Chapter 1 Introduction > Using the Application

Contour maps are used to show gridded and contoured data. The data can be stratigraphic boundaries, soil and rock properties, mineralogy, oil saturation, or contamination. This data can be automatically loaded from the boring/well and cross-section modules. Additional datasets can also be entered.

Below is a brief introduction on how to create and edit contour maps, detailed information is provided in Chapter 10.

Creating Contour Maps

To create a new contour map either select File > New > Contour Map or click on the Maps category on the sidebar and then select Popup > New (to display the popup menu click the right mouse button). After this the New Map form will be displayed where you can specify the type of dataset, strata, and unique name for the map. A blank contour map will then be displayed. This map can be edited as described below.

Selecting Contour Maps

An existing contour map in the project can be opened by either selecting File > Open > Contour Map or by selecting the Contour Map on the sidebar and then selecting Popup > Open.

Editing Contour Maps

After a contour map has been created or selected, it can be edited. There are three primary steps to generating a contour map, adding the data, gridding the data, and then contouring the grid.

1.Adding or Editing Data

Data for the contour map is grouped into datasets. These datasets represent data that have a common source; such as, a stratigraphic boundary from boring/wells or cross-sections.

To add or edit the data for the contour map select Edit > Data or click on the Data button on the toolbar. The Data form will then be displayed showing any existing datasets in the contour map. To add a dataset to the contour map click on the Add Dataset button. In addition, the datasets can be edited and removed using this form.

After the data has been added to the contour map the individual values of the data points can be edited on the contour map using the Edit Data submenu on the toolbar. This submenu can also be used to add and delete data points on the contour map.

2.Gridding Data

After one or more datasets have been added to a contour map, the data can be gridded by selecting Edit > Grid or clicking on the Grid button on the toolbar. The Grid form will be displayed. This form is used to select the grid method and specify the gridding parameters. There are six gridding methods available Natural Neighbor, Inverse Distance, Modified Sheppard, Minimum Curvature, Trend Surface, and Nearest Neighbor. The gridding parameters to be specified will depend on the method selected.

Before the data can be gridded the method must be selected and the grid interval specified. The program can automatically calculate a recommended grid interval by pressing the Estimate button. To create the grid, press the Generate Grid button. After the grid has been generated, the individual nodes can be edited on this form.

To display the grid nodes and values on the contour map, click on the Nodes object on the sidebar.

3.Contouring a Grid

The grid values can be contoured by selecting the Edit > Contour or clicking the Contour button on the toolbar. The Contour form will be displayed where the contour parameters can be specified. The most important parameters are the minimum value, maximum value, and contour interval. These parameters can be estimated by the program by clicking on the Estimate button. To create the contours. press the Generate Contours button.

The finished contour map will then be displayed. To save the contour map click on the Save button on the toolbar or select File > Save.

Printing Contour Maps

Contour maps can be included in a project view and printed. This is described in more detail in the Project Views section below.

Overlaying Contour Maps

After a contour map has been created and saved it can be overlain in the project display by clicking on it in the sidebar of the project.