General ideas, as well as experimental and theoretical efforts concern
ing the prediction and discovery of new structures in the disks of spi
ral galaxies - giant anticyclones - are reviewed. A crucial point is t
he development of a new method to restore the full vector velocity fie
ld of the galactic gas from the line-of-sight velocity field. This met
hod can be used to get self-consistent solutions for the following pro
blems: 1) determination of non-circular velocities associated with spi
ral-vortex structure; 2) determination of fundamental parameters of th
is structure: pattern speed, corotation radius, location of giant anti
cyclones; 3) refinement of galactic rotation curves taking into accoun
t regular non-circular motion in the spiral density wave, which makes
it possible to build more accurate models of the mass distribution in
the galaxy; 4) refinement of parameters of the rotating gaseous disk:
inclination angle, center of rotation and position angle of the major
dynamical aids, systematic velocity. The method is demonstrated using
the restoration of the velocity field of the galaxy NGC 157 as an exam
ple. Results for this and some other spiral galaxies suggest that gian
t anticyclones are a universal property of galaxies with grand design
structure.