README.txt January 4, 2021 -------- Contact: -------- Stewart Rounds Hydrologist and Scientist Emeritus US Geological Survey Oregon Water Science Center 2130 SW 5th Avenue Portland, OR 97201 email: sarounds@usgs.gov ------------- General Info: ------------- The Data Grapher is a series of scripts that creates customized graphs and tables of data from USGS monitoring data (streamflow, water quality, meteorological, etc). For a test drive, see https://or.water.usgs.gov/grapher/ In particular, see the example graphs at https://or.water.usgs.gov/grapher/tutorial/examples.html The Data Grapher system operates on data files that are maintained outside of the USGS NWIS database, but refreshed from NWIS on a regular basis. (A future version may draw its data directly from the database, but not yet.) The Data Grapher package needs to be properly configured in order to get the data from NWIS-Web or Aquarius to the web server, and for the Data Grapher package to know what sort of data are available. All of the data-handling and file-transfer functions are handled with automated scripts that have been written for you. Once everything is set up, maintenance is minimal, and adding new sites or new parameters is pretty simple. Doing the initial setup for the data files is probably the most work, but most of that is automated and is a one-time task. I've tried to make it as easy as possible, although ideas for making things easier are appreciated as feedback. All the files you'll need are included in this package. Please read these instructions and follow them in order to install the Data Grapher. Call or email me if you have questions. ------------ Installation ------------ If you want to install the Data Grapher package in your Water Science Center, please contact me at sarounds@usgs.gov, and I will be happy to put together a package that includes the latest code and very detailed instructions. I used to maintain an installation package and update it periodically, but frankly few people are installing this package in recent years, and it was a lot of work to keep the installation package up to date. So, I only put together an installation package on request at this point.