Summary

The SkillMetrics package supports the reading the plotting options for target or Taylor diagrams from an options configuration file instead of via keyword arguments in the function calls (target_diagram, taylor_diagram). This capability was added to: 1) reduce the lengthy list of keyword arguments to specify detailed appearance of the diagrams, and 2) make it easier for users to specify plotting options that are commonly used for all their diagrams.

How It Works

To use this feature a Comma Separated Value (CSV) file containing the options and values for the diagram must be provided via the calls to the functions to plot the diagram. For example, for the target diagram this would done using the target_options_file keyword argument:

sm.target_diagram(sdev,crmsd,ccoef, target_options_file = 'target_option_config.csv')

where target_option_config.csv contains the information on selected target diagram options. Similarly, for the Taylor diagram one would use

sm.taylor_diagram(sdev,crmsd,ccoef, taylor_options_file = 'taylor_option_config.csv')

where taylor_option_config.csv contains the information on selected Taylor diagram options.

Note that the user can mix this with other keyword arguments and the latter will override the values specified in the options configuration file. For example,

sm.taylor_diagram(sdev,crmsd,ccoef, taylor_options_file = 'taylor_option_config.csv', markerLabel = label)

will result in the marker labels contained in the label list variable to be used rather than what is stated for the markerlabel option in the options configuration file taylor_option_config.csv. This gives the user the flexibility to independently specify in their main program the marker labels for each diagram, while having all their diagrams use the same values for options such as marker color, etc.

Diagram Options File

A sample option configuration file is available for both the target and Taylor diagrams. The general format is the first KEY column contains the name of the keyword, the second VALUE column the value for the keyword, and the third Notes column a description of the option. The KEY must match those listed in the Target Diagram Options and Taylor Diagram Options Wiki pages, while the VALUE must conform to the allowed values for the KEY. The third Notes column is ignored and is included to allow the user to insert convenient notes for reference. An example of the format for the contents of a Taylor diagram option configuration file is shown below.

KEY		VALUE		Notes
alpha		1		blending of symbol face color (0.0 transparent through 1.0 opaque). (Default : 1.0)
axismax		0		maximum for the radial contours
checkstats	off		Check input statistics satisfy Taylor relationship (Default : 'off')
cmap		jet		Choice of colormap. (Default : 'jet')
cmap_vmin	None		minimum range of colormap (Default : None)
cmap_vmax	None		maximum range of colormap (Default : None)
cmap_marker	d		maximum range of colormap (Default : None)
cmapzdata			data values to use for color mapping of markers, e.g. RMSD or BIAS. (Default empty)
colcor		0, 0, 1		color for correlation coefficient labels (Default : blue)
colscor		None		if None, considers 'colcor' only
colobs		r		color for observation labels (Default : magenta)
colrms		0, .6, 0	color for RMS labels (Default : medium green)
colstd		0, 0, 0		color for STD labels (Default : black)
colsstd		None		if None, considers 'colstd' only
...
widthcor			linewidth for correlation coefficient grid lines (Default: .8)
widthobs			linewidth for observation grid line (Default: .8)
widthrms			linewidth for RMS grid lines (Default: .8)
widthstd			linewidth for STD grid lines (Default: .8)

Author

A thank you is given to the author for this time saving contribution.

Kevin Wu, [email protected]