SDTS TRANSLATION ROUTINES June 16, 1999 Previous version July 17, 1998 Minor addition noted by "*" Neither the U.S. Government nor any agency thereof nor any of their employees make any warranty, expressed or implied, or assume any legal responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed herein or represent that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the U.S. Government or any agency thereof. 1. Introduction Two digital cartographic products of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are vector (DLG) and terrain elevation (DEM) data in the Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) format. The USGS distributes these data sets over the Internet as a means of promoting the standard. The SDTS is a relatively new format that has been mandated for federal use. Numerous software packages from vendors such as ESRI, Integraph and ERDAS are able to accept data in this format. New software packages, and additional SDTS capabilities in existing packages, are being added all the time. This document is an explanation of procedures for translating USGS SDTS data into a form your GIS may be able to use. We will cover a method for converting: -SDTS DEM's to ASCII XYZ files that can be imported into ARC/INFO -SDTS DLG's to AUTOCAD DXF -SDTS DLG's to MapInfo MIF There are numerous commercial and public domain translators available for converting SDTS data to other formats. Those we list in this document are merely the ones we have worked with; They are certainly not the only ones, nor are they necessarily the best. DLG data sets were created by reformatting digital line graph optional (DLG-O) data as SDTS. DEM data sets were created by reformatting existing data sets to the SDTS format. These conversions include adding metadata to each transfer, but do not necessarily include any update or other content changes to the spatial data. Be aware that metadata will be reduced or eliminated completely during a conversion from SDTS to something else. 2. Translation Versus Direct Import In the interest of clarity, let's examine translation and direct import. Direct import implies that a GIS can ingest/use/import (terms all mean the same thing, and are used interchangeably by software vendors) data directly into the GIS with no intervention. Translation implies that some manipulation of the data must take place before it can be ingested by the GIS. As an example of direct import, ERDAS IMAGINE software can directly ingest SDTS DEM's. As an example of translation, ESRI's ARC/INFO must have SDTS DEM's converted to ASCII.xyz format before it can be ingested. (In fairness to ESRI, we must mention that they will have the capability to directly import SDTS DEM's in their next release of ARC/INFO). A few GIS packages capable of directly importing SDTS data are listed below. Please don't confuse these packages with "data viewers"; by "GIS package", we mean software capable of viewing and manipulating data in some fashion. There may be more than this at the time of this writing. Additionally, listing this software here does not constitute any kind of endorsement from the USGS. PRODUCT COMPANY TYPE OF SDTS DATA IMPORTED GeoMorph AST, Inc Vector data Imagine ERDAS Vector and Raster data ARC/INFO ESRI Vector data(UNIX/Windows NT versions only) MAPublisher Avenza Vector data 3. Retrieving and Unpacking SDTS Data A separate document has been written to provide detailed instructions for getting and unpacking SDTS data. It is entitled Retrieving and Unpacking SDTS Data, Tutorial and Users Manual. If you are not yet familiar with SDTS data, you should consult this document.. It contains: -An overview of DLG/SDTS and DEM/SDTS data -A summary of data retrieval procedures -Detailed instructions for retrieving SDTS data -Where to get data -Information on untarring and unzipping, once you download data -Problems to avoid during data download To request a copy of this document, send a request to sdts@usgs.gov. 4. SDTS DEM to ASCII XYZ SDTS DEM's can be converted to ASCII XYZ files using the MICRODEM software package. This software is available for download at http://www.usna.edu/Users/oceano/pguth/website/microdem.htm Once at the web site, follow the instructions listed below. 1. Select MICRODEM Download 2. Select installation program for 32 bit Windows 3. In MICRODEM: a. Select In <--> Out from the pull down menu b. Then select in the following order Export/ ASCII full/ UTM c. Select the xxxCATD.DDF file from the unzipped/untared transfer. d. Give the file a name (no extension...file will have a .XYZ extension) Navigate to the directory you want the ASCII.XYZ placed in. 4. The file , ie: 557820.0 5121240.0 909 557820.0 5121270.0 910 557820.0 5121300.0 910 557820.0 5121330.0 910 557820.0 5121360.0 911 5. You are now finished with MICRODEM 6. Use the .XYZ file for your GIS import option environment. NOTE: a robust viewer for SDTS DEM/DLG data sets and Metadata is located at http://mcmcweb.er.usgs.gov/viewers/dlg_view.html (use the dlgv32 3.5 installer for Windows 95/NT) 5. SDTS TO AUTOCAD DXF--Please note that the current conversion from SDTS TVP to DXF does not include attribute information.* 1. Go to: http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/doc/edchome/ndcdb/ndcdb.html 2. Pick up SDTS data (For examples below we used: 1:2,000,000 Missouri boundaries(Mo.bound.sdts.tar.gz), 1:100,000 Rolla West boundaries (RY1.bdy.sdts.tar.gz) and 1:24,000 Salem (D3609142.bd0s.1.sdts.tar)). 3. Go to: ftp://sdts.er.usgs.gov/pub/sdts/software/tools 4. Pick up: gunzip.exe and tar.exe (Place in directory with SDTS files) 5. Decompress and untar data as follows: a) gunzip .gz (RY1_bd~1.gz or whatever Windows95 called it) b) tar xvf (RY1_bd~1) 6. This will give you a bunch of .ddf files 7. Go to: ftp://ftp.blm.gov/pub/gis/sdts 8. Pick up: SDTS2DXF.EXE (Place in directory with .ddf files) 9. Go to a DOS prompt and change to the your file directory 10. For this step, different procedures are required depending on the data scale involved: FOR 100K MAPS: Type: sdts2dxf BD01 01 bd100k1 sdts2dxf BD01 02 bd100k2 sdts2dxf BD01 03 bd100k3 sdts2dxf BD01 04 bd100k4 where: sdts2dxf = the executable BD01 = first 4 characters in SDTS file name 01-04 = tile numbers bd100k? = your name for the dxf file FOR 7.5' MAPS: Type: sdts2dxf BD01 01 bd24k where: sdts2dxf = the executable BD01 = first 4 characters of SDTS file name 01 = numbers in the 7 and 8 positions in the file name bd24k = your name for dxf file FOR 1:2,000,000 MAPS: Type: sdts2dxf MOBD 01 bd2m where: sdts2dxf = the executable MOBD = first 4 characters of the SDTS file name 01 = numbers in the 7 and 8 positions in the file name bd2m = your name for the dxf file 11. Start AutoCad 12. Click File/Import 13. Change file type to .dxf 14. Find file in your directory click OK 15. Click View/Zoom/Extents to make file visible. If bringing in the 100K you will need to import all 4 tiles. 6. SDTS TO MapInfo MIF 1. Go to: http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/doc/edchome/ndcdb/ndcdb.html 2. Pick up SDTS data (For examples below we used: 1:2,000,000 Missouri boundaries(Mo.bound.sdts.tar.gz), 1:100,000 Rolla West boundaries (RY1.bdy.sdts.tar.gz) and 1:24,000 Salem boundaries (D3609142.bd0s.1.sdts.tar)). 3. Go to: ftp://sdts.er.usgs.gov/pub/sdts/software/tools 4. Pick up: gunzip.exe and tar.exe (Place in directory with SDTS files. 5. Decompress and untar data as follows: a) gunzip .gz (RY1_bd~1.gz or whatever Windows95 called it) b) tar xvf (RY1_bd~1) 6. This will give you a bunch of .ddf files 7. Go to: ftp://ftp.blm.gov/pub/gis/sdts 8. Pick up: SDTS2MIF.EXE (Place in directory with .ddf files) 9. Go to a DOS prompt and change to the your file directory 10. For this step, different procedures are required depending on the data scale involved: FOR 100K MAPS: Type: sdts2mif BD01 bd100k1 01 sdts2mif BD01 bd100k2 02 sdts2mif BD01 bd100k3 03 sdts2mif BD01 bd100k4 04 where: sdts2mif = the executable BD01 = first 4 characters in SDTS file name 01-04 = tile numbers bd100k? = your name for the mif file FOR 7.5' MAPS: Type: sdts2mif BD01 bd24k 01 where: sdts2mif = the executable BD01 = first 4 characters of SDTS file name 01 = numbers in the 7 and 8 positions in the file name bd24k = your name for dxf file FOR 1:2,000,000 MAPS: Type: sdts2mif MOBD bd2m 01 where: sdts2mif = the executable MOBD = first 4 characters of the SDTS file name 01 = numbers in the 7 and 8 positions in the file name bd2m = your name for the dxf file 11. Start MapInfo 12. Click Table/Import 13. Change file type to .mif 14. Save file with your name 15. Choose Open file and highlight your file 16. Choose Open This creates an empty .mid file and while there is an attr2mid.exe translator I have not yet figured out how to use the 2 translators together. If bringing in the 100K you will need to import all 4 tiles. 7. Conclusions We hope this information helps you make use of SDTS data. Please contact us if you have questions or suggestions for improvements to this document. We can be reached at sdts@usgs.gov. We encourage you to visit the SDTS home page at http://mcmcweb.er.usgs.gov/sdts .