IAT, the Image Analysis Tool, is a Java™ applet that does only two things, but it does them quickly and efficiently if you have lots of memory and bandwidth.
IAT runs in JDK© 1.1.8 or later Java Applet Viewers and Java-enabled Web Browsers, they are still the most widely used browsers.
IAT allows the user to:
(1) quickly cross-scan between and through temporally-related data images from a number of large online image databases, primarily related to the Geotail Spacecraft , and images from other sources, such as the Polar, ACE, and Wind spacecraft, and the NASA's Key Parameter website, where images are presented dynamically (See the readme or AboutIAT HTML files. IAT works on the geosynchronous orbit, Geotail. Polar, and Wind 24-hour images from NASA's Key Parameter website just not ON the website yet! ). The image databases contain the measurements from particle and magnetic field instruments carried on several different spacecraft, such as the Geotail Spacecraft and
(2) easily record event intervals identified by start and stop times which are selected as the user mouse clicks at the beginning and end of relevant features in any of the displayed images. Timebase setup is straightforward and accomplished in a few clicks. The user can easily add general commentary and/or annotate any specific entry they choose as they are making a selection.
Guides. In IAT 0.8.4 I added a "feature" that is quite useful, but doesn't fully work the way I want it to yet, it´s only about 90% there. IAT now has two movable fiducial lines, that is, electronic straightedges, one red and one blue, that I call "guides". These are dashed lines floating above the image canvas. Each one has a tab in the shape of an arrow that you can use to drag the dashed line around the plot. The guides help the user ensure that an intended event in one panel is lined-up with events visible in other panels and/or in other plot-types (as in the case of the EPIC and AMPTE/CCE plots - which are all (99.99%) set to the same format/size standard). Unfortunately, I don't yet have the guides set up so that you can either click-through them or use them to enter the setup times when in setup mode. Presently you need to move them aside in order to click a setup time. In IE (v5.1.4 on the Mac), dragging the guides around temporarily leaves traces obscuring the image until the guide is brought to rest, then these traces disappear. This does not occur in other browsers.
IAT communicates with the user through the Browser's Status Bar.
I have figured out which preference change in Sun´s HotJava Browser allows IAT to be operated remotely from this website. Now you don´t have to download the applet unless you have a really slow connection, such as accessing websites on different continents, Japan-USA, Greece-Japan. This is good news - because you (and I) don´t have to go through any Signed Applet hoops in order to use the IAT applet from this website. Look below in Real World Operability for the preference change that makes it work. Additionally, the IAT/HotJava combination has been tested on BOTH Windows NT and the Mac OS - IAT worked fine on both platforms. That is, IAT accessed any and all image databases we tried to view - just as it is supposed to. This probably means that any platform (Solaris, Windows, or Mac) that has a HotJava browser is a probable client platform for IAT. One must remember that Sun and other complementary companies receive necessary revenues by managing network security. Network security is not rain water or air, it is not free...yet!
Because IAT accesses the database files directly (that is, outside of Java's nominally defined sandbox boundaries) and the various Web Browsers on different platforms treat Java Sandbox/Security issues differently, I have not yet spent any time fine tuning this issue. Consequently, IAT might not run off this website in your favorite Java-enabled Browser without some extra effort. I then suggest you then use your platform's Java Applet Viewer/Runner. (These are free applications and you should be able to get the latest Applet Viewer at Sun's or your favorite platform's website [e.g., Apple's ]. )
The image databases are wide-ranging and extensive - consisting of over 50,000 image files. As an example, for Geotail there are over 6000 EPIC-C1 files and over 9000 LEP-E_T files covering the 8-year interval 1993-2000. They are maintained for use by the Space Physics community at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory , the University of Iowa , and the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science . IAT also supports images from Geotail's Plasma Wave Instrument, and from NASA's Key Parameter websites. IAT currently finds times only on the 24-hour Key Parameter images. Geotail, Polar, ACE, Wind, and geosynchronous/ground 24-hour images can be on NASA's website.
The Geotail mission operates as part of the International Solar-Terrestrial Program ( ISTP), which is run jointly under the auspices of ISAS , the Institute for Space and Astronautical Sciences in Japan, and NASA the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the United States.
IAT was developed with and works very well in Apple's Classic Macintosh© Runtime for Java (MRJ 2.2.5) and now UNIX-based OS-X-10.1.x environments (Something was changed when Apple updated to Os-X-10.2. IAT cannot access the internet in 10.2, but works well in the classic mode under Mac OS 9.2.2). IAT was written to generate text listings of event times I selected in time-ordered data images for various ongoing scientific studies. The text listing can then be used for further analysis. I have often found it more productive to visually identify intervals of interest than to attempt to write yet another program to identify intervals of interest. (When this programming is done, the results usually need be verified visually anyways.) Additionally, I had tired of entering text and/or clicking on the buttons and links on the various data-websites needed to intercompare the data sets. Navigation between the sites was tedious at best. When hundreds to thousands of intervals need to be recorded, errors from manual data entry increase rapidly. IAT, a solution that was waiting to be created, produces an accurate (to-the-minute) record of times of interest and helps reduce manual entry errors to a minimum. IAT is much "easier" to use than surfing between the various HTML pages.
You still need to push buttons, make choices, and enter text, but far less often than before.
The first version of IAT was written during October 2000 to access EPIC images. Access was added for CPI, LEP, and PWI images in January-February 2001, for Wind/STICS and ACE/EPAM in August-September 2001, and for Polar/TIDE and Polar/TIMAS in February 2002.
A number of sample image files have been placed on this website. These are files covering the first half of day 222, 1998, i.e., 98222, 10.Aug.1998 or 980810. They are: (EPIC) sdpc1_98222a.gif, sdpc2_98222a.gif, sdpk1_98222a.gif, sdpk2_98222a.gif, sdpk3_98222a.gif, sdpl1_98222a.gif; (CPI, these are 5-day plots) HP_980809.GIF, SW_980809.GIF; (LEP) 98081001E_T.jpg; (PWI) 98081000.gif. I have also included the NASA_KP geosynchronous data plot for 98222 to demonstrate that it can be used. A few of images are missing, e.g., sdpk4_98222a.gif(EPIC), and 98081001PLOT.GIF(MAG/LEP).
REMEMBER: If you want to access the image databases on the internet,
set IAT's resource location button to "url".
The Java Security Manager allows you to view and work with the sample images on this website and with the images at many instruments' databases at their websites. Until I implement the "unknown spacecraft" imagetype: Please note that IAT currently does not have a direct path to some image databases. In order to view images from such sites, you may be able to download the desired images (by dragging them to your desktop), put them into the same directory as IAT. Then, if the image timebase is similar to that of one of the existing imagetypes, rename the file to that of the existing imagetype, and enter the image's start time (as YRDOY or YRMODY). I've done this many times. Also, send me the name and URL of the image database and I will see about adding the database.
NOTE: The following instructions focus on Sun´s HotJava Browser , but these instructions could have just as easily been written for Microsoft´s Internet Explorer Browser (i.e., Edit->Preferences->Web_Browser->Java->Security_Options->Network_Access->Unrestricted_Access).
From the Website: If you want to use IAT from the website you have to:
From the Desktop:
Use the above setup for Sun´s HotJava Browser and it should work.
Please read About IAT Applet before you try running the current (v0.8.7, 13.Oct.2002) version.
Download the current (13.Oct.2002) version of IAT (v0.8.7) and its core files: IATapplet_f.zip or download an earlier version: IATapplet_old_f.zip
Download the sample image files for day 222, 1998: IATimages_f.zip
Go to the Geotail/EPIC , Geotail/CPI , or Geotail/LEP , or Geotail/PWI websites for more information on these instruments. Links to the other NASA/ISTP spacecraft missions whose images IAT displays can be found in the AboutIAT webpage.
Contact Steve Christon (at mac.com or aol.com ) at Focused Analysis and Research (home)
Copyright © 2000-2008. All rights reserved. Last updated: 29.Sep.2004.