Introduction
In OpenEarth the starting-point for use of data files having is netcdf format. They have the extension .nc.
For the vaklodingen of Rijkswaterstaat the Dutch coast is divided in “kaartbladen” where each “kaartblad” covers a rectangle area of 10 km (x) by 12.50 km (y). Each “kaartblad” has a unique code that defines the lower left corner of the area (the box). This code has an x- and an y-part, where x has a three digit code and y has a four digit code. see vaklodingen_definition.m for these definitions.

The vaklodingen for Rijkswaterstaat were delivered mostly as in ascii grid files (and sometimes as binary adf files), where each file exactly covers a “kaartblad” and applies for a given date. The date is tored in the filename, albeit not using a consistent convention. In the OpenEarth processing script we therefore we apply the following convention to add dates.

The general naming of the “kaartblad” files:

KBccc_rrrr_yyyymmdd.asc

with:

ccc	-	the x-code
rrrrr	-	the y-code
yyyy	-	the year
mm	-	the month
dd	-	the day

Files with the same “kaartblad” code but different dates will be combined to one netcdf file with the name:

vaklodingenKBccc_rrrr.nc

When these files are created it must be tested whether all information and data is correct. This can be done in two ways:

1.	Get an overview with the Matlab© script nc_cf_gridset_get_list.m. When thre are netcdf issues, this step will faill. The resulting txt files should be checked 
o	Presence of the correct “Kaartbladen” tiles
•	number
•	names
o	Presence of the correct dates
•	start date
•	end date
•	number of dates available.
o	Temporal distribution of dates
•	Distribution of dates available between start and end date
2.	Make an overview with nc_cf_gridset_overview.m. This will plot all bounding boxes in kml format. Check these files for
o	Spatial distribution of “Kaartbladen” tiles
•	Correct name per tile by comparing to neighbouring  tiles and the kml overview produced  by vaklodingen_definition.m.
•	Bounding boxes
3.	TO DO: Make thumbnail plots of all “kaartbladen” for all available times using 
4.	Using interactive inspection with UCIT _netcdf.

The check must be done at two locations 
•	In the SCRIPT directory on the local computer
•	In the directory data/rijkswaterstaat/vaklodingen on the Opendap testserver dtvirt5
In order to check for any errors introduced by the OPeNDAP server as
•	Netcdf4 issues
•	Meta-data cheche retention,  which prevents additions times form showing up.

Scripts to use
The above described conversion is performed  by regenerate.m. This script also works for JarKus, DiensZeeland and Vaklodingen tiles.

Note that the conversion was done before with two Python scripts:
•	batchrun.py
•	concert.py
where convert.py is used as a library in barchrun.py. Just run batchrun.py and all available “kaartblad” grid files are converted. Conversion is done in the SCRIPTS directory and uses the “kaartblad”.asc grid files from the RAW directory. The python scripts have been phased out  because they do not take data into account that is in the wrong tile. The python script uses that asc file names as bass, where the Matlab script considers all asc files are raw data that are poured into freshly defined tiles.

Some thoughts
You have to take care that all the “kaartblad” grid files that must be combined are available.
There are several options:

1.	“kaartblad” grid files with new dates and already existing netcdf files for these “kaartbladen” with other dates.
2.	“kaartblad” grid files and no netcdf files yet for these “kaartbladen”.
3.	Just “kaartblad” gridfiles and not any netcdf file so far

Keep in mind:

It is not possible to add a new “kaartblad”  for a date to an existing “kaartblad” netcdf file with already available dates. You have to create a new netcdf file with all the existing “kaartblad” grid files for a specific kaartblad. This is done on purpose, the idea is that you update all available .asc files, add new .asc files and run convert.py. It will take a long time but you can start the process as you leave the office.

For test purposes, you can use a subset of all “kaartblad” grid files and convert them to netcdf file(s). You can also use this method if you have a restricted number of “kaartbladen” with new data (and dates); the danger is that you forget data. 

Workflow
When you are not testing it is best to use the following workflow:

•	Collect all “kaartblad” asc grid files in directory RAW/GRID
•	Goto the SCRIPTS directory and run regenerate.m
•	Test the netcdf files with 
o	Vaklodingen_get_list.m (from the Openearth environment)
o	Regenerate_test.m
o	Via ucit after adding the set locally to UCIT_getDatatypes.m
•	Copy the nc files to the Opendap test server Dtvirt5 with WinSCP
•	Test the nc files again; repeat above steps until satisfied
•	Copy the nc files from your local PC to the Opendap production server
•	Commit the vaklodingen environment with subversion:
o	Delete all nc files in GRID
o	Commit the entire checkouts for vaklodingen. this will update the version number in regenerate, and so the version number in the netcdf files. run everything again.