5. Creating timeseries plots (locations combined)

A series of timeseries plots can be exported using the Monitoring Module for a range of locations and parameters. One graph is created for each parameter showing all locations combined.

5.1. Getting everything in place

In this example, the following project file structure is used:

C:\
    Project\
        Output\
            (empty)
        Monitoring data.dss
        plots.yml

The Monitoring data.dss file includes some data for site Example site (A-part), locations L1 and L2 (B-part) for a range of parameters at a 15-minute interval and version OBS (F-part).

5.2. The configuration file

The configuration file plots.yml can be created as a simple text file with the following content:

site: Example site
locations:
- LOCATION 1
- LOCATION 2
interval: 15MIN
version: OBS

output_folder: Output

period:
  start: 01JAN2000 00:00
  end:   01JAN2001 00:00

params:
  DO:
    scale: log
  DO%:
    scale: log
  EC:
    scale: log
  PH:
  TEMP:
  TURB:
    scale: log
  ORP:

Tip

The configuration file is structured according to the YAML format. Indentation is important to define the configuration correctly. The example is best copied exactly as provided!

The configuration file lists the locations and parameters to plot as well as the folder to export the images into.

  • The output_folder is relative to the location of the ‘yml’ config file.
  • The horizontal axis is limited to the period defined by the start and end settings. These must be formatted as date/times as in the example.
  • The vertical axis can be set to a logarithmic scale by setting the parameter’s scale configuration to log. If the parameter values are zero or less, the axis is always linear and a warning message is displayed.

5.3. Creating the plots

When the configuration has been set up, the plots can be generated as follows:

  1. Open the Monitoring data.dss file in HEC-DSSVue.
  2. Select menu item Scripts ‣ Monitoring plots or alternatively click on Monitoring plots on the toolbar.
  3. Choose the configuration file plots.yml in the file selection window.

The plots are briefly shown on the screen as they are created and then exported into the output_folder as JPG-files.

5.4. Adding threshold lines

One or multiple horizontal lines can be added to the graphs by including a section like this in the configuration file:

thresholds:
  DO:
    all:
      10: upper threshold
      8.5: lower threshold
  TURB:
    all:
      1000: trigger value

Where all refers to all locations.

5.5. Optional settings

The following settings are optional and the defaults can be overriden if required:

width: 1200
height: 800

line:
  markers: yes
  width: 2
  colours:
  - [166, 206, 227]
  - [ 31, 120, 180]
  - [178, 223, 138]
  - [ 51, 160,  44]
  - [251, 154, 153]
  - [227,  26,  28]
  - [253, 191, 111]
  - [255, 127,   0]
  - [202, 178, 214]
  - [106,  61, 154]

Explanation:

  • The width and height settings define the dimensions of the plot window in pixels. The actual exported image is slightly smaller than this.
  • A set of colours for individual curves on the graph (one for each location) is set by the line, colours settings which is a list of RGB colour values. If there are more locations than in the colours list, the colours at the beginning of the list are used twice.
  • Line symbol markers can be switched off by setting markers to no.