Introduction

A fundamental concept in Metview is the View. A View specifies the following definitions in a Metview plot:

type of visualisation (e.g. geographical map, cross section, vertical profile)
parameters specific to that plot type (e.g. geographical area, cross section line, min/max axes values)
plot position within the page (several plots can share a page)
how to overlay different data in the same plot (e.g. icon drop rules, data overlay control)
plot decoration (e.g. draw a frame around the plot)

Without a View specification, Metview would not plot anything. If you do not provide a View, then Metview will use a sensible default View.

(add a picture with 4 views and highlighting the above definitions)

The current Metview version provides 8 Views specifications:

Name	Usage (Used for plotting or Plotting specification for)
Geographical View	geographic-based data plots
Cartesian View	plots that are not to be displayed on a map
Cross Section View	cross section plots
Vertical Profile View	vertical profile plots
Average View	average (zonal or meridional) cross-section plots
Annotation View	text boxes
Hovmøller View	Hovmøller diagram plots
Thermo View	thermodynamic diagram plots

The Geographical View

This is the default View for plotting geographic-based data.

We will first use a Geographical View icon to save a geographical area that we can reuse.

Create a new Geographical View icon. Take this opportunity to explore the different ways to find it in the Create new icon dialog. First, note that there are three ways to find icons: Recent, Types and Filter. From the Filter mode, type geo to start the search - this should be enough to find Geographical View. Now try the Types mode, and set Type to Views. This shows all the available View icons. The Recent mode gives access to the last few icon types you have created.

Whichever method you choose, create a new Geographical View icon and rename it to the name of a country/region of your choice. Edit the icon, change the Map Projection to Polar Stereographic, the Map Area Definition to Corners and click on the Geography Tool button next to the Area parameter (shown in the picture below).

The Geography Tool

This tool helps you define a region.

Use the Zoom tools to enlarge the European area and use the Area tool to select your region of choice. Click Ok to save your selection - your choices will now be updated in the Geographic View editor. Click Apply in the Geographical View editor to save everything.

Try using this icon in two different ways:

Visualise the Geographical View icon and drag a data icon into the Display Window
Visualise a data icon and drag the Geographical View icon into the Display Window

It is possible to create Geographical View icons for each region you are interested in and store them for regular use (see Storing).

Storing and Reusing Icons

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