The next generation of McIDAS: a melding of the past with the future

The Man computer Interactive Data Access System (McIDAS) software has adapted to changing computing hardware and display platforms for 30 years. Although the look and feel has not changed much during that time, some new functionality or capability was added during each of those generations. The last major effort was during the early 1990s when McIDAS was moved into Unix, X Windows, and the use of ADDE (Abstract Data Distribution Environment) for data access. That effort has taken McIDAS into the 21st century.

New sensors currently on research satellites and aircraft and soon to be operational, that output large data volumes (cubes), are stretching the data structures and the visualization capabilities of McIDAS. Innovative techniques for visualizing and operating with these new data types are needed. The Integrated Data Viewer (IDV), a reference application based on the VisAD system that is being developed by the Unidata Program, brings the flexibility that is needed in this evolving environment, using a modern, object-oriented approach.

A plan has been developed to explore the transition of the current McIDAS-X users into an IDV-based system, to be known as McIDAS-V. The goal of the transition is two-fold:

1. Allow the extensive library of McIDAS-X heritage code that operates with the current satellites to be used for another decade,

2. Provide a new environment for developing algorithms and new visualizations that are required for data from future sensors.

A status of the plan will be presented, including identified trade-offs and future directions.