.Overview

 

General

Data Trawler supports three core functions : 

  • Discovery - Search for data.
  • Investigate - View a summary of discovered data.
  • Download - Download discovered data. 

Data Trawler has been designed for the following work flow :

  • Perform a search
  • View the summaries of discovered data
  • If you want to see the spatial distribution and / or download discovered data add it to the basket.
  • Repeat the previous three steps as required, filling up the basket with data that is of interest.
  • Using the basket view the spatial distribution of data.
  • Using the list of basket contents download the data you want.

Searching

When specifying parameters in the Search page consider the following points :

  • Searches are constrained by the area shown in the map. If you don't want to limit your search by the area shown in the map simply select the button which sets the map to an area covering all data searched by Data Trawler. 
  • A search returning no results can occur if either :
    • The search parameters define constraints that return no data; or
    • Data satisfying constrains defined by the search parameters was found but the access key associated with the data did not match any of the access keys assigned to you.

Security

To access data using Data Trawler, users are required to logon using an e-mail address and password. Data Trawler uses the supplied e-mail address as a destination for sending e-mails associated with data download requests.

For security purposes when a user logs on, Data Trawler assigns a customized profile if the user has previously been registered, otherwise an unregistered user is assigned a public profile. A registered user’s profile includes a number of data access keys. A public profile includes only a single "public" access key. Each piece of data is also assigned an access key.

When an unregistered user executes a search, Data Trawler returns only data assigned a public access key. When a registered user executes a search, Data Trawler returns data with access keys that match the keys defined in their profile.