Thread: station metadata text output problem

Started: 2012-09-20 19:59:28
Last activity: 2012-09-20 21:12:00
Topics: Web Services
Kevin Frechette
station metadata text output problem
2012-09-20 19:59:28
Hello all,

I am looking at using the IRIS Station Web Service as a replacement for DHI. For station metadata I tried the StationXML output but the performance was very slow when many channels are required. The text output has excellent performance and it general works very well. However I noticed a problem with the station level text output for network IC station QIZ.

http://www.iris.edu/ws/station/query?&output=text&level=sta&net=IC&starttime=2012-09-20T16:25:40.814

The information for network IC station QIZ is on two lines instead of one:

IC|QIZ|19.0291|109.8445|240.0|Qiongzhong, Hainan Province, China
|2010-10-19T00:00:00|2599-12-31T23:59:59

Cheers,
Kevin

  • Chad Trabant
    Re: station metadata text output problem
    2012-09-20 18:50:47

    Hi Kevin,

    I assume that the slowness you report is due to the the size of the XML document you get back and the processing required to parse it. The XML itself should be returned quite quickly, particularly if no secondary origins, magnitudes or arrivals are requested (that requires database access). Please let us know if you observed slow transmission of the XML.

    As for the extra line break in the text output, we confirmed that this is due to a newline character in the site description for that station. We are prepping a release that strips these and other unprintable characters out of the site name to mitigate the issue.

    Thanks for reporting this.

    cheers,
    Chad


    On Sep 20, 2012, at 9:59 AM, Kevin Frechette wrote:

    Hello all,

    I am looking at using the IRIS Station Web Service as a replacement for DHI. For station metadata I tried the StationXML output but the performance was very slow when many channels are required. The text output has excellent performance and it general works very well. However I noticed a problem with the station level text output for network IC station QIZ.

    http://www.iris.edu/ws/station/query?&output=text&level=sta&net=IC&starttime=2012-09-20T16:25:40.814

    The information for network IC station QIZ is on two lines instead of one:
    IC|QIZ|19.0291|109.8445|240.0|Qiongzhong, Hainan Province, China
    |2010-10-19T00:00:00|2599-12-31T23:59:59
    Cheers,
    Kevin
    _______________________________________________
    webservices mailing list
    webservices<at>iris.washington.edu
    http://www.iris.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/webservices


    • Chad Trabant
      Re: station metadata text output problem
      2012-09-20 19:43:37

      Oops, let me fix one of those sentences to refer to the correct parameters:

      "The XML itself should be returned quite quickly, particularly if the response level details (level=resp) are requested (that requires database access)."

      Chad

      On Sep 20, 2012, at 11:50 AM, Chad Trabant wrote:
      Hi Kevin,

      I assume that the slowness you report is due to the the size of the XML document you get back and the processing required to parse it. The XML itself should be returned quite quickly, particularly if no secondary origins, magnitudes or arrivals are requested (that requires database access). Please let us know if you observed slow transmission of the XML.

      As for the extra line break in the text output, we confirmed that this is due to a newline character in the site description for that station. We are prepping a release that strips these and other unprintable characters out of the site name to mitigate the issue.

      Thanks for reporting this.

      cheers,
      Chad


      On Sep 20, 2012, at 9:59 AM, Kevin Frechette wrote:

      Hello all,

      I am looking at using the IRIS Station Web Service as a replacement for DHI. For station metadata I tried the StationXML output but the performance was very slow when many channels are required. The text output has excellent performance and it general works very well. However I noticed a problem with the station level text output for network IC station QIZ.

      http://www.iris.edu/ws/station/query?&output=text&level=sta&net=IC&starttime=2012-09-20T16:25:40.814

      The information for network IC station QIZ is on two lines instead of one:
      IC|QIZ|19.0291|109.8445|240.0|Qiongzhong, Hainan Province, China
      |2010-10-19T00:00:00|2599-12-31T23:59:59
      Cheers,
      Kevin
      _______________________________________________
      webservices mailing list
      webservices<at>iris.washington.edu
      http://www.iris.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/webservices

      _______________________________________________
      webservices mailing list
      webservices<at>iris.washington.edu
      http://www.iris.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/webservices


      • Chad Trabant
        Re: station metadata text output problem
        2012-09-20 21:12:00

        Bummer, even that sentence is incorrect. If the response level (level=resp) is requested with ws-station it requires database access and can be a little slower.

        To add a bit more, the extraction from the database for the vast majority of requests is very fast. The upshot is that it might be very difficult for a user external to the DMC to notice the difference.

        Sorry for the junk email.

        Chad

        On Sep 20, 2012, at 12:43 PM, Chad Trabant wrote:

        Oops, let me fix one of those sentences to refer to the correct parameters:

        "The XML itself should be returned quite quickly, particularly if the response level details (level=resp) are requested (that requires database access)."

        Chad

        On Sep 20, 2012, at 11:50 AM, Chad Trabant wrote:
        Hi Kevin,

        I assume that the slowness you report is due to the the size of the XML document you get back and the processing required to parse it. The XML itself should be returned quite quickly, particularly if no secondary origins, magnitudes or arrivals are requested (that requires database access). Please let us know if you observed slow transmission of the XML.

        As for the extra line break in the text output, we confirmed that this is due to a newline character in the site description for that station. We are prepping a release that strips these and other unprintable characters out of the site name to mitigate the issue.

        Thanks for reporting this.

        cheers,
        Chad


        On Sep 20, 2012, at 9:59 AM, Kevin Frechette wrote:

        Hello all,

        I am looking at using the IRIS Station Web Service as a replacement for DHI. For station metadata I tried the StationXML output but the performance was very slow when many channels are required. The text output has excellent performance and it general works very well. However I noticed a problem with the station level text output for network IC station QIZ.

        http://www.iris.edu/ws/station/query?&output=text&level=sta&net=IC&starttime=2012-09-20T16:25:40.814

        The information for network IC station QIZ is on two lines instead of one:
        IC|QIZ|19.0291|109.8445|240.0|Qiongzhong, Hainan Province, China
        |2010-10-19T00:00:00|2599-12-31T23:59:59
        Cheers,
        Kevin
        _______________________________________________
        webservices mailing list
        webservices<at>iris.washington.edu
        http://www.iris.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/webservices

        _______________________________________________
        webservices mailing list
        webservices<at>iris.washington.edu
        http://www.iris.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/webservices



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