FILE: readme.txt U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Open-File Report 00-019 Gulf of Mexico GLORIA Sidescan Sonar Geologic Interpretation: ArcView Data Coverages By Valerie Paskevich US Geological Survey Woods Hole, MA 02543 INTRODUCTION This CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory) has been produced in accordance with the ISO 9660 CD-ROM Standard and is therefore capable of being read on any computing platform that has appropriate CD-ROM driver software installed. Access to the data and information contained on this CD-ROM was developed using the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) utilized by the World Wide Web (WWW) project. Development of the CD-ROM documentation and user interface in HTML allows a user to access the information using WWW information browsers (i.e., Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape). To access the information contained on this disk with a WWW client browser, open the file 'index.htm' at the top level directory of this CD-ROM with your browser. The HTML documentation is written utilizing some HTML 3.0 enhancements. The disk should be viewable by all WWW browsers but may not properly format on some older WWW browsers. Also, there are some links to USGS collaborators and USGS websites on this CD-ROM. These links are only accessible if access to the Internet is available during browsing of the CD-ROM, and if those linked sites are operating. ********************************************** BACKGROUND This CD-ROM contains copies of the 250m resolution GLORIA sidescan sonar mosaic for the Gulf of Mexico and it's geologic interpretation. The imagery and interpretation have been archived here to preserve this legacy data set. Imagery and available data coverages have been archived for use with Earth System Research Institute's (ESRI's) ArcView program. There are four top-level files contained on this CD-ROM: 1.) readme.txt (this file) - This file contains a description of this CD-ROM that may be viewed or printed by the user with any system program capable of opening an ASCII text file. 2.) index.htm - This file is intended to be the starting point for CD-ROM access. It is written in the Hyper-Text Markup Language utilized by the World Wide Web (WWW) project and must be openned with a WWW browser. Once openned, the user may browse the CD-ROM's contents as they would browse pages from the WWW. 3.) arcvieww.apr - This is an ArcView project file designed to be accessed from within the Windows operating system (WIN95/98 or NT). To utilize this file the user must have ArcView 3.1 or greater installed on their computer system. When the file is openned, it will display all the GIS data coverages available on the disk and allow the user to interact with the data set. 4.) arcviewu.apr - This file is an ArcView project file designed to be accessed by a user utilizing a UNIX operating system. It is similar to the arcviewww.apr file. It has been modified to open the available data coverages assuming the CD-ROM has been mounted at /cdrom. There are two main directories on this CD-ROM. These directories include: 1. Directory htmldocs This directory contains the HTML files and supporting graphics to allow the user access to the CD-ROM via any World Wide Web browser. figures/ - this directory contains images used as GLORIA sidescan sonar and geologic interpretation figures in the document images/ - this directory contains images used in the HTML page layouts browse/ - this directory contains images used as browse graphics to illustrate the various GIS data coverages and are available via the coverage Metadata icons/ - this directory contains various image icons used in the HTML page layouts metadata/ - this directory contains the metadata, in HTML format, for the various data layers 2. Directory data This directory contains 4 additional sub-directories. with the various data layers. The major data layers are organized in separate directories and are described as: coast/ - various GIS overlays stored in ESRI's ArcView shapefile format. These coverages form the land mass surrounding the Gulf of Mexico. Data coverages include the US, Cuba and Mexico, and the 2 degree graticule for the project view area. geology/ - this directory contains the GLORIA sidescan sonar geologic interpretation data coverage stored in ESRI's ArcView shapefile format. imagery/ - this directory contains 2 additional sub-directories Each directory contain copies of the 250m GLORIA sidescan sonar mosaic. Imagery is archived in Geotiff format. ASCII text 'world' files are also available for each image. aea/ - the imagery archived in the Albers Equal Area project. This imagery latlon/ - the unprojected imagery stored in latlon. These images are used in the ArcExplorer views. misc/ - this directory contains additional miscellaneous data coverages (e.g. bathymetry contours and Gulf of Mexico features names) used in the ArcView and ArcExplorer project views. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Software Requirements This CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory) has been produced in accordance with the ISO 9660 CD-ROM Standard and is therefore capable of being read on any computing platform that has appropriate CD-ROM driver software installed. No specific software is required to access this CD-ROM, nor is any software provided as part of the CD-ROM. Access to the data and information contained on this CD-ROM was developed using the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) utilized by the World Wide Web (WWW) project. Development of the CD-ROM documentation and user interface in HTML allows a user to access the information by using a variety of WWW information browsers to facilitate browsing and locating information and data. To access the information contained on this disk with a WWW client browser, open the file 'index.htm' at the top level directory of this CD-ROM with your selected browser. The HTML documentation is written utilizing some HTML 3.0 enhancements. The disk should be viewable by all WWW browsers but may not properly format on some older WWW browsers. For those people who wish to access the disk and do not have a World Wide Web browser available, they may do so by accessing the disk via their computer's operating system. Please see the earlier notes describing the disk layout and directory contents. The data coverages and imagery archived on this disk are intended to be used in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Most notably for the data coverages (bathymetry contours and geologic interpretive overlays) the GIS of choice has been ESRI's ARC/INFO and ArcView, and the data has been stored in various formats supported by these software packages. Additionally, these data coverages have been stored in the ARC/INFO import/export format to allow transfer of the data to other GIS softwares that support the exchange format. As for the raster imagery of the study area, the images are stored in geotiff format. These images may be read by any program capable of reading the TIFF format. Although some programs do not interpret the additional geotiff tags, the image may still be viewed. For those software packages that do not process the geotiff tags properly and where the user wishes to georeference the images, a separate georeference report, which contains the necessary information, is available for each image. ********************************************** ************************************ DISCLAIMER This Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) publication was prepared by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, make any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed in this report, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. Any views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. Although all data published on this CD-ROM have been used by the USGS, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the USGS as to the accuracy of the data and related materials and/or the functioning of the software. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in the use of this data, software, or related materials.