Contents

Texture, Carbonate Content, and Preliminary Maps of Surficial Sediments of the Flower Garden Banks Area, Northwestern Gulf of Mexico Outer Shelf.

U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 03-002

Kathryn M. Scanlon, Seth D. Ackerman, and Jill E. Rozycki

2003

USING THIS CD-ROM

This CD-ROM was designed for computers equipped with a CD-ROM reader, mouse, and either the Windows or Macintosh operating system. It can be read with any HTML-compatible browser, like Netscape or Internet Explorer. With Windows, the Autoplay menu should automatically open on inserting the CD-ROM into the drive. Alternatively, the Table of Contents can be displayed by opening the file "index.htm" located at the root directory of the CD-ROM.

Also contained in this readme file:

DIRECTORY STRUCTURE
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQS)
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS (CONTACT INFO)
DISCLAIMER

DIRECTORY STRUCTURE

There are several top-level files and two top-level directories contained on this
CD-ROM. The top-level files are

1.) readme.txt - This file contains a description of this CD-ROM
and 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. Once opened, the user may browse the CD-ROM's contents as they would browse pages from the WWW.

3.) of03_002meta.txt, of03_002meta.htm, of03_002metafaq.htm - These files are the metadata for this Open-File Report.

There are two main directories on this CD-ROM. Which are:

1. Directory html/
This directory contains the HTML files and supporting
graphics that allow the user access to the CD-ROM via any
World Wide Web browser.

Assets/ - this directory contains images mostly relating to the USGS and design of this Open-File Report such as banners, logos, equipment photos, and icons.

Ferrelphotos/ - this sub-directory contains images (except for sediment samples) taken during the sample collection cruise (USGS cruise FERL01052) in 2001

OFR_figs/ - this directory contains images used in the HTML
page layouts, and mainly consists of images created from the GIS database for this Open-File Report.

sedphotos/ - this directory contains html files of the sediment samples which can be accessed interactively from the sample photo table or from the graphic of sample locations. Within this folder is the subdirectory "images."

images/ - this sub-directory contains photos of the sediment samples from cruise FERL01052 (2001)

2. Directory data/
This directory contains two sub-directories and two data files.

fgb_ofr.apr - is the ArcView project file that may be opened to access the digital data using ESRI's Arcview 3.2a or greater software. Note: this project requires the Spatial Analyst extension.

fgb_nosa.apr - is the ArcView project file that may be opened to access the digital data using ESRI's Arcview 3.2a or greater software. This project does not require the Spatial Analyst extension.

fgb_gis/ - contains the GIS data layers for the ArcView Projects. The subdirectory "zipped" includes compressed files of these data layers which may be downloaded through the web interface on the GIS Data and Metadata page.

metadata/ - contains the metadata for each of the GIS data layers included in the Open-File Report. There is an HTML, FAQ and Text version of metadata for each layer.

FAQS about this CD-ROM

1. Will this CD work on any platform?

This CD was designed on a PC to work with Windows 9x/NT/2K/XP or Mac OS in mind. Most features should work on any platform, but there will always be exceptions. A few known limitations:

Older versions of ArcExplorer only run on Windows.

The Autoplay start menu does not work on a Mac.

Most of the file names conform to the 8.3 file naming convention. A few file names exist with longer names and any links to them through a browser may not work on a Mac but should still open by directly double-clicking on the filename.

2. Do I have to have software to view the GIS layers?

You will not need to own or purchase any software to view the GIS layers. The latest version of ESRI's free data viewer (ArcExplorer 4.0.1) is supported on Windows, Linux, Macintosh and other operating systems (http://www.esri.com/news/releases/03_1qtr/arcexplorer_java.html). If you already have MapInfo, ArcGIS, ArcInfo, or ArcView installed, there are more format options available for download and viewing.

Note: The ArcView projects (.apr file) contained in this Open-File Report were created using ArcView 3.2a with the Spatial Analyst extension. These projects should be backwards compatible with older versions of ArcView that have the Spatial Analyst extension, but may lose some functionality if not viewed with ArcView 3.2a or newer software.

3. Where can I get the free software mentioned?

ArcExplorer: http://www.esri.com/software/arcexplorer/index.html
Adobe Acrobat Reader: http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html
WinZip: http://www.winzip.com/download.htm

4. When I click on a link to a text file or an Excel file, it appears in my browser, but how do I save the file to my hard drive?

If it is already showing in your browser, on the Mac OS choose File-Save As from the menu. In Windows, you can right click on the link to the file and choose Save Link As (Netscape) or Save Target As (Internet Explorer).

5. Why does ArcView (or MapInfo or ArcExplorer) ask repeatedly, "Where is...?" when I try to open the GIS project files?

Project files (.aep, .apr, or .wor) are text files that contain references to the individual GIS layers that appear in the project. These references are set up to be relative path names, and therefore, the project automatically looks for those files in the same location relative to where the project file exists.

If a project file is saved to a hard drive and the GIS layers are still on the CD, the application will not be able to find the layers, since the project file is instructing it to look on the hard drive also. The project files must be run from the CD, or all the layers and the project files must be copied to hard drive, maintaining the directory structure as it exists on the CD-ROM.

You also may experience problems opening the project files from the hyperlinks. This is because some browsers use a "temp" directory on your hard drive to temporarily place the project and run it. Again, this physically separates the project file from its GIS layers. If this happens, try the link from another browser, if possible. Or, navigate to the CD drive's file list and open the project files from there (instead of through the HTML links).

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS

Questions or suggestions about the content of this CD-ROM may be directed to:

Kathryn M. Scanlon, 508-548-8700 x2323, kscanlon@usgs.gov or

DISCLAIMER

This 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, products, or process disclosed in this report, or represents that its use would not infringe on privately-owned rights. References to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, does not constitute or imply its endorsement by the United States Government or any agency thereof. Any views and opinions of authors do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency.