Circum-North Pacific Map (CD-ROM): Files, directories, and formats
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FILES, DIRECTORIES, AND FORMATS

Overview

The directory structure of this CD-ROM has been designed to facilitate simple and logical access to the data.

This CD-ROM conforms to the ISO-9660 system-independent standard. An ISO-9660-formatted CD-ROM works identically on a PC or Unix workstation. The directory and file structure of the CD-ROM can be viewed as if it were a conventional hard disk. Although the file structure is system independent, the user must still deal with differences in the way different operating systems format files, in particular text files. Text files are provided in PC compatible format.

Compact discs are a cost effective way of distributing large quantities of data but do have some limitations. Data transfer rates of CD-ROMs are comparable to hard disks but access times are much slower. The slow access time can have negative implications for applications that require concurrent querying of several files. The speed of access to the data coverages can be greatly improved by copying them to the hard disk.

A summary of all files and directories on this CD-ROM appears at the end of this section.

The 'Root' Directory

The top-level \ ('root') directory of the CD-ROM contains the following files:

Contents of 'Root' directory
Filename Format Description
1_README.TXT PC ANSI text General introduction to the CD-ROM
<Microsoft Windows only>
AUTORUN.INF Microsoft Windows 95/NT 4 'AutoPlay' configuration file for Microsoft Windows. This file directs Windows to automatically run the JAGPLAY.EXE application when the CD-ROM is inserted into the drive (hidden file).
JAGPLAY.EXE Microsoft Windows 95/NT 4 'This 'AutoPlay' application (for Microsoft Windows) is intended to give you a brief introduction to the CD-ROM and a quick tour of the \CIRCUM\SHP\... shape' files. It provides an opportunity to choose any of the .SHP files which have been configured for display by SurView. The SurView application for Microsoft Windows is launched to display each selected file.

Directory Structure

The \CIRCUM directory of this CD-ROM contains the following primary subdirectories:

Primary Subdirectories
Category Directory Subdirectories Description
Documentation \CIRCUM\DOC \PC
\HTML		 PC text files
HTML files and images
Data \CIRCUM \COVERS
\E00
\DXF
\SHP
\SHPGEO
\POSTSCR
\INTRO		 complete Arc/Info 7 workspaces
Arc/Info *.E00 interchange files
AutoCAD *.DXF Drawing Interchange Files
Arc/Info *.SHP 'shape' files
Arc/Info *.SHP 'shape' files (geographic)
.PS files of the maps
files used in the introduction
Software \CIRCUM \SURVIEW
\MOSAIC		 viewing application for Microsoft Windows
Mosaic web browser

A. Documentation

The \CIRCUM\DOC directory contains two subdirectories: \PC, and \HTML, each of which contains a complete copy of all of the documentation for the CD-ROM.

Each document is provided in two formats, identified by the filename extension:

In addition, the *.HTM files are accompanied by a selection of *.GIF image files.

Documentation files in \CIRCUM\DOC\...
...\PC
(.TXT)		 ...\HTML
(.HTM)		 Description
INTRO INTRO Introduction (start here)
ABOUT ABOUT About the Circum-North Pacific maps
FILE FILE Overview of files, directories and formats
DB DB Internal GIS database structure
GNOTES GNOTES Geological notes
REF REF References
CREDIT CREDIT Credits and acknowledgments
SURVIEW1 SURVIEW1 Installation and use of SurView (general)
SURVIEW2 SURVIEW2 Use of SurView with specific reference to the Circum-North Pacific maps digital data files on this CD-ROM

B. Graphic files

Graphic files containing files of the printed maps released jointly by the USGS and GSC are provided in \CIRCUM\POSTSCR as POSTSCRIPT type1 (.ps)files.

C. Software

There is no Unix software on this CD-ROM. However, the \CIRCUM\COVERS\UTIL directory contains sample Arc/Info AML scripts, lineset, markerset, textset, and shadesets for drawing the Circum-North Pacific maps. For further information, read the \CIRCUM\COVERS\UTIL\README.UNX file.

SurView
The \CIRCUM\SURVIEW directory contains a limited version of the SurView application for Microsoft Windows (any version). SurView was developed at the Geological Survey of Canada as a viewing application for geophysical, geochemical and geological data. It is not a complete GIS package, but it does allow the user to view, zoom/pan, query, change colours and print on any Microsoft Windows platform.

The SurView files are:

Filename Description
\CIRCUM\SURVIEW\SURVIEW.EXE Microsoft Windows executable
\CIRCUM\SURVIEW\SURVIEW.HLP
(SURVIEW.GID, SURVIEW.FTS)		 Microsoft Windows help file for SurView
\CIRCUM\SURVIEW\SYSTEM\CTL3DV2.DLL '3D effects' module for Microsoft Windows (not required for Windows 95 or Windows NT 4)

SurView can be run directly from the CD-ROM without installation. For full instructions on the installation and use of SurView, read the SURVIEW1 and SURVIEW2 documentation in \CIRCUM\DOC\HTM or ..\TXT .

File formats

Arc/Info

Each of the five subdirectories in the \CIRCUM\COVERS directory contains a complete Arc/Info 7 workspace. All Arc/Info coverages are single precision.

There are four workspaces of geological data (geology at 5 million scale, geology at 10 million scale, deposit information, and metallogenic belt information). The topographic base information is located in the \CIRCUM\COVERS\BASE subdirectory.

Interchange file formats

Three interchange file formats are used to ensure compatibility of the data with a wide range of GIS systems:

Interchange format
Filename extension Description
.E00 Arc/Info 'Export' (PC ANSI text)
.DXF AutoCAD 'Drawing Interchange
Files' (PC ANSI text)
.SHP Arc/Info 'Shape' (binary)

Each of the \E00, \DXF, \SHP, and \SHPGEO subdirectories contains a set of directories and files which correspond to the Arc/Info coverages.

A. *.E00 (\CIRCUM\E00\...)

These are Arc/Info interchange format files in PC text format. In order to use these files on Unix systems, first they must be converted to Unix text format with the Unix 'dos2unix -ascii' command (see your Unix documentation). You must use the '-ascii' option.

All .E00 files contain single precision equivalents of the Arc/Info single precision coverages. All versions of Arc/Info on all platforms should be able to import these .E00 files. They were exported from Arc/Info using the 'none' option (not compressed). Several other GIS packages can also import these files: consult the documentation for the GIS package that you are using.

B. *.DXF (\CIRCUM\DXF\...)

These are AutoCAD Drawing Interchange format files in PC text format. They were exported from Arc/Info using the 'ARCDXF' command with the 'ASCII' option.

C. *.SHP (\CIRCUM\SHP\...)

Arc/Info *.SHP 'shape' files were created by exporting each coverage using the Arc/Info 7 'arcshape' command. Although the coverages from which the .SHP files were created are all single precision, .SHP files always contain double precision data (by definition), requiring twice as much disk space as necessary.

The .SHP files contain non-topological (whole polygon) representations of the Arc/Info coverages in (\CIRCUM\COVERS). Each coverage is represented by three files (.SHP, .SHX, .DBF) created by the 'arcshape' command. These shape files can be viewed directly from the CD-ROM (no import required) by both Arcview 3 and SurView.

The \CIRCUM\SHP directory contains an additional \ZLUT directory containing .DBF lookup tables used by SurView for displaying the .SHP files. These .DBF files are referenced by the *.ASX files which encapsulate each set of .SHP/.SHX/.DBF files.

For more information on SurView, (including more information on .SHP files) please read the SurView documentation in \CIRCUM\DOC\.. . See the description of SURVIEW1 and SURVIEW2 above.

*.SHP (\CIRCUM\SHPGEO\...)

The \CIRCUM\SHP files contain co-ordinates for the Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection. Neither ArcView nor SurView can re-project these files to another projection (Arcview can but not easily). Therefore, the entire \CIRCUM\SHPGEO directory tree contains a duplicate of every file in the \CIRCUM\SHP directory tree, but containing geographic (longitude, latitude) co-ordinates instead of Lambert. All *.SHP, *.SHX, and *.DBF files in this directory tree have a 'G' suffix to indicate that the file contains geographic co-ordinates. Because of 'problems' the original ..\SHP\BASE\W_MASK has been split into two separate files ..\BASE\W_MASKEG.* AND ..\BASE\W_MASKWG.* (for east and west half respectively).

The geographic *.SHP files in \CIRCUM\SHPGEO can be viewed and re-projected as required by both ArcView and SurView. You can use these files instead of the Lambert files if you want to use the Circum-North Pacific maps as a background for other geophysical, geochemical, or geological data that is only available in a non-Lambert projection.

*NOTE: When re-projecting geographic *.SHP files some projections will work better than others. In a number of cases ArcView will 'split' the projection at 180¡.

Summary of all files and directories on the CD-ROM

Summary of files and directories
Directory No. of files Total size (bytes)
:\ 3 155 780
       CIRCUM
             COVERS
                   BASE
                         BORDER 18 276 683
                         HYDRO 8 4 456 136
                         INFO 40 236 036
                         LATLON 9 109 713
                         POLIT 8 201 895
                         TEXT 6 8 761
                         W_MASK 13 4 092 776
                   DEPOS
                         INFO 16 12 096
                         LODEDEP 7 801 918
                         PLACER 14 458 325
                   GEOL10M
                         FLT10M 8 631 733
                         GEOLOFF 10 1 154 095
                         INFO 24 16 856
                         ROX10M 14 2 865 546
                   INFO 1
                   MBELTS
                         BLTACC 14 435 467
                         BLTPOS 14 658 857
                         BLTPR1 14 193 090
                         BLTPR2 14 416 021
                         BLTPR3 14 226 768
                         INFO 46 167 972
                   UTIL 12 355 291
                   GEOL5M
                         FLT5M 8 720 051
                         INFO 16 11 272
                         ROX5M 14 3 988 051
             DOC
                   HTML 21 381 718
                   PC 9 121 451
             DXF
                   BASE 6 52 017 042
                   DEPOS 2 2 849 697
                   GEOL10M 3 17 900 988
                   GEOL5M 2 16 473 568
                   MBELTS 5 16 291 910
             E00
                   BASE 6 24 385 729
                   DEPOS 2 1 998 278
                   GEOL10M 3 9 208 823
                   GEOL5M 2 9 096 866
                   MBELTS 5 6 683 728
             INTRO 37 2 985 927
             MOSAIC 1 2 847
                   MAC 3 1 909 075
                   PC
                         MOS16 8 2 207 236
                         MOS32 1 3 006 241
             POSTSCR 8 266 137 751
             SHP
                   BASE 21 16 650 888
                   DEPOS 17 3 054 895
                   GEOL10M 17 7 629 463
                   GEOL5M 13 7 759 427
                   MBELTS 24 4 002 150
                   ZLUT 6 80 724
             SHPGEO
                   BASE 21 18 000 795
                   DEPOS 17 3 070 366
                   GEOL10M 17 7 654 839
                   GEOL5M 13 7 785 878
                   MBELTS 24 4 007 604
                   ZLUT 7 80 785
             SURVIEW 4 1 967 055
                   SYSTEM 1 21 648
Total 691 538 076 581

Distribution of file types
Filename
extension		 No. of files Total size (bytes) % of total
PS 8 266 137 751 49.46
DXF 18 105 533 205 19.61
SHP 34 64 743 844 12.03
E00 18 51 373 424 9.55
ADF 185 21 640 166 4.02
DBF 48 11 626 642 2.16
EXE 5 4 568 465 0.85
DBT 4 2 855 282 0.53
BMP 13 2 614 014 0.49
PPC 1 1 892 832 0.35
Z 1 1 586 662 0.29
HLP 1 507 834 0.09
DAT 66 349 184 0.06
WAV 3 326 486 0.06
<none> 24 324 612 0.06
FTS 1 318 464 0.06
EX_ 1 276 270 0.05
SHX 34 250 584 0.05
TXT 29 214 448 0.04
GIF 12 209 439 0.04
HTM 10 170 530 0.03
LUT 12 161 448 0.03
BOB 2 126 084 0.02
NIT 66 59 328 0.01
SHD 1 47 560 0.01
DIR 6 35 720 0.01
DLL 2 32 400 0.01
LIB 1 32 205 0.01
INI 1 21 570 0.00
ASX 52 13 117 0.00
AML 1 6 745 0.00
INS 1 6 607 0.00
LIN 1 5 612 0.00
MRK 1 2 320 0.00
FDL 18 2 184 0.00
TXX 2 976 0.00
UNX 1 478 0.00
PKG 1 340 0.00
NSP 5 0 0.00
68K 1 0 0.00
40 691 538 076 581 100.00

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