[postgis-users] Reading MaxSea PTZ file format

[Gerry Creager - NOAA Affiliate]

Your coordinate data appear to be in the format DDMMSS.ss for both lat/lon.
I'm not sure what the weightDepth variable refers to but valueDepth appears
to be a subsurface value.

I would start by storing the data as lat/log/valueDepth triples and then
see what a plot looks like. I suspect, since you have a complete dataset,
you have access to who created it. As an exercise to the undergraduate
student, I'd be addressing some of the more technical questions about this
dataset to the provider.

Personally, I'd find a 3d tool like you're describing useful but suggest
that it should not be limited solely to one dataset of this sort. Just
limiting it to side-scan sonar would mean it would be essentially unusable
for other datasets; I don't do much bathymetry, but I do need to work with
terrain and meteorological variables where height is important.

gerry


On Sun, Jun 9, 2013 at 10:37 AM, Ragnar Johannesen <ragnar123 at gmail.com>wrote:

> I am currently working on a project, where I combine several MaxSea 3D
> databases, which contain depth measurements made by the echosounder onboard
> on a ship. The idea is to combine these databases to create a detailed
> seafloor map around the Faroe Islands.
>
> The file format is proprietary, and the files generated are named
> 3DDB.PTZ. By inspecting the file, is see that it is a password protected
> Microsoft Jet database, but with some tools, I have been able to read from
> the file. The database contains a table named 3DTable which has the
> following structure:
>
>
> ╔═══════╦══════════╦═══════════╦══════════════════╦═════════════════╦═════════════╦═══
> ═════════╗
>     ║ Level ║   Lat    ║    Lon    ║ WeightDepth_CMap ║ ValueDepth_CMap ║
> WeightDepth ║ ValueDepth ║
>
> ╠═══════╬══════════╬═══════════╬══════════════════╬═════════════════╬═════════════╬════════════╣
>     ║     7 ║ 88021504 ║ 220475264 ║                  ║                 ║
>           1 ║ -48.64608  ║
>     ║     7 ║ 88021504 ║ 220475392 ║                  ║                 ║
>           1 ║ -48.64608  ║
>     ║     7 ║ 88021504 ║ 220508928 ║                  ║                 ║
>           3 ║ -19.2024   ║
>     ║     7 ║ 88021504 ║ 220509056 ║                  ║                 ║
>           2 ║ -13.35024  ║
>     ║     7 ║ 88021632 ║ 220474880 ║                  ║                 ║
>           1 ║ -48.64608  ║
>     ║     7 ║ 88021632 ║ 220475008 ║                  ║                 ║
>           1 ║ -48.64608  ║
>     ║     7 ║ 88021632 ║ 220475136 ║                  ║                 ║
>           1 ║ -48.64608  ║
>     ║     7 ║ 88021632 ║ 220509056 ║                  ║                 ║
>           3 ║ -21.0312   ║
>     ║     7 ║ 88021632 ║ 220509184 ║                  ║                 ║
>           3 ║ -21.9456   ║
>     ║     7 ║ 88021632 ║ 220509312 ║                  ║                 ║
>           1 ║ -7.3152    ║
>     ║     7 ║ 88021760 ║ 220461696 ║                  ║                 ║
>           1 ║ -70.77456  ║
>     ║     7 ║ 88021760 ║ 220474624 ║                  ║                 ║
>           1 ║ -51.75504  ║
>     ║     7 ║ 88021760 ║ 220474752 ║                  ║                 ║
>           1 ║ -51.75504  ║
>     ║     7 ║ 88021760 ║ 220509952 ║                  ║                 ║
>           2 ║ -14.6304   ║
>     ║     7 ║ 88021760 ║ 220510080 ║                  ║                 ║
>           5 ║ -33.8328   ║
>     ║     7 ║ 88021760 ║ 220510208 ║                  ║                 ║
>           2 ║ -13.53312  ║
>
> ╚═══════╩══════════╩═══════════╩══════════════════╩═════════════════╩═════════════╩════════════╝
>
> The column Level ranges from 5 to 21, in this particular dataset. However,
> I do not know how to process the data, as I do not know what
> format/projection the columns lat/lon is, and how to make sense of this.
>
> In the project (it is my Bachelors project in Software Engineering), I
> will focus on the data quality, and how I can combine different datasets
> from ships and trawlers to create a detailed map. I have reference data
> from a research ship belonging to the Faroese Marine Research Institute,
> taken with a calibrated echo sounder of a higher quality.
>
> To assist me in the process of combining the data, I intend to create a
> open source `ptz2pgsql` utility, similar to the `shp2pgsql` utility, and I
> would appreciate it, if someone of you could help me make sense of the data
> I have available at hand. I am able to send a sample of the data to you (a
> PTZ database). I have also contacted MaxSea to ask if it is legal to
> reverse engineer their proprietary file format.
>
> I am not sure if this is the correct place to ask this kind of question,
> but I was pointed here from my question here
> http://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/62362/importing-maxsea-3d-database-to-postgis.
> However, I like to think that there are some users on this list with
> interest in collaborative bathymetric data.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
> Ragnar Johannesen
>
> Student at Fróðskaparsetur Føroya (setur.fo)
>
> _______________________________________________
> postgis-users mailing list
> postgis-users at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/postgis-users
>
>


-- 
Gerry Creager
NSSL/CIMMS
405.325.6371
++++++++++++++++++++++
“Big whorls have little whorls,
That feed on their velocity;
And little whorls have lesser whorls,
And so on to viscosity.”
Lewis Fry Richardson (1881-1953)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/postgis-users/attachments/20130610/1f86d0b9/attachment.html>