CSV Editor
CSV Editor is used to prepare input topography data for use in dBSea. It can read input data in a variety of formats and produces correctly formatted CSV data ready to be accepted by dBSea. For information on CSV data, see the page CSV data.
GIS data comes in a wide variety of different formats, each specific to a particular use. CSV Editor attempts to interpret input data and prepare it for use by dBSea. However, due to the large number of possible input formats, it is not always possible to correctly interpret the input. It is recommended that if the user has access to specialised GIS software, to make use of that software to produce comma-separated raster output with a suitably chosen grid size, ready for use by the main program. ESRI/ArcGIS ASCII grid is a suitable and widely supported file format that CSV Editor is able to read. Data imported in ASCII grid format has the added advantage that northing, easting, and scaling data are included and will be passed on to dBSea, removing the need to separately set those values within dBSea.
CSV Editor is able to import vector data from .shp (ESRI shapefile) and .xyz formats. Raster data is generated from the imported vectors via a Delaunay triangulation.
CSV Editor also allows the direct editing of depth data by selecting an area and raising or lowering the terrain as necessary.
Importing raster data
Choose a data file to open with the Open raster file button. The entire file is not read initially; instead, sample data from the file will be displayed in the fields to the right. If the data is not correctly interpreted, use the Delimiter, Header rows to ignore, and Reverse direction options until the data is correctly recognised. Then click the Parse raster file button to display the data graphically. Heights/depths of exactly 0 are considered to be land.
Importing vector data
CSV Editor is able to import and convert vector data in .shp (ESRI shapefile) or .xyz (text XYZ points) formats. For more information, see the page CSV Editor Vector Import.
Altering data
Large files may be reduced in size with the Tools → Save reduced version of current file option. Increasing the Decimate by number reduces the size of the output file, as each output data point is the average of m*m input data points, where m is the decimation factor.
Left-clicking and dragging in the data image area selects a rectangular subset of the data (shown with an orange selection box) to edit. To select a non-rectangular area, click individual points forming a polygon in the image area. Double-click to confirm the selection. With an area selected, the bathymetry within that area may be raised or lowered with the Alter selected terrain heights buttons. Any changes may be removed with the Reset button. Changes to the terrain are reflected in the data image area. Moving the mouse over the image area shows the current depth at the cursor location.
Selecting an export range
The yellow selection rectangle shows the area of bathymetry that will be exported. To alter the export range, either enter values in the Use data subset boxes or right-click and drag in the image area.
Exporting selected data range
Clicking Export current selection writes out the selected data to a file which may then be opened in dBSea.
Troubleshooting
See the CSV Editing Troubleshooting page for more help.