GY461 Computer Mapping & GIS Technology Inserting ......The major difference is that geological structure data are inserted with a specific rotation angle depending on their measured

GY461 Computer Mapping & GIS TechnologyInserting Structural Geology Data onto Geologic Maps

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I. Introduction

This document describes how to insert structural geology symbols onto AutoCAD Mapquadrangle geologic maps. In addition to your quadrangle geologic map file and AutoCAD Map,you will need access to:

! Access 2000 or higher database application! Structure database file (Geodatabase.mdb)! The map projection application MAPPRO (mappro.exe)! The structural geology symbol blocks (Map_Prototype.dwt)

In this document we will use the Cheaha Mt. Quadrangle as an example. You can download thenecessary starting files for this example from:

http://www.usouthal.edu/geography/allison/gy461/gy461_project_resources.htm

Visit the above web page and then click on the “Project 2" file download link. This will allowyou to download to your workstation a self-extracting ZIP file containing all of the necessaryfiles to work through this project. You will need to have the Microsoft Office applicationsAccess and Excel available to finish the project.

If you are not successful locating the above files and applications see the course instructor.

II. Inserting the Station Locations

In this section you will insert blocks that mark the station locations where data observations werelocated. This information has already been entered into the database file “Geodatabase.mdb”.You will run a query which accumulates the latitude, longitude, and station identification of eachlocation that falls within the bounds of your quadrangle. This data can then be pasted into a textfile, which MAPPRO then uses it as input. MAPPRO will automatically inserts station blocks atthe appropriate locations, and sets the block attribute equal to the station identification.

Step 1: Run the “MaproStationQuery”

Pre-defined queries have already been created that collect the data for you- the only settings thatyou need to change is the USGS quadrangle index reference. To begin, start Access from thedesktop. Use the opening dialog “Open existing database” option to open the“Geodatabase.mdb” database. Select the “Query tab”. Figure 1 displays the view that you shouldnow see on the screen. Highlight the query named “MapproStationQuery”. This query isdesigned to accumulate station data from a specific quadrangle so that it can be processed by the


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map projection utility application MAPPRO.

The first data that we will insert into the geologic map will be station markers to indicate thelocation where data was observed. The block that we will use is named “ST”. From the Accessquery window right-click on the “MapproStationQuery”, and then select “Design View” fromthe popup menu. You will now see a window of information displayed (Figure 2)whichcontains the settings used the last time the query was used- it will probably not be valid for yourquadrangle. Note that the fields in the query include latitude, longitude, and the stationidentification, the items that MAPPRO needs to post data on the geologic map. The only itemthat needs to be modified in the query is the quadrangle index. Click on the “criteria” row below“USGS_Index” and change it to your quadrangle abbreviation. In Figure 2 this field has beenchanged to “O33085D7”. Then select the menu sequence “Query > Run”. You will now see anupdated window containing the data captured by the query.

You should now select the “Reports” tab of the main Access window, and highlight the reportnamed “MapproStationReport”. This report has be constructed to always “point” toward the“MapproStationQuery” to receive data for the report. Therefore, if you have updated the querycorrectly this report will always contain the desired station data. Double-click this report toexecute it. You should see a new window (Figure 3) containing the station data in the belowformat:

column 1: Latitude in decimal degreescolumn 2: Longitude in decimal degreescolumn 3: station I.D.

Only the data from the target quadrangle will be listed because this report uses the“MapproStationQuery” to filter the data. Do not be concerned is blank lines are contained in thereport- these will be ignored by the MAPPRO application. Select the “File > Export” menuoption while the report is displayed. You will then see a file dialog window- change the exportfile type to “Text” and navigate to the “C:\temp” folder. Name the exported file “CM-ST.TXT”.Select the default of “Windows” compatible for the text file. Access will export the file to a textformat that can be read by the MAPPRO utility.

Step 2: Processing Data with MAPPRO

At this time start the MAPPRO application. This application will probably have an icon on thedesktop of your workstation. When MAPPRO is started note that it has 2 child windows- an editwindow and a results window. You should take care that the data that will be processed byMAPPRO should always be loaded into the edit window. Select the menu sequence “Filet >Open”. Navigate to the folder where you stored the exported Access report (“C:\temp” in this


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example), and load the text file containing the data for MAPPRO to process. After clicking the “Open” button you should see the report data appear in the edit window. Note that the first 2columns should be decimal latitude and longitude values respectively. The 3rd column is thestation identifier. Your screen should now appear as in Figure 4.

Use the following menu settings to configure MAPPRO to project the geodetic coordinates intothe UTM system:

1. “Settings” > “UTM”Set the grid zone to correct value for base map (Alabama=16)

2. “Settings” > “Data Type” Station Data type should be set

2. “Settings” > “Script File Setup” Script file name > “\temp\cm-st.scr” (you can use any folder you like)Layer name > “Stations”Block name > “st”Block scale > 50 (good for 1:24,000 scale)

3. “Settings” > “Results Window Format” (select standard printout)

Now select the “Run” > “Process Edit Window” menu sequence to process the data. MAPPROcreates a macro file (cm-st.scr) containing the commands necessary to place the station markerson the quadrangle. Before processing this macro file, however, you need to ensure that anyblocks referenced by the macro file are already inserted into the base map. To resolve this takethe following actions:

1. Open a new file using the template file “Map_Prototype.dwt”.2. Save the file derived from the template and then open the quadrangle file and use the “Insert”> “Block” command to insert the new file created in (1) into the quadrangle file. The insertionshould occur at 0,0 with no rotation and scale set to 1 (i.e. use default values and un-check the“specify onscreen” checkboxes). The insertion simply adds the block definitions of all of thestructure symbols referenced by MAPPRO macro file.

After the insertion of the template file you should run the SCRIPT command from the AutoCADcommand prompt. Use the macro file created by MAPPRO (cm-st.scr) when prompted for a filename. You will then see the macro begin to plot station markers on the quadrangle base map.Figure 5 displays the station data points as plotted by MAPPRO on a portion of the Cheaha Mt.,Alabama quadrangle base map.

III. Importing Structure Data


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In general, importing the structure data blocks is very similar to importing the station blocks.The major difference is that geological structure data are inserted with a specific rotation angledepending on their measured orientation. In addition, structure data comes in 2 different formats:azimuth and quadrant. The below discussion will highlight the differences in Access and Mapprowhen structure data is imported.

Step 1: Access

You should open the “GeoDatabase” Access file and open the “MapproStructureQuery” in thequery tab section of the main Access window. Right-click on the query, and then select “DesignView” from the popup menu. Note that this query uses 2 tables, “Stations” and “Structure”, thatare linked on the basis of a common Station_ID field. In the query change the “Structure” fieldcriteria to the structure type that you wish to plot- in this example we will use “S0". Also set theUSGS_Index to match the Cheaha Mt. Quadrangle. Select the menu sequence “Query > Run” toview the results. Figure 6 displays the S0 query for the(Cheaha Mt. quadrangle. Figure 7 is anexample of the query result when it is executed. Note that there are 6 columns of data: latitude,longitude, structure attitude, station identification, structure type and quadrangle index. Selectthe menu sequence “File > Save” to save the query settings. In the future if you wish to extract adifferent type of structure from the database for the same quadrangle you will need only tochange the structure criteria (S1, L1, etc.).

Now you should run the “MapproStructureReport” found in the “Reports” tab of the mainAccess window. You will then immediately see a report formatted for MAPPRO of the structuredata specified in the previous query design. Export this report to a text file as described above,and name this file “c:\temp\cm-s0.txt”.

Step 2: Mappro

Start the MAPPRO application as described above. Load the “c:\temp\cm-s0.txt” file into theedit window. At this point setup MAPPRO for the S0 data as described below:

1. “Settings” > “UTM” (Set the grid zone to 16 for this quadrangle.)2. “Settings” > “Map Data Format” (set type to “planar”; orientation to “quadrant”)2. “Settings” > “Script File Setup”

Script file name > “\temp\cm-s0.scr” (you can use any folder you like)Layer name > “S0”Block name > “S0”Block scale > 200

3. “Settings” > “Results Window Format” (select standard printout)


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Select the menu sequence “Run > Process Edit Window Data”. This will generate the script filefor AutoCAD Map (i.e. “\temp\cm-s0.scr”).

Step 3: AutoCAD MapActivate AutoCAD Map and load the example Cheaha Mt. Quadrangle map. Run the scriptcommand and indicate the “cm-s0.scr” file that was created by MAPPRO in the previous step.The S0 data will proceed to plot on the map. Note that each structure symbol is rotated to matchthe orientation recorded in the database. Figure 8 displays some of the S0 structure symbolsplotted on the quadrangle base map.

In general all of the various types of structure blocks will be inserted as described above. Becareful in MAPPRO that you match the structure type to the appropriate geometry: Planar orlinear. The geologic map standards document contains this information. If a query yields noresults that means that there are none of that type of structure in the selected quadrangle. Youcan then skip that structure and go to the next.

IV. Notes on Inserting Structure Blocks

The MAPPRO application works by using the AutoCAD “insert” command to insert a copy of ablock, for example S1, at a location that it calculates based on the geodetic coordinates andchosen coordinate system. The advantage of this system is that the user is free to either use theprovided structure blocks (S1.dwg, L1.dwg, etc.), or design their own custom definitions usingstandard AutoCAD drawing commands. Because MAPPRO requests the name of the block touse with the data set, there is no limit to the design possibilities for structure or station symbols.The downside is that the blocks referenced by MAPPRO must be defined in the drawing filebefore MAPPRO is executed. Another issue to be aware of is special attitudes. For planar orlinear data if a dip/plunge value of 90 is encountered in the attitude data, a “90" is appended tothe block name. For example, if “S1" is the block name indicated by the user and the attitude “N40 E 90 E” is encountered, the block “S190" will be inserted at that location. A dip/plunge valueof 0 causes the “0" to be appended to the block name resulting in a block name of “S10" forhorizontal S1 attitudes. A second issue is fold symmetry. For example, if the attitude “S 30 E 45Z” is encountered the MAPPRO program interprets the “Z” as a symmetry flag and will appendthe letter “Z” to the block name. If the base name of the block had been “F1" then the referencewould be “F1Z”. Special attitudes may result in “F190Z”.

There are several ways to take care of the multitude of possible block names that may bereferenced by MAPPRO. There is a template file that is included with the download ofMAPPRO named “Map_prototype.dwt”. The only entities in this template file are structureblock definitions such as ST, S1, L1, etc. If you accept the block symbols that are included withMAPPRO you can simply insert this file into your current map to add all of the block definitions


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all at once. You did this in an earlier example above when plotting the station markers. To insertthe template into a current file open a new file but indicate that it is to be created from atemplate. Navigate the file open dialog to the directory where the template files are stored(usually c:\acadmapdata\template\). Open the “Map_prototype.dwt” file. Now save this file as“C:\temp\drawing1.dwg”. Now open your current map into AutoCAD and select the menusequence “Insert > Block”. You will then see a dialog similar to Figure 9. Select the “Browse”button to activate the file open dialog and navigate to the “c:\temp\drawing1" file. Set theparameters as they are set in the Figure 9 example and click on the “OK” button. The blocks arenow contained within your map drawing file so you can run MAPPRO for any of the structuredata.

If you need to create your own custom structure block definitions, you will need to be aware ofthese constraints:

1. Construct the block on a 1 unit by 1 unit grid. The long dimension of the block should be onlyone unit length.

2. Orient planar structures striking due north (0 azimuth) with the dip indicator oriented due east(90 azimuth).

3. Orient linear structures plunging due north (0 azimuth).

4. Dip attributes should have a “tag” name of “DIP”, and a height value of 0.2 units.5. Plunge attributes should have a “tag” name of “PLUNGE”, and a height value of 0.2 units.

V. Inserting Data not in a Database

The above instructions on inserting station and structure symbols on a map assume thatyour database has already been created, however, because of time constraints you may need toplot data without the aid of a database application. To plot stations markers you need to type inthe data into a spreadsheet or text file in three columns:

1st column: latitude in decimal degrees2nd column: longitude in decimal degrees3rd column: station identification label

Note that western hemisphere longitudes must be negative. The latitude and longitude numbersmust have at least one blank or tab separating them. The station identification label may containembedded blanks because the program simply scans from the first non-blank character right of


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the longitude to the end of the line. The formation for linear or planar data is very similar:

1st column: latitude in decimal degrees2nd column: longitude in decimal degrees3rd column: {structure data} {i.e. “N 25 E 45 E” or “ 025 45 E”; “ S 67 E 15" or “ 113 15" }4th column: station label

The station label is optional. Note that structure data must be in either quadrant or azimuthformat, and that only an E or W is used to denote dip quadrant direction (do not use SE, SW, NE,or NW). If you type in your data into a spreadsheet, highlight and copy the data to the clipboard,and then paste it into a text editor like notepad.

When you run the external Mappro program it will generate the plotting commands forAutoCAD in a script file with a “.SCR” file extension. Make sure that you note the location ofthis file when you set the parameters in the “Settings > Script file setup” menu option. When youload your base map in AutoCAD, and you have inserted any needed block symbols, issue the“script” command at the command prompt, and then indicate this script file.


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Figure 1: View of query definitions in Access main window.


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Figure 2: Station query definition for the Cheaha Mt. quadrangle.


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Figure 3: Report results based on the station query for the Cheaha Mt. Quadrangle..


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Figure 4: MAPPRO application with station data loaded into the edit window.


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Figure 5: Example of plotted station data..


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Figure 6: Access “MapproStructureQuery” for S0 data in design view.


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Figure 7: Query results for S0 structure data.


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Figure 8: Geologic map with imported S0 block symbols inserted.


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Figure 9: Block insert dialog window for adding the structure block definitions.

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GY461 Computer Mapping & GIS Technology Inserting ......The major difference is that geological structure data are inserted with a specific rotation angle depending on their measured