Manual SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2€¦ · run the models in the SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 can be found under deliverables of WP 5. Due to the rapid and always ongoing development of SEAMLESS-IF

Version 5

System for Environmental and Agricultural Modelling;

Linking European Science and Society

INTEGRATED PROJECT EU FP 6 (contract no. 010036)

Global Change and Ecosystems

Project duration: January 2005 - December 2008

Manual SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2, Revision 5

PD 5.6.3.2

Patrik Wallman, Karin Almehed, Mats Svensson

Lund University, Sweden

Rob Knapen

Alterra, The Netherlands

Submission date:

SEAMLESS

No. 010036

Deliverable number:

03 September 2007

Page 2 of 41

SEAMLESS integrated project aims at developing an integrated framework that allows ex-

ante assessment of agricultural and environmental policies and technological innovations.

The framework will have multi-scale capabilities ranging from field and farm to the EU25

and globe; it will be generic, modular and open and using state-of-the art software. The

project is carried out by a consortium of 30 partners, led by Wageningen University (NL).

Email: [email protected]

Internet: www.seamless-ip.org

Authors of this report and contact details

Name: Patrik Wallman Partner acronym: LU

Address: LUCSUS

P O Box 170

SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden

E-mail: [email protected]

Name: Karin Almehed Partner acronym: LU

Address: LUCSUS

P O Box 170

SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden

E-mail: [email protected]

Name: Mats Svensson Partner acronym: LU

Address: LUCSUS

P O Box 170

SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden

E-mail: [email protected]

Rob Knapen

Address Alterra, CGI-Systems Partner acronym: Alterra

Postbus 47

6700 AA Wageningen,The Netherlands

E-mail: [email protected]

If you want to cite a PD that originally was meant for use within the project only, please

make sure you are allowed to disseminate or cite this report. If so, please cite as follows:

Ewert. F.A, van Ittersum, M.K., Bezlepkina, I., Oude Lansink, A.G.J.M, Brouwer, F.M. et al.,

2005. Development of a conceptual framework for integrated analysis and assessment of

agricultural systems in SEAMLESS-IF, PD1.2.1, SEAMLESS integrated project, EU 6th

Framework Programme, contract no. 010036-2, www.SEAMLESS-IP.org, 62 pp.

Disclaimer:

“This publication has been funded under the SEAMLESS integrated project, EU 6th

Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration,

Priority 1.1.6.3. Global Change and Ecosystems (European Commission, DG Research,

contract no. 010036-2. Its content does not represent the official position of the European

Commission and is entirely under the responsibility of the authors.”

SEAMLESS

No. 010036

Deliverable number:

03 September 2007

Page 3 of 41

"The information in this document is provided as is and no guarantee or warranty is given

that the information is fit for any particular purpose. The user thereof uses the information at

its sole risk and liability."

Page 5 of 41

Table of contents

Table of contents .................................................................................................................................... 5

General information .............................................................................................................................. 7

Executive summary ............................................................................................................................... 7

1 Introduction................................................................................................................................... 9

2 Installation of SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 ................................................................................ 9

2.1 Technical requirements .......................................................................................................... 9

2.2 Software requirements ........................................................................................................... 9

3 General features .......................................................................................................................... 10

3.1 Import of text and text editing .............................................................................................. 10

3.2 Sorting of lists ...................................................................................................................... 10

3.3 Resizing of panels and columns ........................................................................................... 11

3.4 Drag-and-drop ..................................................................................................................... 11

3.5 Save/Discard changes .......................................................................................................... 12

4 Using SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 ............................................................................................ 12

4.1 Managing projects ............................................................................................................... 13 4.1.1 Opening an existing project ............................................................................................. 14 4.1.2 Closing a project .............................................................................................................. 14 4.1.3 To create a new project .................................................................................................... 14 4.1.4 Saving a project ............................................................................................................... 14 4.1.5 To remove a project ......................................................................................................... 14

4.2 Suggested workflow.............................................................................................................. 15

5 Pre-modelling activities .............................................................................................................. 15

5.1 Project definition ................................................................................................................. 15

5.2 Narrative experiments .......................................................................................................... 17

5.3 Indicator manager................................................................................................................ 18

6 Modelling activities ..................................................................................................................... 20

6.1 Experiment Designer............................................................................................................ 20

6.2 Model chains ........................................................................................................................ 24

6.3 Calculations ......................................................................................................................... 25

7 Post-modelling activities ............................................................................................................. 26

7.1 Visualizations ....................................................................................................................... 26 7.1.1 General information ......................................................................................................... 28 7.1.2 Type ................................................................................................................................. 28 7.1.3 Indicators ......................................................................................................................... 29 7.1.4 Experiments ..................................................................................................................... 30 7.1.5 Regions ............................................................................................................................ 31

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7.2 Visualizing ............................................................................................................................ 32 7.2.1 Interactive diagrams and maps ......................................................................................... 32

8 Examples ...................................................................................................................................... 34

9 How to use the Trac system ........................................................................................................ 34

9.1 How to login to Trac............................................................................................................. 34

9.2 How to submit a ticket .......................................................................................................... 35

9.3 Support ................................................................................................................................. 38

Glossary ................................................................................................................................................ 39

Page 7 of 41

General information Task(s) and Activity code(s): 5.6.3.2

Input from (Task and Activity codes):

Output to (Task and Activity codes):

Related milestones: M5.1.6

Executive summary

This document is a description of how to use SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2. It describes the

most important steps on how to install the software, create and manage projects including

choosing indicators, building and running model chains and exploring the results. A brief

introduction to the general features of the software, such as text formatting, sorting of lists

and tables is also provided. Also the Trac system, a web-based management system of

software for reporting bugs, missing functions, glitches in design and usability as well as

collecting wishes and requests for future versions, is described in a stepwise how-to format

along with information about support and contact information.

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1 Introduction

The SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 Manual is a description of how to install and set up the

required software to use SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 and how to accomplish some of the

most important specific tasks. Also the general features of the software are described as well

as how to handle project files. It is meant to help users who will perform testing of

SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2, and may leave out details that are only important to modellers

and software engineers.

Also the web-based Trac system for reporting bugs and suggested enhancements of

SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 is described. The models that are installed with SEAMLESS-IF

Prototype 2 are not described in this document but in corresponding deliverables of WP 3 and

WP1. Elaborations on the software design and the modelling environments used to create or

run the models in the SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 can be found under deliverables of WP 5.

Due to the rapid and always ongoing development of SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2, some of

the screenshots in the current software release available might look a little different from the

ones in this document.

It should be noted that the features that are available in SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 and

described in this manual are not meant for the end user. Many features will be further

developed and become accessible to various groups of users, for example modellers, viewers,

etc.

2 Installation of SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2

SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 is a distributed web service that can be used through your normal

web browser.

2.1 Technical requirements

A distributed web service does not bring along any specific computer hardware requirements.

Any somewhat modern Internet connected computer (Table 1) with a web browser installed

can be used to run SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2.

Windows Macintosh Linux

Intel® Pentium

® II 450MHz

or faster processor (or

equivalent)

PowerPC® G3 500MHz or

faster processor

Intel Core™ Duo 1.83GHz

or faster processor

Modern processor (800MHz

or faster)

128MB of RAM 128MB of RAM 512MB of RAM, 128MB of

Graphics Memory Table 1 Hardware requirements to run SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2.

2.2 Software requirements

Besides a web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Safari for PC has been tested

on a PC and work without fuzz) SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 needs Adobe Flash Player 9 to

be installed as a plug-in in your Internet browser. You can check if you have Adobe Flash

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Player 9 installed on http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/about/ . If you do not have

Adobe Flash Player 9 installed, go to http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/ and follow

the instructions shown on the web page to install it.

Adobe Flash Player 9 is supported for most platforms and browsers, for a full list please go to

http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/productinfo/systemreqs/

3 General features

3.1 Import of text and text editing

SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 does not support import of text or external documents at this

stage. The easiest way to get large text masses into SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 is the

classical copy/paste; Ctrl+C/Ctrtl+V. Note that SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 does not support

any kind of formatting or font manipulation features like bold, italics, underlines and so on,

not even the font size can be changed. All the formatting will be lost when you paste the text

into SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2.

You should use plain text only, without any special characters or symbols, as there is a

danger that these might create problems, although not necessarily. Plain text in this context is

the English alphabet, with letters and common operands (+, -, *, etc), and no superscripts or

subscripts, and no special symbols like euro symbol or similar.

It is not advisable to import text directly from Microsoft Word or similar word processing

programs in their default text format, since that text contains all sorts of hidden formatting

statements. To enter text into the GUI, do not copy it directly from your word processor, first

create a plain txt-file with the text, and then copy from there. This removes all the hidden

formatting text.

If you think that emphasising something is essential for the understanding of your text we

suggest that you use asterisks, *like this*, or underscores _like this_.

3.2 Sorting of lists

To help you to find the item of interest in a list or a library, SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 has a

sorting function attached to many of its lists. By clicking the headline of the column of the

item that you want to sort the list depending on, you can sort the list alphabetically or

numerically (depending on the content of the column), ascending (up arrow showing) or

descending (down arrow showing, Figure 1).

Figure 1. Ascending and descending sorting, respectively.

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3.3 Resizing of panels and columns

Sometimes it is convenient to resize panels in SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 to be able to read

without too much scrolling, compare data in tables etc. Resizable panels can be recognized by

the small mark on the divider, see Figure 2. A resizable column. Just put the cursor on the

mark, the cursor will then change shapes, press down the left mouse button, move the panel

border in the required direction and release the mouse button.

Figure 2. A resizable column.

Also columns in tables can be resized. Move the cursor to the headline of the table and place

it on the border line that you wish to move, and proceed in the same way as described above.

3.4 Drag-and-drop

In many of the screens in SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 items can be selected by the drag-and-

drop method. To drag-and-drop an item, e. g. selecting an indicator to be used in a project,

click on the indicator with the left mouse button and keep the button down. Start moving the

cursor towards the final destination and watch the selected item move and the cursor change

shapes when moving it (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Dragging an item.

When a green plus sign turns up you can drop the item by releasing the mouse button and the

item is automatically inserted in the selected list (Figure 4).

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Figure 4. Dropping an item.

3.5 Save/Discard changes

A major difference in SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 compared to SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 1

is that any changes made anywhere in a project have to be manually saved or discarded. In

the bottom on every window “Save Changes” and “Discard Changes” buttons are placed

(Figure 5).

Figure 5. Don't forget to save your changes.

If you make changes anywhere in a window and forget to save the changes you will be

prompted when you try to close the window (Figure 6)

Figure 6. Confirm your changes.

4 Using SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2

To open SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 go to http://prototype2.seamless-ip.org/gui If you cannot see the welcome screen (Figure 7) at this point you probably need to (re-)

install Adobe Flash Player 9, see section 2.2.

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Figure 7 The welcome screen of SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2.

The learning materials alternatives on the left side of the screen are not yet available.

When you press the “Continue” button in the lower right corner of the screen a login box

comes up. Fill in your account name and the password you have been provided and click

“Login”. If you do not have an account, click “Not registered yet?” to get information on how

to get an account.

4.1 Managing projects

Available projects that are already stored in the data base are visible in the project list in the

"Available Projects" panel.

Highlight a project in the project list by clicking on it, general information about the project

appears in the panel to the right. You can see the title of the project, description, state, and

below that administrative details (Figure 8). These data are not editable, but reflect entries

that have been made elsewhere.

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Figure 8. Opening a project.

To see administrative details about a project press the different tabs to see general details,

authors or attachments (not yet implemented). Like the data above, these are not editable.

4.1.1 Opening an existing project

Make sure that the desired project is selected (highlighted) in the project list. Press the button

"Open this Project".

4.1.2 Closing a project

To close an open project and return to the project list, click the “Projects” button in the upper

right corner.

4.1.3 To create a new project

Press the button "Create New Project". Note that the new project is not opened by default

when you create it. It is added at the bottom of list of available projects and have to be

opened as described in section 4.1.1.

4.1.4 Saving a project

As pointed out previously it is important to save

4.1.5 To remove a project

Select the project in the project list. Press "Remove Selected Project". Not yet implemented.

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4.2 Suggested workflow

The design of SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 suggests a certain workflow divided into three

working phases; pre-modelling, modelling and post-modelling and within those phases

different steps. The suggested workflow is clear from the task bar on the left hand side of the

window. This task bar can be used in a maximized accordion style with tabs for each phase or

in a minimized, more compact icon style. You can shift between the two by clicking the

button in the lower left corner. Please note the tool tip with an explanation of the different

buttons if you put the cursor over it in minimized mode.

Figure 9. The task bar in accordion style to the left and the compact icon style to the right.

5 Pre-modelling activities

5.1 Project definition

To open "Project definition" select the appropriate button in the task bar to the left. Project

definition is for administrative details about the project itself. You can enter information

under four different tabs (Figure 10).

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Figure 10. The project definition window.

Click the "General" tab. Fill in the title and the description as required. Press "Save Changes"

at the bottom of the page. If you change your mind before you have saved, press "Discard

Changes" to undo.

The Problem specification tab is for the project's integrated assessment problem. Enter the

problem's title and description in the appropriate places. To specify the spatial and temporal

(not yet implemented) extents and resolutions, use the drop-down menus on this tab. In the

current release of SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 when the user selects a spatial extent-

resolution combination which matches a managed model chain these drop-down menus are

disabled, the appropriate model chain is automatically selected, and the spatial specifications

will not be editable for this project any more. The following combinations are possible at

present:

Spatial extent Spatial resolution Model chain

Region Agri-environmental zone FSSIM (including APES)

European Union Farm type CAPRI simple FSSIM

Table 2. Possible combinations of spatial specifications in the current release of SEAMLESS-IF Prototype

2.

In the “Authors” tab, you specify the authors involved in the project, with name, institute and

email address. You add a new one by pressing "add author" at the bottom, and remove them

by selecting the one to be removed and press "remove author". Not yet implemented.

The “Attachments” tab is not yet in use. In future versions you can enter all kinds of

documents that are connected to the project. You add a new one by pressing "Add

Attachment" at the bottom, and remove them by selecting the one to be removed and press

"Remove Attachment".

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5.2 Narrative experiments

A narrative experiment consists of three main constituents; context, outlook and policy

option. It allows you to describe an experiment in a semiformal way. The main purpose is for

documentation.

Open the Narrative Experiments by clicking the appropriate button to the left on the screen.

Figure 11. The Narrative experiments window.

An experiment is a specific combination of outlook/context/policy options. Each experiment

appears as a tab at the top of the window, and outlook, context and policy option are sub-tabs

under it. There is also a sub-tab for experiment detail where you can enter a more detailed

description of the experiment. Under each of these tabs, there is one box for title and one for

description. You can enter new text in those, or edit existing text, if any. Under the outlook,

context and policy option tabs, there are lists of important characteristics as well.

You can create a new experiment in a new tab by pressing "Add Experiment" in the upper

right corner, and enter the appropriate information in the box that shows up (Figure 12) (not

in use in the current release). Fill in the required information in the different tabs; experiment

details, context, outlook and policy option. The titles entered here will be shown in the

experiment designer.

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Figure 12. Fill in the information needed to create a new experiment.

Apart from this, outlooks etc are not created here, but in the Experiment Designer (see section

6.1). At the current state, there are many restrictions on what to include, and some of the

features mentioned below are not yet in use.

The outlook should describe the trends and/or trend deviations in society at large, which

affect the results produced by SEAMLESS-IF, but which are not forecasted by SEAMLESS-

IF. These outlooks discuss trends and trend deviations exogenous to SEAMLESS. An outlook

has parameters (e. g. unemployment rate or concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere), and

estimates of what values they may have. It is possible to have different outlooks with

different values of the same parameters.

The context is the object of interest and its boundary conditions; geographical region, scale,

farm type, crops and similar things. An example of a context is a medium sized low intensity

arable farm in the Flevoland region in the Netherlands which could grow sugar beets,

potatoes and spring wheat under conventional management definition. Each experiment

should have one specific context.

The policy option is the potential political measures defined by a set of policy parameters

within a given timeframe or for a time series that related to the problem and the experiment

defined in the current project. You can combine several policy options into one.

5.3 Indicator manager

Open the Indicator manager by clicking the appropriate button on the left side of the screen.

In the Indicator manager you can see a list of the available indicators, and a table of the all

the indicators that have been selected for the project (Figure 13). To see all the available

indicators click on the arrow beside the folder of interest to open up the full list.

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Figure 13. The indicator manager

To select an indicator for your project, you click on the indicator in the list, drag and drop it

onto the table to the right (see section 3.4 on how to drag-and-drop). If you want to remove

an indicator from the table, select it by pressing it, then press “Deselect”. If you want to clear

the entire table, press “Deselect all”.

When an indicator is highlighted either in the library list or in the list of selected indicators,

some additional information about it is shown at the bottom on the screen.

To see more information about or edit the selected indicator, click the “Factsheet..” button..

The indicator fact sheet opens up (Figure 14).

Figure 14. The indicator fact sheet.

The indicator fact sheet has eight different tabs where detailed information about the indicator

can be added. In the general tab a classification of the indicator is done in the drop-down

menus, a theme; environmental, social, institutional, multifunctional or economic should be

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given along with the type of the indicator; thematic, composite or expert. Save your changes

and return to the indicator manager by clicking “Close” in the upper right corner.

6 Modelling activities

6.1 Experiment Designer

Figure 15. The structure of an experiment.

Open the experiment designer by clicking the appropriate button on the side of the screen.

In the experiment manager, you see one tab for each narrative experiment that was created in

the previous step. Under each tab there are buttons to reach the panes for outlook, context and

policy options (Figure 16). You can see the panes one at a time, by clicking the tab with its

name on it.

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Figure 16. The experiment designer window.

To see the details about the experiment provided in the narrative experiments section, click

“Show Narrative detail” to open up the narrative outlook window (

Figure 17).

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Figure 17. The narrative outlook window.

The outlook pane has, in the current release of SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2, a few numeric

parameters, whose values can be set by the user.

When opening the context pane, you are presented four different sub-panes in the current

release (Figure 18). The context itself, defining, among other things, the geographical context

and the farm types to be considered. Currently only Flevoland is represented in the database.

Figure 18. The context pane.

There are also tabs where you can specify product orientation, nutrient management and

conservation management. Not implemented in the current release.

The policy option pane consists of two sub-panes; farm constraint policies (Figure 19) and

regional level policies (Figure 20).

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Figure 19. The farm constraints policy screen.

In farm constraints you can set the constraints for different types of farms, each type

available in the accordion tabs, by checking the appropriate tick box.

Figure 20. The policy option pane.

Regional level policies has tabs for set aside rates, premium ceilings and coupling degrees of

premiums. In set aside rates, you can set the minimum and maximum set aside rates. Basic

premiums can be edited by clicking in values field of the premium of interest (Figure 21).

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Figure 21. Editing the basic premiums.

Coupling degrees of premiums are handled the same way in the coupling degree tab (Figure

22).

Figure 22. Editing the coupling degrees.

6.2 Model chains

To see the available model chains in SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 click “Model chains” in the

task bar. Currently only two model chains are available. This is shown graphically to give

you an idea about how the different models are connected. To get a short description about a

specific model put the cursor over its box and read the tool tip that shows up (Figure 23).

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Figure 23. The graphical representation of a model chain.

6.3 Calculations

The calculations screen is showing the information about the current state of the server

calculations and the execution queue. In operations, you can see the project's experiments

that you created in the experiment designer (Figure 24). You can see the current status for one

of them by selecting it in the upper list, and press execute and then see the result in the text

box below. If you want to add an experiment to those scheduled to be executed, you select it

in the lower list, and press execute.

Figure 24. The calculations window.

In the console window (Figure 25) you see all experiments that are scheduled. At the top is

the one that is currently running, and below it, a list of its components and their current

status.

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Figure 25. The calculations console window.

At the bottom you can see a table with the queue of experiments scheduled to be run.

7 Post-modelling activities

Post-modelling activities are restricted to visualizations of indicators in the current release.

7.1 Visualizations

A visualization is like a small project in itself. It consists of five different parts that should be

considered.

Click the “Visualizations” button in the task bar. You are presented a list of available ready-

made visualizations. To see general information about a specific visualization, select it by

clicking somewhere on its line in the table. The information is shown to the right (Figure 26).

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Figure 26. The visualization window

To see the selected visualization without further editing click “View” at the bottom of the

window.

To see more detailed information and to edit the visualization click “Edit” at the bottom of

the window to open the editing window (Figure 27).

To make a new visualization click “New” in lower left corner and the editing window opens

up.

To close the editing window and return to the previous window click “Close”.

When you close the editing window you will prompted to save if any changes or additions

have been done. Click “Yes” to save all changes or “No” to discard.

If you want to discard all changes since the last save, click “Restore” at the bottom of the

window to revert to the latest saving point.

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Figure 27. The general tab of the visualization editing window .

7.1.1 General information

Fill in the required information in the appropriate fields (Figure 27).

The features to change to current project and owner are not yet implemented.

7.1.2 Type

The current release of SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 supports eight different main types of

visualization and several sub types (Figure 28). Click on the desired type of visualization in

the pane to the left and the possible sub types of that particular type are shown to the right

along with a description and data requirements of the chosen visualization type.

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Figure 28. There are several types of visualizations to chose from.

7.1.3 Indicators

Open the indicators tab (Figure 29) by clicking it. You can select the indicators you want to

visualize either by dragging them from the left column of available indicators and dropping

them onto the right column of selected indicators, or highlighting them by clicking them and

then click “Add” in the lower left corner. For your convenience there is also a choice to add

all indicators at once by clicking “Add all”.

Remove a selected indicator by highlighting it in the right column and then click “Remove”

in the lower right corner. You can also remove all selected indicators by clicking “Remove

all”.

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Figure 29. The indicators tab.

7.1.4 Experiments

Open the experiments tab (Figure 30) by clicking it. You can select the experiments you want

to visualize either by dragging them from the left column of available indicators and dropping

them onto the right column of selected indicators, or highlighting them by clicking them and

then click “Add” in the lower left corner. For your convenience there is also a choice to add

all experiments at once by clicking “Add all”.

Remove a selected experiment by highlighting it in the right column and then click

“Remove” in the lower right corner. You can also remove all selected experiments by

clicking “Remove all”.

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Figure 30. The experiments tab.

7.1.5 Regions

Open the regions tab (Figure 31) by clicking it. You can select the regions from which you

want to visualize data either by dragging them from the left column of available indicators

and dropping them onto the right column of selected indicators, or highlighting them by

clicking them and then click “Add” in the lower left corner. For your convenience there is

also a choice to add all regions at once by clicking “Add all”.

Remove a selected region by highlighting it in the right column and then click “Remove” in

the lower right corner. You can also remove all selected regions by clicking “Remove all”.

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Figure 31. The region tab.

7.2 Visualizing

When you are done with the selections in the previous steps it is time to actually visualize the

indicators. Click “View” at the bottom of the window and you will be presented with a

waiting screen (Figure 32) while SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 is downloading the required

data from the data base. You can see the progress of the visualization creating process in the

details tab (Figure 33). When the visualization is created you can see the number of missing

data and reported problems in the windows under the progress bar. Click “Show

visualization” to open the created diagram.

7.2.1 Interactive diagrams and maps

Interactive diagrams and maps are not yet fully implemented in SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2

and can therefore not be described in this manual at present.

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Figure 32. The waiting screen.

Figure 33. The details of the creation process of a visualization.

Page 34 of 41

8 Examples

There are four different examples in the project list of SEAMFRAME-IF Prototype 2 that can

serve as good and instructive examples of how to use the system.

These projects are:

CAP 2003 reform, Nitrate directive and agricultural conservation in the Midi-

Pyrenees region

Auvergne - green intensification

Trade Liberalisation, the G20 proposal applied in Europe

Flevoland

Open the projects as described in section 4.1.1 and explore the different possibilities, but

please do not edit these projects.

9 How to use the Trac system

Trac is a web-based management of software projects, and is available for all SEAMLESS-IF

users for reporting bugs, missing functions, glitches in design and usability as well as for

collecting wishes and requests for future versions. Its goal is to simplify effective tracking

and handling of software issues and improvement suggestions.

9.1 How to login to Trac

To use the SEAMLESS Trac system you need a login ID and a password. If you do not

already have an ID or you have forgotten your ID or the password, please contact Karin

Almehed ([email protected], phone: +46-46-2224809) or Patrik Wallman

([email protected], phone: +46-46-2224809).

Click on the little bug button in the upper right corner of SEAMLESS-IF Prototype 2 (Figure

34) or open your favorite web browser and go to http://trac.seamless-ip.org. Start logging in

by clicking „Login‟ in the upper right corner (Figure 35).

Figure 34. A direct link to the Trac system web site is the bug report button.

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Figure 35. The Trac login.

The login screen appears (Figure 36) where you should fill in the user name and password

provided by the Trac system administrator.

Figure 36. Connect to the Trac server.

9.2 How to submit a ticket

Start by browsing tickets already submitted by others to see if your issue/problem/request has

already been addressed by someone else. Click „View Tickets‟ in the upper right corner of the

screen. You will be presented a list of available ways of sorting the tickets already in the

system (Figure 37).

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Figure 37. A list of available ways of sorting the tickets

Choose a suitable report format (all tickets by milestone is often a good choice) by clicking

on it. As you can see, you can also keep track of your own submitted

tickets here for follow-up and to see the progress of its handling.

In these reports you can explore what tickets are submitted, to whom it has been assigned, the

severity etc. (Figure 38). You can also look at individual tickets by clicking them in the list.

Figure 38. Tickets sorted by milestone.

If you find out that your issue is not already reported, click „New Ticket‟ in the menu in the

upper right corner of the screen (Figure 39).

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Figure 39. Click New ticket in the upper right corner.

Fill in a description of what you want to report and the type of the ticket; defect,

enhancement, missing, wish or task (Figure 40).

Figure 40. Describe your problem with all details needed to recreate it in the text box.

You can change the ticket properties by using the drop-down menus in the „Ticket Properties‟

box. Priority can be set from lowest to highest and severity from trivial to blocker on multi

step scales. How these properties are set is not critical; all tickets will be individually read,

assessed and labeled by the software developers in WP5. Assign the ticket to a person. If you

do not know to whom it should be assigned or otherwise are in doubt, assign it to a WP

leader. The milestone and version properties are automatically set according to what software

version is out for testing; you should not have to change these in a normal case. You can

provide some keywords to help the readers of the tickets in the sorting procedure, but that is

optional. The CC field is not used. Submit the ticket by clicking „Submit ticket‟. There is no

reply function enabled in the system, so you will not receive a receipt on your submission,

neither will you be notified on the progress of your ticket. You will have to follow that

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yourself by looking in the system as described above every now and then. For the interested

reader lots of documentation and help functions are provided on the web page, but you are

also always welcome to contact the SEAMLESS Trac Team in Lund:

Mats Svensson ([email protected], phone: +46 46 2220513)

Karin Almehed ([email protected], phone: +46 46 2224809)

Patrik Wallman ([email protected], phone: +46 46 2224809)

9.3 Support

An FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) web page will be set up in the Trac system as soon as

any FAQs have been collected. Just click on the link in the menu on the right on the web page

(Figure 41).

Figure 41. The menu of the SEAMLESS-IF wiki page in the Trac system.

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Glossary

Context: the object of interest and its boundary conditions, which is delimited by the

boundaries to the biophysical and agro-management system. For example, arable farms in the

Flevoland region with 5 different crops. Each Experiment needs one and only one specific

context.

Experiment: an experiment is one run of the models within SEAMLESS-IF that evaluate the

effects of one or a combination of „policy options‟ in one context and one outlook

Impact: the expected changes in indicator-value due to changes in policy options, context

and outlook on the future as compared to the reference (base) situation.

Integrated modeler: a researcher who is assigned a research project by the policy expert,

which entails an integrated assessment, and wants to solve the questions in this research

project by using the SEAMLESS-IF.

Model Configuration: It defines what kind of configuration of the models should be used.

This may either defined by the model specifications, or it may be relevant to the Experiment.

Outlook: An outlook on the future, that describe the trends and/or trend deviations in society

at large, which affect the results produced by SEAMLESS-IF, but which are not forecasted

by SEAMLESS-IF. These outlooks discuss trends and trend deviations exogenous to

SEAMLESS.

Policy expert: a stakeholder (e.g. policy maker at the EU or national or local government or

a farmers‟ representative) that wants to assess the impacts of a policy change and

commissions a project to integrated modelers.

Policy Option: It is defined by a set of policy parameters within a given timeframe or for a

time series that the integrated modeler concerns related to the problem and the experiment

defined in the current project.

Problem Definition: the question the policy expert wants to have an answer to. The problem

definition is defined by the policy evaluator and the integrated modeller helps to translate the

problem to capabilities of the SEAMLESS-IF tools, for example: „to assess the integrated

cross impacts of a specific change in the CAP and/or an implementation of the Nitrate

directive.‟ Each problem can be tackled in different ways, leading to one or more experiments

for each problem.

Project: A project is used to tackle one problem that the user wants to assess by using

SEAMLESS-IF. One project has one and only one problem; and has one or a set of

„Experiments‟.

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Scale: the physical dimensions (most commonly space and time) of observed entities and

phenomena (meaning that dimensions and units of measurement can be assigned), which can

be either spatial or temporal.

SEAMLESS

No. 010036

Deliverable number:

03 September 2007

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