Golden Software,a developer of scientific graphics software, has announced the release of Surfer 12, a software package which transforms data into presentation-ready maps.
Surfer12 is a gridding and contour mapping software used by geologists, hydrologists and engineers. Surfer 12 offers twelve different gridding methods, including kriging with variograms, to convert irregularly spaced XYZ data into a uniform grid. grids or digital elevation models can be displayed in one of eight fully customizable 2D and 3D grid-based map types: contour, watershed, image, shaded relief, 1-grid and 2-grid vector, 3D wireframe, and 3D surface maps.
One of the most popular new features in Surfer 12, that was requested by users, is the ability to grid and display data using a logarithmic scale. Take the log of the Z data prior to gridding and save the grid with either log or antilog values, create contour maps with logarithmically-scaled contour intervals, and fill maps with a logarithmically-scaled colour gradient. This is important to create accurate maps when the data set spans several orders of magnitude.
Users can now reverse the X or Y axis direction and use date/time data to create maps. Users can also show descending data, such as depth data, in the correct orientation without modifying the raw data, and visualise their data with respect to time.
Three other time-saving upgrades to Surfer 12 are downloading free online maps directly from Web Map Service (WMS) servers, saving SRF files in previous version (Surfer 11) format, and adding multiple labels to points in a post map.
Surfer connects directly to online WMS servers, allowing the user to pick the layers desired for download, and seamlessly integrates the images into existing projects. Users can also remain compatible with their colleagues by saving in the Surfer 11 format. new enhancements have been added to post maps, another feature is the ability to create multiple labels for each point.
