Golden Software, a developer of scientific graphics software, has released the latest version of its Surfer software package, which accurately transforms data into presentation-ready maps. Surfer 10 provides 12 different gridding methods, including Kriging with variograms, to convert irregularly spaced XYZ data into a uniform grid. Users can display a grid or digital elevation model in one of seven fully customisable 2D and 3D map types: contour, image, shaded relief, 1-grid and 2-grid vector, 3D wireframe, and 3D surface maps. The display can be enhanced by adding post, classed post and base maps.
One of the new features in Surfer 10 is support for map projections which enables users to mix and match data sets and grids from various coordinate systems, and have all map layers overlaying correctly and displayed in a single coordinate system. For example, load data and grid files in UTM or State Plane coordinates, and display the map in Latitude/Longitude coordinates. In addition to supporting map projections and coordinate systems, users can utilise 64-bit versions of Windows and load large data sets and imagery without running out of memory.
Two further upgrades are the property manager and Google Earth export. The property manager allows a user to streamline their workflow by editing all map attributes in an always-open window and see the changes immediately on the map. Maps can be exported to KML or KMZ files for direct compatibility with Google Earth, providing flexibility for communicating and transferring data with clients and project teams. Users can display their DEM or bathymetric map created in Surfer directly over a real world aerial photo in Google Earth for easy identification of features and landscape.
