User Interface


The Selector is the control component of the RealEarth User Interface. It includes a variety of controls to inspect and create displays. The Selector is shown on the left side of the display. From top to bottom, there are 4 components:

Tools

The tool bar provides quick access to this documentation, a way to manually refresh the latest data, and options for Settings and Sharing.

Settings

Click the Settings button to configure global options:

Sharing

Click the Share button to share your current display:

Animation

Standard Animation Controls

The slider below these buttons controls the animation speed.

Additional animation controls

Time Selection

There are three modes controlling animation times: Absolute, Relative to now, or relative to available Product times. Time ranges may span past and future times.

Relative Times

Times are relative to the current clock time (now). Beginning and ending times are entered as minutes, hours or days in the past or future relative to now. Time step is entered as absolute minutes, hours or days.

Absolute Times

Times are absolute beginning and ending date/times. Time step is entered as absolute minutes, hours or days.

Product Times

Times are based on the available times of one of the displayed products (the time driver). The time steps of the animation will be determined by the date/times available for the selected product. The time driver can be selected from the list of displayed products.

NOTE: Changes to the time settings will not be applied until the Set times button is clicked.

Product Selection

Collections

A Collection is a group of products that share topic-specific content. Data providers define the products contained within a collection. Different collections can be selected using the Collection drop-down list. Selecting a collection will populate the Presets and Products tabs.

Presets

Presets represent saved views including products, geographical region, and animation settings. Presets can be loaded by dragging them onto the main display, or by clicking on the Replace Display button. Information about all of the products in the Preset can be viewed by clicking on the Info button.

Any display can be saved as a Favorite, which is a Preset that is stored locally in the browser. No other RealEarth users will see your Favorites. Favorites appear at the top of the Presets list.

Data providers can create Presets that reside on the server and are available to all users, and which may be organized into named Categories.

NOTE: Loading a Preset will replace the contents of the display.

Products

All products belonging to the selected Collection are shown here. Products may be organized into named categories. The Search box allows filtering of the list based on Product ID, Name, and Description (search results are not grouped into categories).

Each Product shows a preview of the most recent time at the current coordinates of the main display. Products can be loaded by dragging them onto the main display, or by clicking on the Add to Display button. Information about the product can be viewed by clicking on the Info button. Newly-added Products appear at the top of the layer stack, and may reset the time driver if Product time is selected.

Displayed

When a Product is added to the main display, it is added to the layer stack and displayed here. Layer order within the stack determines the drawing order of the layers in the main display, and Layers may be re-ordered by drag/dropping them within the stack.

Each Layer shows a preview of the most recent time at the current coordinates of the main display. Layers can be removed by clicking on the Remove from Display button. Information about the product can be viewed by clicking on the Info button.

Additionally, each Layer shows the current UTC time of the data in the main display. This may be different for each Layer, depending on the available times. More information on time matching can be found here. An exact time for any layer can be displayed by clicking on the UTC Time Display and selecting from the Product Times drop-down.

Individual layers can be toggled on/off with the checkbox, and transparency can be set using the slider. If a layer is <5% opaque or is toggled off, the data will not be loaded from the server.

Main Display

View Type

The view type can be changed using this drop-down menu.

Base Maps & Labels

Base maps and labels can be selected and toggled on/off using these controls.

Location Search

The Location Search bar allows searching by place name.

Status

The current nominal date/time is shown in the status widget at the top center of the display. Clicking on each element of the date/time will toggle the display format (See the settings section for more info). More information on time matching can be found here.

Legends

Legends are shown at the bottom center of the display, and are stacked in the same order that the corresponding Product Layers are stacked in the display. Click on the legends to toggle them on/off. Note that not all Products have Legends.

Probing Data

Imagery

Right-clicking in the main display will present a menu with the option to Probe all displayed Products at the click location and nominal date/time. Probing occurs on the server, and appropriate probes must be provided by the data providers. The layout of the Probe result is not enforced.

Shapes

Hovering over a shape will show a tooltop with quick information about the object (if defined in the Product), and clicking on a shape (point/line/polygon) will show a pop-up window with information about the object.