Welcome to the EXACT Rainfall-Intensity Digitizing and Analysis Program. To use this software: You will need to have a 'rainfall intensity' database and a 'rainfall_stats' database. A sample of each is available and typically is provided with this software. The 'rainfall intensity' database stores basic station and instrument information, geospatial coordinates, and raw rainfall time / depth data. The 'rainfall_stats' database stores temporary statistical summary information that is used in the statistical analyses and reporting routines of RAINPLOT. Its contents are regenerated automatically each time a user retrieves a dataset. You will need to set each of these as a "system DSN" on your computer. The purpose of this is to allow any software program on your computer to "see" the database and connect to it. Setting a "system DSN" is simple and is done only once for a database. If additional databases are desired, set each additional database as a "system DSN". Set a "system DSN" as follows: start, settings, control panel, data sources, system DSN tab, add, select driver corresponding to your database software (MS Access is *.mdb), create a data source name of your choice, 'select' database, OK. You are now ready to use the software. Click on either RAINDIGITIZER, RAINPLOT, or RAINSHARE. Links to rainfall-intensity websites (the University of Central Florida site and the EXACT Rainfall-Intensity site) are also provided. The 'Help' buttons included throughout the software are links to an On-Line User's Manual located on the EXACT site. ****************************************************************************************** RAINDIGITIZER: This program will allow you to digitize paper strip charts of rainfall-intensity data. A digitizer tablet is required. The software is designed to connect to several different digitizer makes and models and several different types of paper strip charts (see the User's Manual for details). RAINDIGITIZER converts the digitized points into meaningful time / depth values and stores these data in ascii files on your harddrive and in a database of your choice. The data will be stored in the following format: station name / start time & date / end time & date / rain depth. RAINPLOT: This program will allow you to retrieve sets of time / depth data from a database of your choice. The data should be in the following format: station name / start time & date / end time & date / rain depth. The software then allows you to perform a number of quality control checks on the data. You may also view and analyze the data in a wide variety of ways. You may fit the actual data (maxima) to your choice of several probability curves. You may also compare curve fits quantitatively. The software also includes the ability to create, display, and print a wide range of automated rainfall-intensity reports. High-quality intensity-duration-frequency curves may also be generated. RAINSHARE: This program will allow you to easily share data (selected database tables or an entire database) from a database of your choice. The data are exported or imported automatically as *.xml files. You only need to know what database and data you wish to share, and the software automatically bundles the files into the proper format and then exports or imports them accordingly. The *.xml files may be shared by email or by floppy diskette or CD. ***************************************************************************************** Basic instructions follow. For additional information and detailed instructions please click on any of the 'Help' buttons in the program. The Help buttons link to the On-Line User's Manual located at the EXACT Rainfall-Intensity Website. You must be connected to the internet to access the manual. RAINDIGITIZER To use this software: You will need to have a 'rainfall intensity' database database. A sample is available and typically is provided with this software. The 'rainfall intensity' database stores basic station and instrument information, geospatial coordinates, and raw rainfall time / depth data. You will need to set this database as a "system DSN" on your computer. The purpose of this is to allow any software program on your computer to "see" the database and connect to it. Setting a "system DSN" is simple and is done only once for a database. If additional databases are desired, set each additional database as a "system DSN". Set a "system DSN" as follows: start, settings, control panel, data sources, system DSN tab, add, select driver corresponding to your database software (MS Access is *.mdb), create a data source name of your choice, 'select' database, OK. You are now ready to use the software. The 'Help' buttons included throughout the software are links to an On-Line User's Manual located on the EXACT site. Basic steps in the process: 1. Quality control the paper strip chart by carefully observing its information and total depth. On the chart, write down the date, start time, end time, and total depth that you observe. If available, write down the daily amount of rainfall obtained from the manual gage at the site. 2. Set your 'rainfall intensity' database as a 'system DSN'. Open your database and add the strip chart's station name and instrument information to the station table and instrument table. 3. Connect your digitizer tablet cable to your computer. Turn on the digitizer. 4. Place the paper strip chart on the digitizer tablet. 5. Open RAINDIGITIZER. Log in (see your system administrator for a password). Click 'Select Database Source' and choose a database from the 'system DSN' menu that appears. 6. Click 'Edit Information Needed to Digitize a Strip Chart'. Add a Core Party, Agency, or Station to the list as needed. To add a station, click on an existing station that corresponds to the correct Core Party and Agency. Right click and select 'Add New Station'. Type in the station name. Type in the instrument_code_id (see the User's manual for the correct format -- this is very important -- the program will not work unless the instrument_code_id entered here exactly matches the one in the instrument table of the database). Click 'Save Lists'. 7. Click 'Prepare and Digitize Charts'. Ensure that the digitizer settings, the chart type, and the default folder (for saving raw digitized data files) are correct. 8. Select a station from the station tree, as added in step 6. Click 'Add New Chart to Staging Area'. Enter start date & time, end date & time, eyed depth, and, if available, manual depth. Click 'Save Charts List on Hard Drive'. Click 'Digitize the Selected Chart' 9. Using the digitizer mouse, click the bottom left and bottom right points on the strip chart. Press enter on the keyboard. Digitize each point on the chart. Click 'Save'. Review the quality of your digitization (comparison to entered times and depths). If the digitization is satisfactory, click OK and the results will be saved to an ascii file and stored in your chosen folder from step 6. 10. Click 'Load/Extract Ascii Files To/From Database'. This will copy the ascii file(s) from your hard drive to the database. 11. Click 'Define Alpha Pen Skew' if the digitized data should be corrected for possible instrument drum tilt or paper skew. This is an advanced feature and is considered to be optional. 12. Click 'Convert Ascii Data to Time/Depth Data'. Enter desired settings for minimal distance between two digitized points (default is 1 min) and hours reduced from GMT (default is 2). Click 'Continue'. Select a station from the drop-down menu. Highlight the records to convert (from raw ascii format to time-depth data) and load to the chart table of the database. Click 'Populate'. Repeat these steps for additional stations and strip charts. RAINPLOT To use this software: You will need to have a 'rainfall intensity' database and a 'rainfall_stats' database. A sample of each is available and typically is provided with this software. The 'rainfall intensity' database stores basic station and instrument information, geospatial coordinates, and raw rainfall time / depth data. The 'rainfall_stats' database stores temporary statistical summary information that is used in the statistical analyses and reporting routines of RAINPLOT. Its contents are regenerated automatically each time a user retrieves a dataset. You will need to set each of these as a "system DSN" on your computer. The purpose of this is to allow any software program on your computer to "see" the database and connect to it. Setting a "system DSN" is simple and is done only once for a database. If additional databases are desired, set each additional database as a "system DSN". Set a "system DSN" as follows: start, settings, control panel, data sources, system DSN tab, add, select driver corresponding to your database software (MS Access is *.mdb), create a data source name of your choice, 'select' database, OK. You are now ready to use the software. The 'Help' buttons included throughout the software are links to an On-Line User's Manual located on the EXACT site. Basic steps in the process: 1. Click 'Select a Dataset'. This allows you to connect to a database of your choice and retrieve data for a selected station, instrument, and date range. 2. Click 'Quality Control Data' to view the rainfall-intensity dataset retrieved in step 1. These data are presented in a spreadsheet according to individual "storm events" (the length of time between storms may be defined by clicking the 'Edit Hydrologic Default Settings'). These data may also be sorted by intensity. Portions of the spreadsheet may be viewed by highlighting selected rows and right clicking the mouse. 3. Click 'Analyze Data' to perform various statistical analyses on the data, including curve fitting to various probability distributions and the creation of intensity-duration-frequency curves. 4. Click 'Create Report' to generate any of several automated reports. Note that the 'View Map' functionality has not yet been added. Detailed instructions are provided in the On-Line User's Manual. RAINSHARE To use this software: You will need to have a 'rainfall intensity' database. A sample is available and typically is provided with this software. The 'rainfall intensity' database stores basic station and instrument information, geospatial coordinates, and raw rainfall time / depth data. You will need to set your database as a "system DSN" on your computer. The purpose of this is to allow any software program on your computer to "see" the database and connect to it. Setting a "system DSN" is simple and is done only once for a database. If additional databases are desired, set each additional database as a "system DSN". Set a "system DSN" as follows: start, settings, control panel, data sources, system DSN tab, add, select driver corresponding to your database software (MS Access is *.mdb), create a data source name of your choice, 'select' database, OK. You are now ready to use the software. The 'Help' buttons included throughout the software are links to an On-Line User's Manual located on the EXACT website.