- Get Inspired: Grab the mexnc_dap binary for your platform and Matlab version and the latest netcdf_toolkit from here and then get the test Matlab script "get_roms_dap.m" from here. Make sure that "which mexnc" points to your new OpenDAP-enabled mexnc mex file, and then run the "get_roms_dap" demo script to see how easy-to-use and powerful the OpenDAP-enabled mexnc is. Note to prevous Matlab/NetCDF users: "mexnc" replaces "mexcdf", "mexcdf53" etc but is backwards compatible with old code written using these routines.
- Be Compliant: Make your ROMS output CF-Compliant. Grab and modify the "roms2cf" script from here to make your existing ROMS output files CF-Compliant. This script uses the very handy NCO Operators to directly modify the netcdf files. See here for more info on the CF-Conventions, and check your files to see if they are compliant at the CF Checker.
- Kick Butt: Get IDV>, then try "Data=>New Data Source=>From a Web Server" and for the url, type "http://stellwagen.er.usgs.gov/adria/mod ... oamps.xidv" and then sit back and wait while the data is loaded.
[Note: IDV can also access NetCDF files directly via the web -- OpenDAP is not *required*] - Be a Good Citizen: Serve your netcdf data via OpenDAP: Grab the "CGI Server Base" and "CGI Server NetCDF module" for your web server from here and then follow the install instructions. (Basically all you do is unpack the binaries into your cgi-bin directory, edit a config file to point to the places where you have netcdf files, and who has access. It took me 35 minutes to get our OpenDAP server going!
- Be a Better Citizen: Make a THREDDS catalog of your DODS-served data so folks can more easily view it with tools like the IDV. These are simple XML files that just tell tools like IDV the protocol and location of the data. Check this example
- Rich Signell