Home  Help Searching For Data
The SSDB has three tools for the searching, viewing and downloading of data objects that reside with the SSDB's Digital Library. SSDBquery and SSDBviewer search data that have been submitted since the launch of SSDB in 2005; they return identical search results for the same search. SSDBlegacy searches older data and records of physical objects from before 2005. All the search tools can be launched by clicking on the left sidebar menu.
SSDBquery is a web-browser-driven text interface. Within this interface users can search for data related to a specific proposal or proposals, find specified data type(s), find data uploaded between specified dates, or data within a specified geographic region.
The result of a query is a table of results which, for each item, gives the proposal number, site name(s), data type, object type, file name, file size, and upload date. The table can be sorted (in ascending or descending order) by any of these categories by clicking on the column heading, making it easy to see, for example, which data have been submitted since a previous panel meeting.
Users can click on the filename to view the file, assuming the file is of a type that can either be viewed in a browser or by an appropriate plug-in on the user's computer. Otherwise files can be downloaded to personal computers, e.g., by right clicking (ctrl-clicking on a Mac) and choosing "Save Link As...". If a user cannot view or download a file, it is because that user does not have access to the associated proposal. With SSDBquery you can download only one file at a time.
SSDBviewer is an alternative portal into the data bank, enabling discovery of all data objects, displayed over a basemap of global topography. Within this Java application, users may search for objects by data type, proposal number, geographic region or other user-specified criteria. SSDBviewer displays the location of found objects and allows for downloading one or more object at the same time.
Users can begin their search for data in the upper left panel by selecting "Advanced Search," then choosing the appropriate proposal number and then clicking "Submit Search." The results are presented in two fashions.
The results of a search will graphically appear in the main map panel of SSDBviewer. At the present, icons are drawn at the center of the coordinates used to georeference the object. To see a summary of information about the object, right-click (ctrl-click with a Mac) on the icon to pop up a small window. With the pop-up window users can also view the file by clicking on "Open File" assuming the appropriate plug-ins exist on the computer for viewing the file.
The results of the query are also displayed in the upper right hand panel of the viewer, allowing users to browse through folders for each data type. By right clicking (ctrl-clicking on a Mac) on a folder, or on an individual file or files, that file, or all files in a folder, can be added to a download list.
To download the selected file(s), click on the "Download list" button at the top of the file list. This will show a list of files selected for download. To begin the download, the user must enter an email address into the Email box and press the "Download Now" button. This starts up another Java application called DOTS (Digital Object Transfer System), with which the user can again select specific files for download, and begin the download by clicking the "Save" button. For each data file listed in the DOTS table there is a corresponding ".mif" metadata file. Most users will only need to examine the data files, and can ignore the ".mif" files.
SSDBlegacy provides a search interface for data, physical objects, and basic proposal and site information submitted before 2005, when the SSDB library was launched. Users can search by proposal numbers, site numbers, and a few additional fields like proponent name (for proposals) and filename (for digital files). Because there is less metadata available for the older objects, the search capabilities are not as broad. |
|
Last Update: February 01, 2012 |
Login