Creating and Editing a Track

To start a new track:

Select an existing track Name or type a new name.
Select Delete All Points to start a fresh track.

The menu shows Last Point of 0 to indicate that all points have been removed and the Action shows Add Point.

In Name, type the name of your TRACK product.

The Track Name field shows the name of a manual TRACK product.

The names are always preceded by MAN_ to indicate that these are manual tracks rather than automatic TRACK products created by IRIS.

To select an existing track name, select the button next to the name field and select from the list of pre-defined names. There is always a track with the name MAN_DEFAULT.
To create a new name, replace the text in the name field. IRIS automatically adds the MAN_ prefix and converts the name to upper case.
To delete a name, select the name you want to delete and select Delete. The name is deleted from the list and the MAN_DEFAULT is inserted as the active track.

In Track Data, define your track.

The center column of the Track tool shows information about the track you are constructing.

Last Point of <N>

N shows the number of track, annotation and icon points that have been defined.

LAT/LON

Shows the latitude and longitude of the last track point, that is, the most recent data time.

Select U to toggle the units between decimal degrees and decimal minutes.

Speed and Direction

Shows the speed and direction of the weather feature as computed from the two most recent track points.

Select U to select common units.

Forecast Time

Allows you to set the time of the forecast.

To add points to a new track:

Select a product for tracking.

For example, if you want to track the most severe thunderstorms, choose VIL since it is a good indicator of storm severity and tends to be persistent.
Browse through the images to select a feature, place and click the cursor on the feature.

A track point appears along with text to indicate the time of the point.

The color of the track point is in a special highlight color to indicate that it corresponds to the displayed image.
If you do not like the position of the track point, click again to move the cursor to a new position.

Drag the point to where you want it, and release.
Continue browsing the images and adding track points.

To avoid crowding the track points, skip a few images. You do not need a point for every image.

In track mode, use the mouse to add track points and the left/right arrow keys for browsing.

To delete a track point:

Select Action > Delete.
Select the track point that you want to remove.

Keep pressing the mouse button to highlight the point to be deleted. This is helpful when you want to delete a track point that is close to other track points.