UNCERT Version Changes

UNCERT FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Version Changes

Only major changes are noted. There may be small changes in every module.

Version 1.30a Beta form Version 1.20b Beta (October 2001)

This is a beta release. Major known problems (bugs) are indicated red.

All:
- Cleaned up shared files and Makefiles. There are only a few files remaining that are duplicated in more than one file directory. This should simplify maintanence. The OS specific Makefile components have been moved out of each modules directory to uncert/src/. This should make porting to new OS's, or fixing library locations much easier.
- Added Windows 2000 support.
- Fixed various bugs, identified in porting to cygwin (Windows) environment. These were mainly issues where pointers where not initialized to NULL. Most true UNIX OS's seemed to initialize pointers to NULL.
- On Linux machines using more than 256 colors, most UNCERT modules used to die without warning. UNCERT still needs to be run in 8-bit mode (256 colors), but the user receives a popup message explaining the problem, and the software continues to run, though the colors are incorrect.
Block:
- On SGI's, block fails with a "Bus Error" on start up.
Grid:
- Added cross validation compoment to kriging section.
- Fixed a major bug with directional semivariograms. As the difference between final sills in different directions increased, the kriging matrix became more unstable. This was due to an error in how I managed the last nest. In the last nest (computed in software, not by the user), the the sill in all directions must be equal, at least at extremely large distances.
- On IBM AIX systems (maybe others too), trying two calculate a kriged grid a second time sometimes crashes the module.
- On RedHat systems, cross validation method always crashes program; and completion of inverse-distance and trend-surface grid calculations sometimes crash program. cr.
Histo:
- Chi-squared calculation disabled.
Modmain:
- On IBM AIX systems, trying to display a 1D od 2D grid crashes the module.
Plotgraph:
- On RedHat systems, module crashes when data file opened.
Sisim:
- This program is useful for creating data files for sisim3d, but no longer can run the simulations. The rexec protocol I used to manage this with is now considered a major security hole and is (and should be) disabled on most UNIX systems.
Sisim3d:
- I have NOT fixed the bug described in grid for directional semivariograms. Directional semivariograms should not be used, or the user should ensure the sill is the same in all directions.
Surface:
- On SGI's, surface fails with a "Bus Error" on start up.
- This program is unstable. After you open a pop-up dialog, it is best to close it before you return focus to the main view window (usually this means clicking on the main view window). If you change focus to the main view window, then move the mouse back over the popup dialog, the module will usually crash. By using the preference file, command line arguments, and popup dialogs sparingly, the module is still a useful visualization tool.
Vario:
- On RedHat systems, switching files can crash module.
Variofit:
- On RedHat systems, can't open file series.

Version 1.20c form Version 1.20b Beta (October 1997)

Array:
- Memory problem opening files on SGI (and other platforms) corrected.
Contour:
- Problem parsing command line arguments fixed. Some people noticed contour couldn't be launched from other applications.
Grid:
- Points at identical locations are now identified. Points at the same location cause the kriging matrix to go singular. This either confused the user, or caused grid to crash. The user is still responsible for removing the duplicate points. In future versions, grid will have internal methods of dealing with the problem.
- A bug limiting grid to 20000 data points has been fixed.
- Memory requirements have been substantially reduced.
- The super-block search algorithm in the kriging module has been removed. Grid's of N layers were taking N² times longer to solve then single layer models (it should be approximately a factor of N).
libXs.a Library:
- On 64-bit SGI computers, there was a problem printing floating point numbers to dialog label widgets. The library was using a pre-ANSI-C standard subroutine and header file. This code has been rewritten to ANSI-C standards.

Version 1.20b form Version 1.20a Beta (June 1997)

Array:
- Calcualtion of VCONT corrected.
- Some FORTRAN formatting problems corrected.
Grid:
- 3D trend-surface analysis added.
- Confirm that there are enough point to perform trend-surface analysis (2D and 3D).
Modmain:
- Problem with stress periods corrected. Bug used to limit model to five stress periods.
Variofit:
- Series of semivariograms files can now be specified from command line. Important for batch processing experimental semivariogram models from simulation grids.
Others:
- Cleaned up minor bugs or flags relating to executing modules from the command line.

Version 1.20a Beta form Version 1.15 (March 1997)

General:
- App-defaults files optional. Each module has preset defaults. This should reduce some installation problems.
- Color palette: On some systems the color palette would be modified in such a manner that menu-items were unreadable (the foreground and background colors were being set to identical colors). This problem still can occur, but is manageable. This does NOT fix the problem where the entire screen color palette flashs as focus is moved from an UNCERT application to another application. This is a "feature" of X-Windows, and results from UNCERT requiring its own custom colormap.
- The X-Y axis tic labels on 2D graphs are auto-scaled to more reasonable values (10.0, 20.0, 30.0 vs. 12.1, 21.2, 30.3).
- Many packages know have limited Legend capabilities.
- Scaling and extent of color scale user adjustable.
- Nurerous bugs fixed.
Array.
- MODFLOW VCONT and grid formatted files can be automatically generated.
- Output grids can be free formatted, or formatted.
- Grids can be modified using Ln, Log10, 10^x and e^x transforms.
Block.
- 3D scatter data can be plotted in addition to block grids.
- Scatter data and scatter data axes can be clipped and rotated. Transformed data can be saved with original or transformed coordinates.
- Lines work (roads, rivers, etc.) can be drawn when scattered data are plotted. This feature is not yet available for block grid visualization.
- Axes can be individually labeled, and tic spacings can be defined (Some additional work is needed to clean this up, but it is quite functional).
Contour.
- By using the Contour->Edit Grid menu option, grid individual grid values can be editted. The behavior is slightly different for GRID CENTERED vs. NODE CENTERED grids, and some work is still required (NODE CENTERED contour lines not updated correctly).
Distcomp.
- It now works.
- Series files can be loaded with single command.
Grid.
- Nurerous bugs fixed.
- Zonal kriging added.
- Directional semivariograms added (this allows the user to specify unique semivariogram models (with different numbers of nests, sills, and model types) orthogonal to one another without using anisotropic factors).
Histo.
- Data sets can be modified using Ln, Log10, 10^x and e^x transforms.
- Series files can be loaded (?)
Mainmenu/Uncert.
- No significant changes
Modmain/MODFLOW.
- Transient problems fixed (used to die on all transient problems).
- Improved grid layer importing.
- Improved project handling.
- Improved layer copying.
- Layer editor:
  - Grid dimensions under more user control (still needs some work)
  - Inactive IBOUND cells can be turned off / identified for all grid layers.
  - Zoom option available for edit grid
  - Mesh can be turned on / off. This was a problem on very large grids, or grids with locally fine patterns.
  - Drain, GHB, River, and Well cells can be displayed, added, editted, or removed.
  - Drain, GHB, River, and Well cells values can be modified individually or assigned to the displayed map values.
- Array can be used to automatically calculate VCONT arrays
Mt3dmain/MT3D.
- Layer editor:
  - Grid dimensions under more user control (still needs some work)
Plotgraph.
- No significant changes
Sisim/Sisim3d.
- GUI interface now works and matches data file formats for sisim3d
- Zonal kriging added.
- Directional semivariograms added (this allows the user to specify unique semivariogram models (with different numbers of nests, sills, and model types) orthogonal to one another without using anisotropic factors).
Surface.
- Screen refresh now works the same as other modules. Old method was othen faster, but was inconsistent.
- Axes can be individually labeled, and tic spacings can be defined (Some additional work is needed to clean this up, but it is quite functional).
Vario.
- Various bug fixes (printing works).
- No significant changes
Variofit.
- Various bug fixes (printing works).
- No significant changes
Utilities (calc, editor, lpr_ps, ps_merge).
- No significant changes

NOTE: I am continually developing UNCERT, adding features, and fixing bugs (and introducing new bugs). If you don't see what you want in a package, I might have already written it for my personal code; I might also be able to add it easily if I like the idea, and have some time. It takes a great deal of effort to release a full version, but I do occasionally release beta-patches that have been tested on at least a few platforms. You may find them worth trying.

Support and Contact Information

If you have specific problems or questions, contact Bill Wingle at info@uncert.com. This software package has only minimal direct support, but I will try to respond to your questions within a couple of days.

For more information: info@uncert.com