glider-playground 0.2.39

A fast, web-based NetCDF explorer for glider data.

Glider Playground

A fast, web-based explorer for ocean glider data. Load OG1 NetCDF files — or pull live deployments straight from BODC — and instantly plot, inspect, QC, and view them in 3D, all in your browser with no scripting required.

Live demo: glider-playground.co.uk (running on a Raspberry Pi — may be slow)

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Install & Run

Download the app (easiest)

Grab the latest prebuilt desktop app — no Python or setup required:

Platform	Download
macOS (Apple Silicon)	GliderPlayground-macOS-arm64.zip
Windows (x64)	GliderPlayground-Windows-x64.zip
Linux (x64)	GliderPlayground-Linux-x64.tar.gz

Or browse all releases.

Unzip and run it like any other app.

Unsigned builds. macOS and Windows builds aren't code-signed yet, so the OS will warn the first time you open them:

• macOS — if it says the app is unsafe or can't be opened, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down to the Security section, and click Open Anyway. Alternatively, right-click the app → Open → Open, or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /path/to/GliderPlayground.app.
• Windows — on the SmartScreen prompt click More info → Run anyway.

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Or run with pip

pip install glider-playground
glider-playground

This opens the app in your browser. Press Ctrl+C in the terminal to stop it.

Virtual environment recommended. If you use one, activate it before running.

Install from source

git clone https://github.com/Orlando-PB/glider-playground.git
cd glider-playground
pip install .

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Loading Data

Click the file button (top-left) to open the file panel. You can:

• Browse live BODC deployments — pull published datasets directly from the British Oceanographic Data Centre
• Add files — pick individual .nc files
• Add folder — load an entire folder of .nc files at once

Your own files are processed once in the background. Once ready, click a file to load it.

File format: input files must be in OG1 format (or OG1-compatible) — the OceanGliders community NetCDF standard.

Live data is provided by the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC).

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Views & Layout

Glider Playground is a flexible, multi-panel workspace — plots, the globe, and the 3D track are all panels you can arrange however you like.

• Drag a panel by its header to reorder or swap it with another
• Split any panel (the edge + buttons) to add another plot beside it
• Resize by dragging the dividers; close a panel with its ✕
• On a vertical / mobile screen the built-in presets automatically re-flow so plots sit on top and the maps share a row beneath

Presets

One click rebuilds the whole workspace:

Preset	What you get
Map	Globe + 3D view side by side, no plot
Dashboard	Globe + 3D alongside a stack of thermal / chlorophyll / oxygen plots
Thermal, Salinity, Density, Chlorophyll, Oxygen, Backscatter, T-S Diagram, Phases	A single plot of that variable, with the globe and 3D track

Presets pick sensible X/Y/Colour variables and skip anything the current file doesn't have.

Globe, 3D & Overlays

• Globe — the glider's GPS track on an interactive 3D globe
• 3D View — the dive track in 3D with bathymetry
• Copernicus overlays — drape satellite/model surface fields over the globe: Chlorophyll-a, Temperature, Salinity, O₂, pH, Biomass, Sea Surface Height
• Surface currents — an animated particle-flow field of Copernicus surface currents
• DAC arrows — per-dive depth-averaged current vectors, shown when the file provides them

Copernicus Setup

The surface overlays and currents are fetched live from Copernicus Marine, which needs a (free) account and a one-time login:

1. Register for a free account at marine.copernicus.eu/register.
2. Install the toolbox:

   pip install copernicusmarine
   

3. Log in (stores your credentials locally), then restart Glider Playground:

   copernicusmarine login
   

Once you're logged in, the overlay layers fetch on demand. Until then the app will prompt you with whichever of these steps is missing.

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Plotting & Inspecting

By default, presets drive the plots. Flip on the Advanced toggle (top bar) to take manual control — choosing X, Y, and Colour variables, plus QC, filters, phases and more.

• Box zoom — click and drag on the plot
• Axis sliders — trim the X, Y, or colour range precisely
• Inspector — hover the plot to read exact values for the nearest sample in a floating card
• Colour palette — pick from a range of oceanographic colour maps
• Reset — restore the view, overlays, and chat to a clean state
• Download — save the current plot as a PNG

Profiles

If a file contains dive profiles, a Profiles navigator appears. Step through individual profiles or cycles, filter by direction (upcast / downcast / transect), or view everything at once.

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Quality Control (Advanced)

Toggle	What it does
Apply QC	Keeps only samples whose _QC flag is in the allowed list (default 0,1,2,5,8)
Highlight	Shows bad-QC samples in red instead of hiding them
Filter Time	Drops NaT and out-of-range timestamps (pre-deployment / future dates)
Interpolate	Fills NaN gaps in PRES/TEMP/CNDC by time so they align with other sensors (filled points flagged QC=5)
Clean	Flags 0.0 fill values, auto-scales CNDC (S/m → mS/cm), and cross-flags out-of-range conductivity on the CTD triad

Edit the QC flags chips to customise which flags count as good.

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Jelly — AI Assistant

Jelly is an optional AI helper (the bubble, bottom-right). Paste an OpenAI API key and it can answer questions and drive the app for you — switch presets, build dashboards, toggle overlays, and more. The key is stored locally in a .env file and never leaves your machine.

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Uninstall

pip uninstall glider-playground

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License

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

Developed by Orlando Prugel-Bennett at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC).

© 2026 National Oceanography Centre.