The CoastWatch Utilities let you work with earth science data created by NOAA CoastWatch / OceanWatch, a program within the U.S. Department of Commerce. You can easily view and convert data in various formats: HDF 4, NOAA 1b, and NetCDF 4 with CF metadata (the last of which is a generic format used by many organizations).
The code is written in Java and broken down into a set of command line tools for batch processing, and interactive tools that use Java/Swing for displaying data. The main GUI tool is the CoastWatch Data Analysis Tool (CDAT).
The user's guide and installable builds of the CoastWatch Utilities for Linux, Windows, and Mac are distributed from the https://coastwatch.noaa.gov website, with beta and past builds available at http://www.terrenus.ca/download/cwutils.
Currently OpenJDK 11 from http://openjdk.java.net is used for development and the Java runtime. The easiest way to start tinkering with the code and creating your own custom builds is to:
REQUIRED:
- Install a JDK on your local machine (11 or higher)
- Install the Apache ant and ant-contrib packages
- Create a copy of this git repository on your local machine.
OPTIONAL:
- Install LaTeX and GNU awk if you want to generate the PDF user's guide. LaTeX and gawk executable paths default to /opt/local/bin, modify the header of scripts/make_docs.sh to adjust this.
- Install the ej-technologies install4j package if you want to generate installation packages (more about this below). If not, comment out the install4j related definitions and tasks in the build.xml file or the build will fail.
BUILD AND RUN:
- Install the latest CoastWatch Utilities release from the CoastWatch or Terrenus site. Note the installation directory, you'll need this later.
- Edit or add various Java source files in the src/ directory in your local copy.
- Type
ant(currently tested with Ant 1.10.6) in the root direcotory. This creates a new lib/java/cwutils.jar file. - Copy lib/java/cwutils.jar to lib/java in your CoastWatch Utilities installation directory.
- Run the tool you've modified as normal in your installation, either using the command line launcher scripts or the GUI launchers under Windows and Mac.
Your new code will then be picked up and run by the launchers in the existing installation. Some other useful
Ant targets (ant -p lists all possible build targets):
ant api- Builds the Javadoc API and puts it into doc/api.ant doc- Creates the Javadoc API, manual pages, and user's guide PDF file in doc/. Requires that LaTeX and GNU awk is installed on your machine. You may need to adjust the paths at the top of scripts/make_docs.sh to help find various programs.ant test-jar- Builds the new cwutils.jar file and copies it into directory named by the install.dir property in the cwutils.properties file. This is as easy way to compile and test repeatedly.ant test-cdat- Builds the new cwutils.jar file and runs CDAT using only the development environment (no other CoastWatch Utilities installation is required). You may need to modify the cwutils.properties file to help the Java VM find the correct native library linker variable and path for your machine, or you'll see native library linking errors.
If you want to create your own installation packages rather than piggybacking off an existing installation as mentioned above, you'll need to obtain a license for the install4j software used to create Java program launchers and installation packages from ej-technologies available at https://www.ej-technologies.com/products/install4j/overview.html, or possibly some other similar software. The CoastWatch Utilities installation packages are created using an open source non-profit license generously donated by ej-technologies. To create packages using Ant:
- Modify the install4j.dir path in the cwutils.properties file to your install4j installation path.
- Modify the pkg.dir path to your preferred package destination.
- Type
ant packagesto build the default packages: Linux, Windows, and Mac installations. - Type
ant packages -Dbuilds=IDSwhere IDS is a list of comma-separated package IDs that you want: linux64, linux64.novm, windows64, or macosx64.
General comments and questions on using the software should go to coastwatch.info@noaa.gov. Specific software development questions and bug/crash reports can be posted here. Also we welcome Java developers to contribute to the project -- please feel free to ask for help with the API if you're writing your own code and/or provide code improvements as you see them.
The user's guide in the installation directory and linked from https://coastwatch.noaa.gov contains all the information you'll need for using the software, and a primer for software developers as well to write your own programs that use the API.
The doc/ directory contains a copy of this license statement:
CoastWatch Software Library and Utilities
Copyright (c) 1998-2024 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
All rights reserved.
Developed by:
CoastWatch / OceanWatch
Center for Satellite Applications and Research
https://coastwatch.noaa.gov
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal with the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
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Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimers.
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Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimers in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
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In addition, redistributions of modified forms of the source or binary code must carry prominent notices stating that the original code was changed and the date of the change.
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Neither the names of CoastWatch / OceanWatch, Center for Satellite Applications and Research, nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this Software without specific prior written permission.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE CONTRIBUTORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS WITH THE SOFTWARE.