Importing surfaces

You can import surfaces into Echoview from supported surface file formats and add them to scenes.

Note: This page does not cover importing surfaces from 3D model object files or creating surfaces.

Importing a surface

To import a surface:

On the File menu, click Import.
Select a surface file.
Click Open.
In the Surface name box, enter a name for the surface.
In the Maximum triangulation distance (m) text box, enter the maximum allowable distance between points in the surface. Where this distance is exceeded a gap will be displayed in the surface.
Click Import.

- OR -

On the View menu, click Scene Manager.
Click the Objects tab.
Click Import.
Complete steps 2 to 6 above.

Supported file formats

The following surface file formats are supported:

.csv files

The .csv file must contain:

a header row (Latitude, Longitude, Depth), and
a row for each point in the surface that defines:
latitude (decimal degrees)
longitude (decimal degrees)
depth information (meters)

You can create these files from scratch or by modifying an exported surface.

.xyz files

Each line represents one point on the surface. The order of the points is not relevant, Echoview triangulates a network of triangles from this data. Each line contains the following three values:

Longitude (decimal degrees) or easting (m)
Latitude (decimal degrees) or northing (m)
Altitude (m)

Values may be comma, space or tab delimited.

Settings for importing .xyz files are entered on the XYZI File Interpretation dialog box which will open for all imported files of this type.

Note: Positional data may be encoded in longitude/latitude or easting/northing pairs in .xyz files. Echoview imports either format of georeferencing data in .XYZ files.

Hint: High resolution xyz files for continental USA coastal areas can be download from the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) website. To display the page from which you select an area to download, click the following link http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/coastal/coastal.html. This website also contains xyz files for international areas but the data is provided at a lower resolution and is not useful for most applications.

.xyzi files

The same as .xyz file but with an extra intensity value per line and position may optionally be interpreted as eastings and northings (as opposed to longitudes and latitudes) - see About mapping and projections for more information.

Settings for importing .xyzi files are entered on the XYZI File Interpretation dialog box which will open for all imported files of this type.

The file may contain an optional header line, and it is the contents of the first line which determine if Echoview will read the X and Y data as longitude and latitude or eastings and northings.

If the first line commences with the letter L, it is assumed the file contains longitude, latitude, altitude and intensity values. If it commences with the letter E it is assumed the file contains eastings, northings, altitude and intensity values. If the first line does not commend with L or E it is examined for a legal set of longitude and latitude values, and if found the file is assumed to contain longitude, latitude, altitude and intensity values, otherwise it is assumed to contain eastings, northings, altitude and intensity values.

Longitudes and latitudes are specified in decimal degrees, eastings and northings in meters from a reference point. Positive values are north and east, negative values are south and west. Depths and altitudes are in meters. Intensity values can be used to color the surface when it is displayed in Echoview - see Import surface dialog box.

Note: Echoview exports positional data as latitude/longitude pairs, and allows for re-import from .csv files as latitude/longitude pairs. In .xyzi files positional data is encoded in longitude/latitude pairs or eastings/northings.

.seabed files

Files produced by EchoIMPACT. Each line represents one point on the surface. The order of the points is not relevant, Echoview triangulates a network of triangles from this data. Each line contains the following values separated by commas:

ignored by Echoview
ignored by Echoview
Longitude (decimal degrees)
Latitude (decimal degrees)
Depth (m)
ignored by Echoview
ignored by Echoview
ignored by Echoview
ignored by Echoview
ignored by Echoview
Class Identifier
ignored by Echoview
ignored by Echoview
ignored by Echoview
ignored by Echoview
ignored by Echoview

The Class Identifier can be used in Echoview for coloring the surface (this is a QTC seabed class, not an Echoview region class). See Import Surface dialog box for more information.