McIDAS Survey

This survey is NO LONGER ACTIVE. Please contact Dave Santek for further details or questions.
June 7, 2004

This survey will be used to identify the McIDAS functionality that is important to the McIDAS community, as we investigate a transition plan to a new Java-based environment: McIDAS-V. We need your input to ensure that the functionality you rely on will be available in the next generation package. The results of the survey will help us determine priorities and strategies during the planning and implementation.

See:
http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/mug/hot_topics/mugmtg/2003/presentations/ssec_mcidas_future.pdf
for information about our transition plans presented at the October 2003 MUG meeting.

Please complete this survey by 31 May 2004. We will post the results of the survey in early June. Thank you for your time!

Contact Information

Name	First:	Last:

Email Address

1. McIDAS-X commands can be run in many different ways. Rate the importance of each of these on a scale from 1 to 5.

	1	2	3	4	5
	(Not Important)		(Ho Hum)		(Extremely Important)
McIDAS command window

McIDAS GUI

McIDAS Batch files

F-Keys and F-Key menus

McBASI files

McIDAS scheduler

Unix prompt or shell scripts

Scheduled through cron

Other, please describe
	(optional)

2. Some McIDAS-X commands interact with the display or require user input while running. Rate the importance of each of these on a scale from 1 to 5.

	1	2	3	4	5
	(Not Important)		(Ho Hum)		(Extremely Important)
ASK1

CM

DIST

EB

FRMLABEL with CRAWL=

GRDDISP with MOVIE=

IMGMAG

IMGPLOT

IMGPROBE with MODE=I

IMGTRACK

PCMW

STNLIST with MODE=I

TOWNS

UACROSS with MODE=I

ZA with Mouse option

ZLM with MODE=I

3. McIDAS has some unique concepts. Rate the importance of each of these on a scale from 1 to 5. For those you rate a 4 or 5, please include a description of how it's used:

	1	2	3	4	5
	(Not Important)		(Ho Hum)		(Extremely Important)
Paneled frames
	Description:

Independent graphics
	Description:

Virtual graphics
	Description:

String tables
	Description:

REDIRECT for locating files
	Description:

Briefing frames
	Description:

4. McIDAS-X uses frames that are sequentially numbered. This will not be the case in McIDAS-V, as frames will be located and addressable by their contents rather than by a number. How important are numerically addressable frames, for example: SF 5?

	1	2	3	4	5
	(Not Important)		(Ho Hum)		(Extremely Important)
How Important:

5. The output from McIDAS-X commands fall into a few categories. On a scale from 1 to 5, rate each of these with respect to the operations at your site.

	1	2	3	4	5
	(Not Important)		(Ho Hum)		(Extremely Important)
McIDAS Area files (IMGCOPY)

netCDF image files (IMGCOPY)

Text or binary image files (AXFORM)

Text output from data listing (IMGLIST, PTLIST, GRDLIST, etc. with DEV=)

Graphics, saved to GIF, JPEG, etc. (FRMSAVE)

Other, please describe
	(optional)

6. For locally developed code, basically describe what the application does and what the inputs and outputs are. Also, take into consideration the following:

Basic description of application

If the output includes graphics, provide a URL of a screenshot.	(optional)

Does this code make use of data, input or output, that is not part of the standard McIDAS package?	Yes No	Details:	(optional)

Does the user interact with the program with the mouse or keyboard while it’s running?	Mouse Keyboard None

7. After we compile information from this survey, we will be looking for a longer-term commitment from several McIDAS users in the community to help us through the remainder of the transition process. At a minimum, this would involve interviews, testing, and feedback to us -- we would expect that several hours will be needed for each of these, spread out over a year.

Please rate your interest (as an individual) in continued involvement:

Last updated 7-June-2004 by SSEC Webmaster