In addition to the main HEC-MetVue program, the deployment package also contains a number of useful utilities that are meant to aid in mass and automated data processing using batch files. These utilities are also referred to as 'entry points' since they are not actually different programs but simply an alternative method to access the exact same methods that the HEC-MetVue program uses.

All of the utility batch files are located in the utilities folder of the HEC-MetVue deployment package.  All are actually template batch files that are meant to be copied and modified.  For example the addtin.cmd batch file contains java and class paths:

set java="..\..\jre\bin\java.exe"
set class_path=-cp "../../metvue/modules/*;../../metvue/modules/ext/*;../../platform/modules/*;../../platform/lib/*;%APPDATA%/HEC/HEC-MetVue/3.1.0.1221/user/modules/*"

When relying on relative path (e.g.  "..\jre\bin\java.exe") specifications, the batch file will only work when executed from the utilities folder within the HEC-MetVue package. To execute the batch file from outside the HEC-MetVue package, an absolute file path for the java executable and metvue modules should be used.  The file paths can be manually edited or teh DeploymentAid utility can be used to automatically replace all relative paths with absolute paths.

By default, only the usage help (-?) argument is included in all the batch file templates.  The usage help argument is meant to be replaced by one or more of the command line options that the entry point supports.

All of the descriptions in this section use similar formatting to describe argument usage. Arguments that are in brackets are optional, but arguments in parentheses are required.

These utilities may require a significant amount of memory depending on datasets specified. For intensive data operations, it may be necessary to increase the memory allocated to the jvm. This can be performed by setting the -Xmx argument, which can be altered easily in the "memory_setting" variable in the GridReader.cmd example file provided.


Batch File

Description

GridReader.cmdUsed to read TIN or Grid information, in any HEC-MetVue supported input format, and stores it in any of the following supported output file formats: ESRI ASCII Grid, ESRI FLT Grid, PRISM BIL, or HEC-DSS .
NCGribExtractor.cmdUsed to read NetCDF of Grib files, and converts the grids into individual ESRI FLT files for use within HEC-MetVue.

AddTin.cmd

Used to aggregate multiple TINs into a single TIN. This utility can be used to combine images temporally or spatially. The spatial combining is useful to take two or more TINs that cover different geographic areas and combine them into a single TIN that covers the total geographic area of the individual TINs.

BasinComps.cmd

Used to compute basin averages, usually precipitation, using the given shapefiles and TINs for each polygon or zone defined in the shapefile. The output is directed either to a text file or DSS as a hyetograph.

ProjectTinToGrid.cmd

Used to take an input TIN, optionally translate and rotate the TIN to a new geographic position, and write the resultant TIN to an ASCII GRID file. This was developed for a specific study and may be removed or superseded in the future with a more flexible entry.

GageToTin.cmd

Used to convert a set of georeferenced gage time series measurements into a time series of spatially interpolated TINs or grids.

TriangulateTin.cmd

Used to convert a text file containing georeferenced measurement data for a time span and converting the data to a spatially interpolated TIN.

CalRad.cmd

Used to calibrate a radar TIN using a ground truth control TIN. Although developed for radar calibration, this utility is a generalized adjustment utility which could be used for elevation corrections and possibly other uses as well, in particular computing differences between two TINs.

DepthAreaToTin.cmd

Utility developed for the Ft. Worth district as an aid for creating elliptical storms based on depth-area data. The process takes a resultant storm and then uses the HEC-MetVue disaggregation capability to create a design storm.

RfcGridReader.cmd

Deprecated utility to take radar images in XMRG, NetCDF, and GRIB formats from the Arkansas Basin River Forecast Center (ABRFC) and convert to a native HEC-MetVue format which can be saved to a file or DSS.  Instead of RfcGridReader.cmd, GridReader.cmd should be used as it handles ABRFC data and more.  In addition GridReader.cmd gets updated frequently to support newer data product from a variety of sources.

ImageSnapShot

Used to create an image file of spatial data on a MetVue Map Panel.

DeploymentAid

Used to convert all the the relative file path information to absolute file paths in any or all the batch file templates under the [INSTALL DIRECTORY]/metvue/utilities/windows.