Toolbox

Professionally, the word toolbox has many meanings. Of course dependent on your own definition of the word professionally.

I take the meaning of the collective paraphernalia I would need, as a scientist, to get things done. So that no injustice is perpetrated towards what is meant by a scientist, my meaning here connotes to geoscience. I mix up several themes in the spectrum of it. Geoscience that is.

The tools themselves pair differently on a case by case. Further dependence is on the part on point of the value chain. Conceptualization, design, acquisition, quality control, processing, interpretation, reporting and interactive processes. Visualisation for all the parts named above can be different for the various objectives of Visualisation as a standalone theme.

Top of the box would be awareness and capacity to define what should be in the hood. A granular understanding of what each tool should do for you in part and whole. This awareness and understanding might require you to honour some kind of mastery of the domain knowledge from which the problem features. It is honorable to be efficient. An example could be the number of mouse clicks you need to grid some taxi values along a runway measured by a GPS, sample the grid to a database, reduce these values from values measured at different levels above the runway, regress with altimeter data and define a factor for converting radar to height above datum.

I feel less efficient for the number of words used to describe the example. Sounds like a radar stack problem airborne geophysics. I think it is.

1997, Luyendyk

So for that problem, let's see what the toolbox for it would be like. Lazily and luxuriously, I refuse to talk about building "cheap" tools. I will consider off the shelf tools. I know about them as a starter. My data stream is binary off the plane and I need some conversion tools. Next clicks involve setting up a database, cleaning the flight, waiiiiit.we have to be sure of the sensor output and that the data is meaningful. QC the sensors and sensor data.

Okay, determine how to determine the ends of the runway, zero values on the speed column? If its not provided, you are possibly aware of the relation between time , XYs ,and speed. Go! With the ends Identified, you can clip the lines neatly and grid the elevation measured back and forth. I think you should redatum the gps by subtracting its offset from the ground.

The grid output is probably nice and we want the smooth values back in our database. The elevation values recorded along the higher stacks and be reduced to be referenced to the ground level and not the sea level. At this point we can regress the radar and the reduced gps. Careful that the gps offset was sufficient to place it where the radar is installed.

So what's the toolbox? What's under the hood? How many clicks can we cut? How sleek can we get?