[UW-GIS-L] confusing file

[Phil Hurvitz]

Arc generally looks for ASCII files with the .txt or .csv extension. You
will need to add the header line, change the multiple spaces to single
commas, change the file name, and you should then be able to read the
data directly into Arc, then display XY data.

-P.

 **************************************************************
  Phil Hurvitz, MFR | PhD Student, Urban Planning | Gould 317
    College of Architecture and Urban Planning | Box 355740
 University of Washington, Seattle, Washington  98195-5740, USA
 phurvitz at u.washington.edu | http://gis.washington.edu/phurvitz
 "What is essential is invisible to the eye." -de Saint-Exupéry
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Cathy Reidy Liermann wrote:

> Hi Phil,

> 

> Thanks for your reply.  I guess I assumed that if the file was intended to

> be read as ASCII, that it would already have its header record.  My bad; I

> can easily enough add the required info.  Then do I just rename it .asc?

> 

> As for the extraction/decompression software - that wasn't a problem at all.

> I just didn't know what to do with the file once I had it.

> 

> Thanks again,

> Cathy

> 

> Cathy Reidy Liermann

> Postdoctoral Researcher

> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

> University of Washington

> School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences

> Campus Box 355020

> Seattle, WA  98195

> Phone:  (+01) 206-685-9582

> Fax:  (+01) 206-685-6939

> email:  cathyrl at u.washington.edu

>  

> FOR DELIVERIES AND EXPRESS MAIL:

> UW-Fishery Sciences Building

> 1122 NE Boat Ste.

> Seattle, WA  98105

>  

>  

> 

> -----Original Message-----

> From: uw-gis-l-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu

> [mailto:uw-gis-l-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Phil

> Hurvitz

> Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 6:06 PM

> To: UW - GIS Discussion & Support

> Subject: Re: [UW-GIS-L] confusing file

> 

> The structure of these files seems to be laid out clearly in the README

> file:

> 

> http://climate.geog.udel.edu/~climate/html_pages/README.ghcn_clim2.html

> 

> They are just XY coordinates followed by a series of measurements at

> these locations for different time points. You should be able to read

> these into your favorite GIS as ASCII data. Of course you'd want to add

> a header record and replace 1+ spaces with single commas to make the

> import easier since they appear to be constant width fields.

> 

> By the way, WinZip and gzip.exe handle the .Z compression format easily

> on a PC.

> 

> -P.

> 

>  **************************************************************

>   Phil Hurvitz, MFR | PhD Student, Urban Planning | Gould 317

>     College of Architecture and Urban Planning | Box 355740

>  University of Washington, Seattle, Washington  98195-5740, USA

>  phurvitz at u.washington.edu | http://gis.washington.edu/phurvitz

>  "What is essential is invisible to the eye." -de Saint-Exupéry

>  **************************************************************

> 

> Note: we cannot ensure the confidentiality of any information sent via

> e-mail.

> 

> Cathy Reidy Liermann wrote:

>> Thanks, Harvey.  Here's the file.  I've looked high and low and can find

> no

>> reference to .clim files anywhere, neither on UnivDel's site nor anywhere

>> else on the net.  I've searched the ESRI forums, and nothing.  I've played

>> around with changing the file extension, and nothing.  

>>

>> Any help you can provide would be great!  I'm sure it's going to be a

>> ridiculously obvious answer that will embarrass me, but oh well.  :)

>>

>> Cathy Reidy Liermann

>> Postdoctoral Researcher

>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

>> University of Washington

>> School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences

>> Campus Box 355020

>> Seattle, WA  98195

>> Phone:  (+01) 206-685-9582

>> Fax:  (+01) 206-685-6939

>> email:  cathyrl at u.washington.edu

>>  

>> FOR DELIVERIES AND EXPRESS MAIL:

>> UW-Fishery Sciences Building

>> 1122 NE Boat Ste.

>> Seattle, WA  98105

>>  

>>  

>>

>> -----Original Message-----

>> From: uw-gis-l-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu

>> [mailto:uw-gis-l-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Harvey

>> Greenberg

>> Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 5:26 PM

>> To: UW - GIS Discussion & Support

>> Subject: Re: [UW-GIS-L] confusing file

>>

>> Z is an extra extension. Typically a file named "rainfall.clim" would 

>> compress to "rainfall.clim.Z"

>>

>> A series of files or directories ,.e.g. "rainfalldir" would be converted 

>> to a single file named "rainfalldir.tar" whcih could be compressed to 

>> "rainfalldir.tar.Z". But there is no evidence of tar here.

>>

>> It looks like you successfully uncompressed a .clim file. The remaining 

>> question is: What the hell is a .clim file? Check their web site or 

>> google to find out. If it needs to be reformatted for arc/info to see 

>> it, I can take a crack at it next week.

>>

>> harvey

>>

>> Cathy Reidy Liermann wrote:

>>> Hi there,

>>>

>>> I've downloaded some gridded climate data from Univ. of Delaware, and 

>>> can not for the life of me figure out how to read the file.

>>>

>>> The documentation says "Important note: all files available here for 

>>> downloading have been "compressed" under Unix in order to save space. 

>>> A single compressed file has ".Z" extension. You may need to respecify 

>>> the ".Z" extension when you save a compressed file. Some of our 

>>> archives also have multiple files (such as time series) that are 

>>> "tar"ed under Unix and have a ".tar" extension. As a result, files 

>>> must be "untared" and/or "uncompressed" to return them to their 

>>> original ASCII format, before they may be used."

>>>

>>> I've extracted from the .Z and the single file's extension now is 

>>> .clim. When I open it in Word Pad, it doesn't have the ascii header 

>>> information. Any suggestions?

>>>

>>> Thanks,

>>>

>>> Cathy

>>>

>>> Cathy Reidy Liermann

>>>

>>> Postdoctoral Researcher

>>>

>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

>>>

>>> University of Washington

>>>

>>> School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences

>>>

>>> Campus Box 355020

>>>

>>> Seattle, WA 98195

>>>

>>> Phone: (+01) 206-685-9582

>>>

>>> Fax: (+01) 206-685-6939

>>>

>>> email: cathyrl at u.washington.edu <mailto:cathyrl at u.washington.edu>

>>>

>>> FOR DELIVERIES AND EXPRESS MAIL:

>>>

>>> UW-Fishery Sciences Building

>>>

>>> 1122 NE Boat Ste.

>>>

>>> Seattle, WA 98105

>>>

>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>>

>>> _______________________________________________

>>> Uw-gis-l mailing list

>>> Uw-gis-l at u.washington.edu

>>> http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/uw-gis-l

>>>   

>>

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