetEditor• Selectadirectoryforyournewdataset(itneedstoexistinlocal-datasetstoshowupin
SOSx)• Enteralloftheinformation“required”inthewindowshownbelow.• North/South/East/Westcanbeusedasaboundingboxforanimagethatisnotglobal.• DataLinkpointstoafile(imageorvideo)oradirectoryofimages.
Categories–BrowsingdropdownintheSearchWindowdisplaycategories.YoursystemcomeswithAir,Experiences,Extras,Land,Movies,People,SnowandIce,Space,Tours,Water.Addnewcategoriesasdesired.Addasmanycategoriesasisappropriateforyourdataset.
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TimeSequence–Foranimagesequence(directoryofimages),youmustenterthePeriod,FilenameMaskandforframecounts,alsoaddFileSequenceStartandIncrement.SeeabovePart1–C.PreparingyourContentformoreinformation.
AddingLayers–GivethelayeraTitle.DataLinkisthenameofthefile,i.e.map.jpg.ChooseFormat.Save.Youmayaddmanylayers.
EnablingProbing–Ifyourcolorbar.pngisalinear,continuousgradientandyourdataisfullcolorthanyoumaywanttoconsiderfillingouttheprobingtable.
Other-IfyourdatasetisnotEarthandisa“celestialbody”thencheckingthisboxdisablesgeographicoverlaysspecifictoEarth.KMLIconScaleFactorscalesthesizeoficons.KML
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OverrideIconallowsyoutobrowsetoa.pngfilethatwillbeusedforyourKMLplacemarks.
ToolsUsedtoCreateImagesfromData• BecauseSOSxusesbasicimageformatslikeJPEG,andPNGasitsmaininputformat,
therearemanytoolsavailableforcreatingdatasets.• CommonexamplesarePhotoshop®,ImageMagick®,GIMP,etc.• ForcreatingMPEG4fileswithtransitions,specialeffectsandnarration,programssuch
asFinalCutPro®andAdobeAfterEffects®areuseful.• ToolslikeIDL,AWIPS,McIDAS,andotherimageanalysisapplicationsaretypicallyused
tocreateimageryfromscientificdatasets.• Graphicsdesignerscanusea3Dmodelingapplications,like3DStudio®,tocreate
advancedvisualizations.• GISprogramssuchasArcGISorQuantumGIScanbeusedtocreatemaps.Atutorialfor
creatingSOSxdatasetswithQuantumGISisavailablehere:http://sos.noaa.gov/Docs/qgis_tutorial.pdf.
MoreInformationonVisualizationConsiderationsThefollowingarticle,researchingthepublicunderstandingofsciencecontent,waswrittenbySOSUsersCollaborativeNetworkmembers:Phipps,M.andRowe,S.(2010)SeeingsatellitedataPublicUnderstandingofScience.doi:10.1177/0963662508098684
Part3–UsingTourBuildertoCreateTours
Videotutorialsarealsoavailablehere:sos.noaa.gov/SOS_Explorer/documentation.html
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Description: SOSxdatasetscanoftenbecomplex.Weinvented“Tours”inordertotellastorywithdatasetsandtohelpourusersmaketangible,understandableconnectionsbetweentheanimationsandtheirlives.Toursarescriptedpresentationsthatwalkauserthroughthedatasetsusingastorylineandalearninggoal.Theseoftenincludetext,guidingquestions,pop-upwebcontent,videos,pictures/diagrams,andclick-ableplacemarks.Forexample,see“BecomeaDataExpert”Tourscreenshotbelow.
UsingournewTourBuilder,youcannowbuildyourowntours!Oncebuilt,yourtourswillshowupinyoursearchwindow(ifdesired).AccessingTours:NOAAmanagedToursarelaunchedthreeways:
1. “HotButtons”thatshowuponthelowerrightcornerofthetouchscreenarelinkedtothetours.Whenclicked,hotbuttonslaunchrightintoatour.
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2. Toursareallnamed“Tour-WeatherLesson”(forexample)inorderforthemalltoshowupundertheletterTinthealphabeticalsearchwindow.
3. Toursaretagged“Tour”intheir
metadatafilesinordertoshowupintheTourdropdowncategorywhenbrowsing.*
*Tip:Wesuggestthatwhenyoumakeyourowntours,youfollowprotocol#2&3inordertofindyoursthesameway.
TourBuilderApplicationTourBuilderarrangestasksinatimeline.EachTourtaskisaddedtothemainTimelineandrunsinorder.ForalistofthepossibleTourTasksseetheTourBuilderTaskTable.sos.noaa.gov/SOS_Explorer/documentation.html