RSI's IDL Software Lets Oceanographers View World Topography 01.28.2003
Research Systems Inc. (RSI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Eastman Kodak Company, announced that its IDL Software is being used by oceanographers to analyze and visualize world topography. IDL Software allows geoscientists to display complex ocean data in a fraction of the time required using other programming environments.
The Earth Sciences Department at Millersville University of Pennsylvania focuses on the study of oceanography, geology and meteorology. Professor Yin S. Soong, who specializes in the teaching and research of ocean circulations, oceanography data visualization and numerical modeling, uses IDL Software for developing custom applications to quickly display and analyze ocean topography. His product, World Topography Viewer, was developed using IDL Software.
Soong said he chose IDL Software after an extensive search for a robust software program that would allow him to interactively display and analyze oceanography data on different operating systems.
Soong's complex data sets, which include earth surface elevation, seawater properties, and satellite remote sensing data, range in file size from 10 to 30 megabytes. Soong required a software program that would allow him to display the large data quickly and meaningfully.
In addition to IDL Software's ease of use and ability to handle large data files, Soong also found that IDL Software saved him a tremendous amount of time. "I estimate I've saved at least ten months of development time by using IDL Software over another program," he stated.
A tutorial of Soong's work is located at the following Web site: http://muweb.millersville.edu/~mxvisual/