SURFER 8®
Contouring
Software for Windows
A
Powerful Contouring, Gridding, and Surface Mapping
Package for Scientists and
Engineers
|
Scientific
Computing & Instrumentation magazine listed
Surfer
first in the year's top 5 products in visualization
software in their Dec 2000 issue
|
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Media: 1
CD-ROM |
Operating System: Windows 98, Me, 2000, XP and
higher |
Overview
Surfer 8 is a contouring and 3D surface mapping program
that runs under Microsoft Windows. It quickly and easily
converts your data into outstanding contour, surface,
wireframe, vector, image, shaded relief, and post maps.
Virtually all aspects of your maps can be customized to
produce exactly the presentation you want. Producing
publication quality maps has never been quicker or
easier.
Click picture for full size image
Surfer easily creates a multitude of map types to
visualize your data.
Top row left to right:
surface map, contour map
Bottom row: shaded
relief map, image map, wireframe map
Which Surfer
Features Would You Like to Learn About?
Contour
Maps
Surfer contour maps give you full control over all
map parameters. You can accept the Surfer intelligent
defaults to automatically create a contour map, or
double-click a map to easily customize map features.
Display contour maps over any contour range and contour
interval, or specify only the contour levels you want to
display on the map. And with Surfer you can add color
fill between contours to produce dazzling displays of
your maps, or produce gray scale fills for dramatic
black and white printouts.
Click picture for full size image
A USGS
DEM of the Morrison, CO Quadrangle was used to
create the above contour map. The
right half is an enlarged portion of the
DEM.
Contour Map
Features
- Automatic or user-defined
contour intervals and ranges
- Full control over contour
label format, font, frequency, placement, and
spacing
- Drag contour labels to
place them exactly where you want them
- Automatic or user-defined
color for contour lines
- Color fill between
contours, either user-specified or as an automatic
spectrum of your choice
- Save and retrieve custom
line styles and fills for contour maps
- Full control over
hachures
- Regulate smoothing of
contour lines
- Reshape contour
lines
- Blank contour lines in
areas where you don't want to show any
data
- Specify color for blanked
region
- Rotate and tilt contour
maps to any angle
- Add color scale or
distance scale bars
- Independently scale in the
X and Y dimensions
- Full control over axis
tick labels, tick spacing, grid lines and
titles
- Create any number of
contour maps on a page
- Print maps in
black-and-white or full color
- Overlay base, vector,
shaded relief, image, or post maps on contour
maps
- Drape contour maps over 3D
surfaces for dramatic displays
- Export contours in 3D DXF
format
3D
Surface Maps
The 3D surface map uses shading and
color to emphasize your data features. Change the
lighting, display angle and tilt with a click of the
mouse. Overlay several surface maps to generate
informative block diagrams.
Click picture for full size image
This series
of overlaid surface maps illustrates the geology of
the
Great Lake Ladoga on the margin of the Baltic
(Fennoscandian) Shield.
3D Surface Map
Features
- Specify surface
color gradation, shininess, base fill and line
color
- Control mesh line
frequency, color, style, surface offset
- Set lighting
horizontal and vertical angles, ambient, diffuse, and
specular properties
- Overlay contour
maps, image maps, post maps, shaded relief maps,
raster and vector base maps, and other surface maps
for spectacular presentations
- Choose overlay
resample method and resolution, color modulation
(blending) of surface and overlays
- Change View tilt,
rotation, field of view angles, perspective or
orthographic projection
- Set XYZ scales in
map units or page length, choose proportional or
independent XY scaling
- Use data XY limits
or specify a subset of the map
- Control background
fill and line color and styles
- Add color scales to
explain the data values corresponding to each
color
- Disable the display
of blanked grid nodes or map the blanked areas to a
specific Z level
- Produce a detailed
report of the grid statistics
- Substitute a new
grid file into an existing map
3D Wireframe
Maps
Surfer wireframe maps provide an
impressive three dimensional display of your data. Use
color zones, independent X,Y,Z scaling, orthographic or
perspective projections at any tilt or rotation angle,
and different combinations of X, Y and Z lines to
produce exactly the surface you want. Drape a
color-filled contour map over a wireframe map to create
the most striking color or black-and-white
representations of your data. The possibilities are
endless.
Click picture for full size image
A wireframe map can be
used to display any combination of X,Y, and Z lines. A
USGS SDTS DEM file was used to create this map and color
zones were defined for the X and Y
lines.
3D Wireframe Map
Features
- Display any
combination of X,Y, and Z lines
- Use automatic or
user-defined color zones to highlight different Z
levels
- Stack any number of
3D surfaces on a single page
- Optional hidden line
removal
- Overlay any
combination of contour, filled contour, base, post,
and classed post maps on a surface
- Views of the top or
bottom of the surface, or both
- Proportional or
independent scaling in the X,Y, and Z
dimensions
- Full control over
axis tick marks and tick labels
- Add a base with
optional vertical base lines
- Display the surface
at any rotation or tilt angle
Vector
Maps
Instantly create vector maps in
Surfer to show direction and magnitude of data at points
on a map. You can create vector maps from information in
one grid or two separate grids. The two components of
the vector map, direction and magnitude, are
automatically generated from a single grid by computing
the gradient of the represented surface. At any given
grid node, the direction of the arrow points in the
direction of the steepest descent. The magnitude of the
arrow changes depending on the steepness of the descent.
Two-grid vector maps use two separate grid files to
determine the vector direction and magnitude. The grids
can contain Cartesian or polar data. With Cartesian
data, one grid consists of X component data and the
other grid consists of Y component data. With polar
data, one grid consists of angle information and the
other grid contains length information. Overlay vector
maps on contour or wireframe maps to enhance the
presentation!
Click picture for full size image
A vector map
of Mt. St. Helens overlaid on a contour map. Use a color
scale bar or legend to indicate the magnitude of the
arrows.
Click picture for full size image
Vector Map
Features
- Define arrow style,
color, and frequency
- Symbol color may be
fixed or based on vector magnitude
- Display map scales,
color scale bars, and vector scale legends
- Scale the arrow
shaft length, head length, and width
- Control vector
symbol origin
- Choose from linear,
logarithmic, or square root scaling methods
Image
Maps
Surfer image maps use different
colors to represent elevations of a grid file. Create
image maps using any grid file format: GRD, DEM, SDTS
DDF, GTOP30 HDR. Surfer automatically blends colors
between percentage values so you end up with a smooth
color gradation over the map. You can add color anchors
at any percentage point between 0 and 100. Each anchor
point can be assigned a unique color, and the colors are
automatically blended between adjacent anchor points.
This allows you to create color maps using any
combination of colors. Any color fill you choose for an
image map can be used with any other image map, even if
the associated grid files cover distinctly different Z
ranges. Image maps can be created independently of other
maps, or can be combined with other maps. They can be
scaled, resized, limited and moved.
Click picture for full size image
Add color to your image
map to customize it.
Image Map
Features
- Pixel maps or
smoothed images
- Dither bitmaps if
needed
- Create an associated
color scale
- Create custom color
spectrum files for use on any image or shaded relief
map
- Overlay image maps
with contour, post, or base maps
- Data-independent
color spectrum files
- Specify color for
missing data
- Change the rotation
and tilt angles
Shaded Relief
Maps
Surfer Shaded Relief maps create a
shaded relief map from a grid [.GRD] file or USGS DEM
file. These maps use different colors to indicate
surface slope and slope direction relative to a
user-defined light source direction. Surfer determines
the orientation of each grid cell on the surface, and
assigns a unique color to each grid cell. Colors on
shaded relief maps are associated with light striking
the surface. The light source can be thought of as the
sun shining on a topographic surface. Surfer
automatically blends colors between percentage values so
you end up with a smooth color gradation over the map.
You can add color anchors so each anchor point can be
assigned a unique color, and the colors are
automatically blended between adjacent anchor points.
This allows you to create color maps using any
combination of colors. Shaded relief maps can be created
independently of other maps, or can be combined with
other maps in map overlays (using the Overlay Maps
command). Shaded Relief maps can be scaled, resized,
limited, and moved in the same way as other types of
maps.
Click picture for full size image
Combine a shaded relief
map with contour and base map
features.
Shaded Relief Map
Features
- Create photo-quality
relief maps from grid files
- Control light source
position, relative slope gradient, and shading
- Use custom color
spectrum files for the exact desired display
- Overlay with
contour, vector, post, or base maps for highly
effective displays
- Shading calculations
based on several shading methods, including Simple,
Peucker's Approximation, Lambertian Reflection, and
Lommel-Seeliger Law
- Set relief
parameters using Central Difference or Midpoint
difference gradient methods
- Specify color for
missing data
- Change the rotation
and tilt angles.
Post
Maps
Post maps show X,Y locations with
fixed size symbols or proportionally scaled symbols of
any color. Create post maps independent of other maps on
the page, or overlay the posted points on a base,
contour, vector, or surface map. For each posted point,
specify the symbol and label type, size, and angle. Also
create classed post maps that identify different ranges
of data by automatically assigning a different symbol or
color to each data range. Post your original data point
locations on a contour map to show the distribution of
data points on the map, and to demonstrate the accuracy
of the gridding methods you use.
Click picture for full size image
Use post maps
to display the location of your XY data.
Click picture for full size image
Different symbols are
used to display different ranges of data in classed post
maps. Here, a classed post map is overlaid on a
wireframe map and 3D label lines have been added to lift
the symbols up off the map
surface.
Post Map
Features
- Create any number of
post maps on a single page
- Post from any number
of files
- Use proportional or
fixed size symbols
- Full control of
symbol style, color, and frequency
- Post data on
contour, vector, surface, or base maps
- Post every point or
every nth point
- Rotate and tilt post
maps to any angle
- Make a Classed Post
Map to post different symbols for specified ranges of
data values
- Create a classed
post legend to display the symbols and data
ranges
- Specify custom
symbols from the worksheet
- Add labels from a
data file and adjust the angle of the label and the
plane in which the label appears
- Change data files
without resetting post map and classed post map
parameters
Base
Maps
Surfer can import maps in many
different formats to display geographic information. You
can combine base maps with other maps in map overlays,
or can create stand-alone base maps independent of other
maps on the page. You can load any number of base maps
on a page. Base maps can be imported from DXF, GSI, BLN,
SHP, LGO, BNA, GSB, DLG, LGS, MIF, E00, USGS SDTS DLG
DDF, EMF, WMF, TIF, PCX, BMP, PLT, CLP, TGA, PCX, JPG,
PNG, DCX, WPG, PCT, and other formats. It is easy to
overlay a base map on a contour or surface wireframe
map, allowing you to display geographic information in
combination with the three dimensional
data.
Click picture for full size image
Display your base maps
in Surfer alone or overlay them on other
maps.
Base Map
Features
- Create any number of
base maps on a single page
- Create independent
base maps or overlay base maps on other map
types
- Edit line, fill,
text, and symbol properties for vector base map
formats
- Specify real-world
coordinates for TIF, JPG, GIF, and other raster
files
- Independent scaling
in the X and Y dimensions
- Rotate and tilt base
maps to any angle
Map
Overlays
Map overlays give you a way to
combine any number of contour, wireframe, vector, base,
and post maps. Draping a filled contour map over a
wireframe map produces the most striking display of 3D
data possible. And because you can overlay any number of
maps, you can show any amount of data on a single
map.
Click picture for full size image
This map was
created by overlaying two contour maps, a
basemap,
and a wireframe map in order to display
contaminate spread.
Gridding
The gridding methods in Surfer allow
you to produce accurate contour, surface, wireframe,
vector, image, and shaded relief maps from your XYZ
data. The data can be randomly dispersed over the map
area, and Surfer's gridding will interpolate your data
onto a grid. You have a multitude of gridding methods to
choose from, so you can produce exactly the map you
want. With each gridding method you have complete
control over the gridding parameters. If your data are
already collected in a regular rectangular array, you
can create a map directly from your data. Computer
generated contour maps have never been more
accurate.
.
Gridding
Features
- Interpolate from up
to 1 billion XYZ data points (limited by available
memory)
- Produce grids with
up to 100 million nodes
- Specify faults and
breaklines when gridding
- Choose from one of
the powerful gridding methods: Inverse Distance,
Kriging, Minimum Curvature, Polynomial Regression,
Triangulation, Nearest Neighbor, Shepard's Method,
Radial Basis Functions, Natural Neighbor, Moving
Average, and Local Polynomial
- Specify isotropic or
anisotropic weighting
- You have full
control over the grid line geometry including grid
limits, grid spacing, and number of grid lines
- Customize search
options based on user-defined data sector
parameters
- Specify search
ellipses at any orientation and scaling
- Use spline smoothing
and grid filtering to alter the grid file
- Use grid math to
perform mathematic operations between grid
files
- Use Nearest Neighbor
to create grid files without interpolation
- Use Triangulation to
achieve accuracy with large data sets faster
- Detrend a surface
using Polynomial Regression, generate regression
coefficients in a report, and calculate
residuals
- Use data exclusion
filters to eliminate unwanted data
- Use duplicate data
resolution techniques
- Generate a grid of
Kriging standard deviations
- Specify point or
block Kriging
- Generate a report of
the gridding statistics and parameters including ANOVA
regression statistics
- Specify scales and
range for each variogram model
- Extract subsets of
grids or DEMs based on rows and columns
- Transform, offset,
rescale, rotate, and mirror grids
- Calculate first and
second directional derivatives at user-specified
orientations
- Calculate
differential and integral operators utilizing
gradient, Laplacian, biharmonic, and integrated volume
operators
- Analyze your data
with Fourier and spectral analysis with Correlograms
and Periodogram
- Generate grids from
a user-specified function of two variables
- Calculate grids with
Data Metrics including: number of points within search
ellipse, distance to nearest and farthest neighbor,
median, average and offset distance to points within
the search ellipse
- Use cross-validation
to judge the suitability of the gridding method for
the particular data set
Variograms
Use the variogram modeling subsystem
to quantitatively assess the spatial continuity of data.
Variograms may be used to select an appropriate
variogram model when gridding with the Kriging
algorithm. Surfer uses a variogram grid as a fundamental
internal data representation and once this grid is
built, any experimental variogram can be computed
instantaneously.
Instantly create
variograms in Surfer to quantitatively assess the
spatial continuity of your
data.
Variogram
Features
- Virtually unlimited
data set sizes
- Display both the
experimental variogram and the variogram model
- Specify the
estimator type: variogram, standardized variogram,
auto covariance, or auto correlation
- Specify the
variogram model components: exponential, Gaussian,
linear, logarithmic, nugget effect, power, quadratic,
rational quadratic, spherical, wave, pentaspherical,
and cubic models
- Customize the
variogram to display symbols, variance, and number of
pairs for each lag
- Export the
experimental variogram data
Faults and
Breaklines
Define faults and
breaklines when gridding your data. The data on one side
of the fault will not be directly used to calculate grid
node values on the other side of the fault. When the
gridding algorithm sees a breakline, any data points
that lie directly on the breakline take precedence over
an interpolated value. Use breaklines to define
streamlines, ridges, and other breaks in slopes. Unlike
faults, breaklines are not barriers to information flow
and the gridding algorithm can cross the breakline to
use a point on the other side. The gridding methods that
support faults are: Inverse Distance to a Power, Minimum
Curvature, Nearest Neighbor, and Data Metrics.
Breaklines are supported by: Inverse Distance to a
Power, Kriging, Minimum Curvature, Nearest Neighbor,
Radial Basis Function, Moving Average, Data Metrics, and
Local Polynomial gridding methods.
A contour map
that features a fault is displayed here. Faults and
breaklines are specified when gridding your data
USGS Digital
Elevation Model (DEM) Files
- Use DEM files with any
Surfer command that uses GRD files
- Directly use the SDTS DEM
file format in native form
- Display information about
the DEM
- Create contour, vector,
shaded relief, image, and wireframe maps from DEM
files
Digitize
Boundaries
- Find XY coordinates
- Automatically write
coordinates to ASCII data files
- Automatically save
digitized coordinates as BLN files
- Create boundary files for
use with other maps
- Display different
properties for base map features
Automation
Virtually any operation that
you can perform interactively can be controlled using an
Automation-compatible programming language such as
Visual Basic, C++, or Perl. Surfer includes GS Scripter
- a Visual Basic-compatible programming environment that
lets you write, edit, debug, and run scripts. In this
way you can automate repetitive tasks, create front ends
for running Surfer, or carry out any task that Surfer
can do.
Worksheet
Surfer includes a
full-featured worksheet for creating, opening, editing,
and saving data files. Data files can be up to 1 billion
rows, subject to available memory. You can use the
Windows Clipboard functions to Cut, Copy, and Paste data
within the Surfer worksheet, or between
applications
Worksheet
Features
- Import files in DAT, TXT,
SLK, XLS, WKx, WRx, CSV, BNA, or BLN formats
- Calculate data
statistics
- Perform data
transformations using advanced mathematical
functions
- Sort data based on primary
and secondary columns
- Print the worksheet
- Save your data in one of
the following formats: XLS, SLK, CSV, TXT, DAT, BLN,
and BNA
Object
Manager
The object manager makes the
editing of any object simple. It displays all the
objects in the document in an easy-to-use hierarchical
tree arrangement. Select objects in the object manager
to easily edit them and to show or hide
them
Use the object manager
to easily access and edit all the objects that appear in
your plot window.
Additional Utilities
and Features
- Export maps in DXF,
SHP, BNA, BLN, MIF, GSI, GSB, EMF, WMF, CLP, CGM, TIF,
BMP, JPG, TGA, PNG, PCX, DCX, WPG, PCT, formats
- Windows Clipboard
support for copying maps to other applications
- Combine any number
of maps on a single page
- Use the mouse to
resize objects on the screen
- Define default
preferences
- Define custom line
styles and colors and save for use on other
maps
- Add any number of
text blocks at any position on the map, using TrueType
fonts
- Include
superscripts, subscripts and Greek or other characters
in text
- Compute volumes,
planar and surface areas
- Calculate residuals
between data and surface
- Print to any Windows
supported printer or plotter
- Easily clip
boundaries or posted points to contour map
limits
- Display and print
subsets of completed maps, complete with subset
axes
- Add arrowheads to
lines
- Adjust the number of
undo levels
- Use the reshape tool
to edit areas and curves
- Floatable toolbars
System
Requirements
- PC running Windows
98, Me, 2000, XP, or higher
- 25 MB of free hard
disk space
- 32 MB RAM minimum,
64 MB or higher recommended
- 800 x 600 minimum
monitor resolution
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