Visualizing Incoming Data

The Visualization Module provides tools for evaluating the current state of the watershed. The module’s main display has several visualization tools that help to identify whether critical conditions exist within the watershed. Icons, plots and graphs, the Alert Message Bar, and animated background images can all be used for monitoring observed data for a watershed.

Icons in the Visualization Module provide a flexible set of tools to facilitate monitoring and evaluating the current state of the watershed. To view current conditions at a glance, you can replace graphical icons with dynamic thumbnail plots and threshold color bars that change color to reflect the status of various parameters at a particular location.

Threshold Color Bars

A Threshold Color Bar is a thick, segmented line representing a linear histogram that compares current data against threshold values for a location. Because threshold color bars are location dependent, you must set the values for each time series icon individually (Configuring Threshold Color Bars). The name of the location appears adjacent to the threshold color bar, and the length of the threshold color bar represents a timeline equal to the duration of the time window. Segments along the color bar reflect time intervals, with colors corresponding to the limits you have defined. The threshold color bars are updated dynamically at the time interval that you entered in the Set Time Window dialog.

Threshold Color Bars

To view the legend for threshold color bars:

Select either the Time Series Icon Tool or Selector Tool from the Map Window Toolbar.
Right-click on a time series icon that has the icon type of a Threshold Color Bar and select Icon Legend from the shortcut menu. The Threshold Legend dialog will open.
The legend shows the threshold values for the current data and the colors that represent each threshold value.

Thumbnail Plots

In some cases, you may wish to use thumbnail plots to represent gages and time series locations. Thumbnail Plots are miniature versions of the full-size plots available in CWMS, showing data for the duration of the time window. The name of the location appears adjacent to the thumbnail plot. As the time window updates, CWMS refreshes the data and updates the plot.

To view the legend for thumbnail plots:

Select either the Time Series Icon Tool or Selector Tool from the Map Window Toolbar.
Right-click a thumbnail plot and select Icon Legend from the shortcut menu. The Thumbnail Plot Legend dialog will open.
The legend displays the pathname, the color of the curve, and the minimum and maximum values of the curve. To edit the color of the curve shown in the thumbnail plot, see Configuring Thumbnail Plots.

Using Plots

If the threshold color bar or thumbnail plot for a location indicates that the incoming data exceeds a given threshold (major flood stage, for example), viewing the data in a plot can help you see the data more clearly.

To access plots of incoming data:

Select either the Time Series Icon Tool or Selector Tool from the Map Window Toolbar.
Right-click on a time series icon and select Plot from the shortcut menu. A CWMS Plot dialog will open.
The CWMS Plot dialog displays a two-dimensional plot that contains data for that location for the current time window. Use the Zoom Tool to zoom in on a specific portion of the plot. See CWMS CAVI Main Window for a more detailed description of the Zoom Tool. In addition, a more detailed description of plots can be found in Plots.

Using Tables

If the color bar or thumbnail plot for a location suggests that the incoming data is atypical or unexpected, viewing the data in a table allows you to examine the data in finer detail.

To access tables of incoming data:

Select either the Time Series Icon Tool or Selector Tool from the Map Window Toolbar.
Right-click on a time series icon, click Tabulate from the shortcut menu, and the CWMS Table dialog opens.

If you have a plot open, you can also tabulate the data by selecting Tabulate from the File menu.