Plotting data / Getting data

Now, all that remains is to set the time interval that the plot will cover.

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A good deal of time has been spent collecting the data available on SPIDR, so the years covered in the drop-down bars will stretch back quite far. While there are buttons that allow the user to define the time interval as the last 24 hours, the last week, and the last 30 days, these can be ignored for now.

1. - The "From:" interval should be set at January 1, 1990, and the "To:" interval should be set at February 28, 1990.
2. - Click the blue underlined text to continue to the plots.

Plotting data / Using the data basket

The page will stretch down as far as necessary to accommodate the plot displays. Since there are only two plots in the tutorial, the page will not be very large at all.

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Clearly, the output display shows a good deal of information

1. - The plots themselves are color-coded, and each color has some text connecting it to the key further down the page. The X- and Y-axes are labeled, as well.
2. - A key to the abbreviations that accompany the plots is available further down the screen.
3. - Some other options lie all the way down the screen. The user can download the data to their computer from this page, or from the "Selected Parameters and Stations" page, displayed on page 9.
4. - Having now explored most of what the Guru interface has to offer, using the Advanced User interface next time through SPIDR may be beneficial.

Using the data basket

If the user does select the option to download from the data basket to the computer, a screen like this should pop up:

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After a few moments, an automatic download window should appear. Follow the instructions to download the file, which is normally zipped. Zipped files can be opened by standard Windows utilities.

1. - If the automatic download window does not appear, clicking on a link close to the top of the page brings the window up for the user.
2. - More options abound towards the bottom of the page:

Change time interval (in case the same data types are desired, but at different time intervals) Edit data basket (which will return the user to the display shown on page 9).

And that's the end of the Novice User Tutorial for SPIDR. See you at the Advanced SPIDR User Tutorial!