Exporting region definitions

2D and 3D regions are exported independently of one another as follows. See About region dimension for details.

2D regions

The definition of each 2D region in an EV file can be exported to an evr file. This file can then be used to import 2D regions into another EV file.

To export 2D region definitions:

  1. On the Echogram menu, point to Export, Regions, then click Definitions...

  2. Enter a name and location for the .evr file.

  3. Click Save.

-OR-

  1. On the View menu select Regions (opens the Regions window).

  2. On the Region menu, select Export Region Definitions...

  3. Enter a name and location for the .evr file.

  4. Click Save.

3D regions

The definition of a 3D region class object in an EV file can be exported to an wrl file. This file cannot currently be imported into another EV file.

To export a 3D region definition:

  1. On the Dataflow window, select the 3D region class object you want to export.

  2. On the Shortcut menu select Export, Export 3D object.

  3. Enter a name and location for the .wrl file.

  4. Under Save as type click VRML World (.wrl)

  5. Click Save.

2D Region definition file format

This section describes the format of the file that is created when you export 2D region definitions. These files have an .evr file extension and are referred to as EVR files. 3D regions cannot be exported to files of this format.

You can analyze EVR files using any external software that can read text data files. You can also modify EVR files using external software and re-import them into Echoview. If you create or modify EVR files you should do so carefully as Echoview may crash or exhibit other problems on encountering a file that it considers corrupt.

Overall structure

Region definition files are structured text data files. A CR/LF pair terminates each line (this is the DOS convention, not the UNIX convention that uses a single LF to terminate each line).

An EVR file consists of the following parts:

A single line containing the string "EVRG", followed by the EVR file format version number (currently "7"), and the version number of Echoview that created the file. Each of these three fields is separated by a single space. For example:

"EVRG 7 15.0.249.0"

This line is followed by a single line that contains the number of regions in the file, e.g.:

"2"

This line is followed by the data for region 1, the data for region 2, and so on. The data structure for a single region is described in the next section.

Structure corresponding to a single region

A number of fields are written for each region. Each of these is followed by the separator listed in the following table.

Field

Separator

Description

Blank line 

CR/LF

Region separator 

Region structure version

Space

"13" (will be incremented if the region structure changes in future versions)

Point count

Space

Number of points in the region

Region id

Space

Unique number for each region. Specify sequential numbers starting at 1 if creating a new file

Selected

Space

"0" (always)

Region creation type

Space

See Data formats below

Dummy

Space

Should always be "-1"

Bounding rectangle calculated

Space

"1" if the next four fields are valid

"0" otherwise

Left × value of bounding rectangle

Space

Date and time of left boundary of bounding rectangle – ignored when importing into Echoview. See "Point 1" in table below.

Top y value of bounding rectangle

Space

Upper depth coordinate of bounding rectangle – ignored when importing into Echoview. See "Point 1" in table below.

Right × value of bounding rectangle

Space

Date and time of right boundary of bounding rectangle – ignored when importing into Echoview. See "Point 1" in table below.

Bottom y value of bounding rectangle

CR/LF

Lower depth coordinate of bounding rectangle – ignored when importing into Echoview. See "Point 1" in table below.

Number of lines of notes

CR/LF

The number of lines of region notes to follow.

Region notes

CR/LF

Notes associated with the region. Maximum length is 2048 characters. Embedded CR characters are encoded as hexadecimal FF. Embedded LF characters are encoded as hexadecimal FE.

Number of lines of detection settings

CR/LF

The number of lines of detection settings to follow.

Region detection settings

CR/LF

The detection settings as defined in the Fish Track Detection Properties dialog box or Detect Schools dialog box.

Region classification

CR/LF

Region classification (string). Default value is "Unclassified regions"

Point 1

Space

Data for first point – See Data formats below. These data are used to bound the region when importing into Echoview.

...

Space

...

Point N

Space

Data for last point – See Data formats below.

Region type

CR/LF

"0" = bad (no data);

"1" = analysis;

"2" = marker

"3" = fishtracks

"4" = bad (empty water)

Region name

CR/LF

String

Data formats

The region creation type is one of the following:

Region creation type

Description

-1

No type

0

Created from a selection made using the horizontal band tool horizontal selection tool

1

Created from a selection made using the parallelogram tool parallelogram tool

2

Created from a selection made using the polygon tool polygon selection tool

3

Created from a selection made using the rectangle tool rectangle tool

4

Created from a selection made using the vertical band tool vertical selection tool

5

Created as a bottom-relative region or line-relative region

6

Created or assigned as Marker region.

7

Created using the Detect Schools command

8

Invalid or unknown region type

9

Created as a fish track region

The date and time format is in CCYYMMDD HHmmSSssss.

Where:

CC

=

century

e.g.

20

YY

=

year

e.g.

03

MM

=

month

e.g.

01

DD

=

day

e.g.

07

HH

=

hour

e.g.

14

mm

=

minute

e.g.

23

SS

=

second

e.g.

13

ssss

=

sub-seconds

e.g.

2854

Depths are written in meters in decimal notation.

Point data

The data for a single point is encoded as a date, a time, and a depth separated by spaces.

Note: Self-crossing regions are not supported. That is, the line which defines the boundary of the region may not cross itself.

Example file

This file contains 4 regions: a marker region, a rectangular analysis region, horizontal band region of region type Bad data (no data), and a school detection region.

EVRG 7 15.0.246.0
4

13 4 1 0 6 -1 1 19960828 0442573550 -9999.99 19960828 0442582300 9999.99
0
0
Unclassified regions
19960828 0442573550 -9999.9900000000 19960828 0442573550 9999.9900000000 19960828 0442582300 9999.9900000000 19960828 0442582300 -9999.9900000000 2
Marker region

13 4 2 0 3 -1 1 19960828 0440224650 11.8025751073 19960828 0442080300 69.7424892704
0
0
Unclassified regions
19960828 0440224650 11.8025751073 19960828 0440224650 69.7424892704 19960828 0442080300 69.7424892704 19960828 0442080300 11.8025751073 1
Rectangular region

13 4 4 0 0 -1 1 19960828 0439227417 105.1502145923 19960828 0505041093 150.2145922747
0
0
Unclassified regions
19960828 0439227417 105.1502145923 19960828 0439227417 150.2145922747 19960828 0505041093 150.2145922747 19960828 0505041093 105.1502145923 0
Horizontal bad data region

13 1129 5 0 7 -1 1 19960828 0439348450 201.0000000000 19960828 0442028400 229.6666666667
0
11
Variable name: Fileset1: Sv pings
School detected with:
Minimum data threshold: -72.00
Maximum data threshold: (none)
Distance mode: GPS distance
Minimum total school height (meters): 10.00
Minimum candidate length (meters): 5.00
Minimum candidate height (meters): 2.00
Maximum vertical linking distance (meters): 5.00
Maximum horizontal linking distance (meters): 20.00
Minimum total school length (meters): 60.00
Big schools
19960828 0439357200 206.0083333333 19960828 0439357200 206.9916666667 19960828 0439356980 207.0000000000 19960828 0439348450 ...

 

See also

About regions