GUI (user interface)
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This section is devoted to give users a deeper insight about:
Contents
Control Map
The Control Map of the application is managed by the open source Java script library Leaflet. The control is instantiated as the system is started, using the Google Hybrid map provided by Google-Maps services as the background layer. The available background maps are:
- Google Map: consists of the world political map, toponyms are shown with respect to the zoom level;
- Google Satellite: consists of the world's physical map obtained from the composition of high-resolution satellite images;
- Google Hybrid (default): represents the combination of the two aforementioned maps.
In addition to these main options, the user can upload every background map released by open source consortia (eg., OpenStreetMap) such as Standard, Cycle Map, Transport Map, MapQuestOpen, Humanitarian, et c.
The user can select the background map by moving the cursor on the action button located in the lower right of the screen, shown in the following figure:
It is possibile to pan the map by clicking the left mouse button and dragging it to the desired direction. The zoom level may be controlled:
- using the mouse wheel (scroll forward: increases level of zoom / scroll back: decreases zoom level)
- by holding down the SHIFT key on the keyboard and drawing a rectangle with the mouse, holding the left mouse button clicked. In this way, the zoom will be related to the selected area
- by the combination of CTRL and + buttons (Zoom In) or CTRL and - (zoom out)
Toolbar
The Toolbar contains many action buttons, depending on user's profile, like the following:
- Observations: is the section dedicated ot observational data and diagnostic models
- Forecast Models: lists all the available forecast systems (numerical weather prediction models, hydrological models, landslide susceptibility models;
- Static Layers: provides all the information needed to design a comprehensive risk scenario such as the exposures or the hazard maps
- Tools: enables some ancillary functions such as Export, and Report Scenarios
- Search: is the tools allowing the users to search for any element visualized by the platform such as weather stations, toponyms, et c.
- Notifications: this area is dedicated to display the messages delivered by other users of the portal
Display
The time range of the data the system is visualizing are shown in the Display. Within this area the users find:
- the initial date of the time range selected by the users
- the end date of the time range selected by the users
- the current date
By default, the application will Dewetra sets the limits of the time range between the "now" (as the end date of the time range) and 24 hours before (beginning of the period).
In the display there are four action buttons:
- the two calendar icons allow the users to modify, respectively, the starting date and the end of the time range. By clicking on the buttons, you can set both start and end dates (minutes, hours, day, month and year) of any time window into the past and view the data available at that time (the so-called deferred time mode).
- the clock-shaped icon sets back the dates of beginning and end of the time range to the default mode
- the star-shaped icon informs the user about the latest information acquired from the real-time collection system, as in the following figure:
Layer List
Unlike the previous version of Dewetra, the Layer List is dynamically created whenever the user loads a static and / or dynamic layer. Everytime a layer is selected by the user, the Layer List -containing the layer name and the available options for it- is displayed in the top left corner.
Each element of the list can be turned on or off and therefore displayed or hidden on the map, by acting on the control menu next to the name.
Its relative position on the list corresponds to the position of the layer on the map: usually, the latter layer thata has been pulled on overlaps the former ones.
Anyway, users may change the priority of a layer, by left-clicking the layer icon next top the name in the Layer List and dragging it up or down.
The available features for the dynamic layers (Observations and Forecast) and for the Static Layers are described in the dedicated sections.
Additional Tools
The Additional Tools button is placed in the upper right of the dashboard, immediately below the Toolbar and includes in order, from left to the right, the tools Share, info, Print map and Measure.
This functionality is not yet available.
info
Info is activated by left-clicking i icon and allows the user to pull on the information associated to each layer that has been previously loaded.
In the following example, the application of 'info to the rainfall layer: the pop-up window opens in the upper right part of the screen displaying the rain depth of the point that has been clicked on.
If info is applied to a static layer, the pop-up window will show all the attributes available in the database for that layer. As an example, the next figure shows the result displayed in case a user clicked the Hospitals layer.
To disable the info and return to the navigation mode, left-click again on the i icon.
Print map
The Print map button allows the user to open a pop-up window containing a preview of the Control Map displayed at the time: by clicking the Download Image button located at the lowerright corner of the pop-up window, the map can be downloaded in .png format and saved on user's own local disk.
In case the user would not to proceed with the download of the map, the pop-up window can be closed just by clicking on the X-shaped button in the upper right of the pop-up window.
Size
The Measure button allows you to open a drop-down menu through which you can choose to Create a new measurement by left-clicking on the corresponding button. In this way the user can draw a straight line or pinpoint the vertices of a polygon by left-clicking directly on the map. At the same time, through a pop-up window, the system provides information about the line's length (in both kilometers and miles) and the area of the polygon (in both square metres and miles).
To complete the action, left-click on Finish Measurement inside the pop-up menu: in this way, the last point on the map set is automatically connected to the first.
When the measurement is completed, the system displays the length of the solid line and area of the polygon. Also, user may choose whether to delete it or to centre the Control Map on the line (polygon) that has been previously drawn.
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