[GRASSLIST:530] v.in.sdts and attributes

[Greg Sepesi]

Using GRASS 5.0.2 I've imported USGS SDTS DLG-3 hypsography data (i.e.,
elevation contours).  I'd like the contours to be associated with their
elevation in the dig_cats directory so, for example, v.what can report
the elevation of a selected contour.  

Reading the GRASS-SDTS User's Guide
(http://grass.baylor.edu/gdp/sdts/sdts_uguide.pdf), I was expecting
v.in.sdts to create a dig_cats file with each line of the form

	<fid>:<obj_code>|<attr_code>|<elevation value>

but instead the dig_cats file has lines that are of the form

	<fid>:<attr_code>

After some exploring, I found that specifying the dbpath option in
v.in.sdts causes it to create a set of db files, including 

	????AHPR.db with lines that link the attribute code to some "AHPR"
code, and 
	????obat.db with lines that link the "AHPR" code to an elevation, where

for my USGS map data, ???? is HP01.  So there seems to be enough
information to allow a utility to create a dig_cats file that associates
elevation contours with elevations.  However this approach of following
links through optional db files seems rather convoluted.  Did I overlook
an easier approach?  Does the GRASS-SDTS User's Guide accurately
describe the dig_cats file created by v.in.sdts?

Thanks,
Greg