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NOTES FOR SMAPS USERS

1. CONVERTING SMAPS DATA.

SMAPS data can be converted to COMPASS data fairly easily.SMAPS uses two interchange formats: RSD and SEF. The RSD format wasused with SMAPS versions 3.X and 4.X. The SEF format was used withSMAPS 5.X. Refer to your SMAPS documentation for instructions onexporting the data. The COMPASS Project Manager has tools that willimport SEF files into COMPASS. For detailed informationon converting SEF File, refer to the Project Manager Help.

Since the RXD format is older, the program used to convert it toCOMPASS format is a part of the COMPASS for DOS package. This packageis available on the internet. If you need to import RSD data fromSMAPS 3 and 4, you will have to use the DOS program SMAP2CSS.EXE toconvert the data. Refer to the DOS COMPASS documentation for completeinstructions.

2. SURVEY ORGANIZATION IN COMPASS

If you are used to using SMAPS, you may be confused by the way COMPASSorganizes data. This is because COMPASS has a very different philosophy

about how to manage cave data. Let's look at the differences. First, itis part of SMAPS' philosophy to maintain total control over all the cavedata. For example, with SMAPS, every survey is kept in a separate fileand the program chooses the filename for each file. If you look in aSMAPS directory, you will see dozens of files with names like:AAAAAAYF.CY. These files hold your data, but you have no control overthem. The only way you can look at or manipulate them is through SMAPS.This is because the format of the files is secret. This means that SMAPShas to keep track of the all the files and organize them into cavesystems. There are several disadvantages to this format. The biggestdisadvantage is that it is very easy to corrupt the data. If you deletethe wrong files or change a single byte in a SMAPS file, you can corruptall the caves and surveys in the directory structure. If you keep two

caves in the same directory, the data can become cross linked. If youcopy data, you must be absolutely sure you get the right files or thecopy will be useless. Since file format is secret, there is no wayto fix any problem that may occur.

COMPASS on the other hand is based around normal DOS/Windows files. Thefile format is not secret and you can even edit them with a wordprocessor if you are careful. Each file can hold hundreds of surveyswhich makes it easy to copy surveys and also makes the software runfaster. It also means that you can move your files around withoutconfusing the program or the risk of damaging the data. Because the dataformat is not fragile, your data is much safer in COMPASS files. Even inthe worst case, you can use an editor to repair the data.

There are many advantages to the COMPASS format, but if you are used toSMAPS, organizing your data may seem confusing. In SMAPS, the user ispresented with a directory structure and you put your surveys and controlpoints into this directory structure. In COMPASS, you use normalDOS/Windows files, directories and folders to organize your cave data. InCOMPASS you get to create and name the files that are used to organizeyour data. You can still have the same kind of directory structure asSMAPS and it is just as easy to create, it just involves different stepsand a slightly different thought process.

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SURVEY DATA FILES.

The first level of COMPASS data organization in COMPASS is the survey.Basically, a survey is the data from one surveying session. Usually thismeans that the data that was collected by the same people, on the sameday in a particular part of the cave. Usually, an individual survey willbe confined to single passage. If you switch to another part of the cave,the data would normally go into a new survey, even if the same team isdoing the surveying. This allows COMPASS to display more detail about howthe cave was surveyed.

This is pretty much the same as SMAPS. The difference is that in COMPASSthe data for many surveys is generally saved in a single file. Thus, thefirst step in creating a new COMPASS cave survey is to create a new fileto hold the data. You can do this in one of several ways. You caninstruct the COMPASS Project Manager to create a new file with an emptysurvey in it, or you can go directly to the COMPASS Editor, enter thedata, and then save the data to a new file. You should choose a name forthis file that corresponds to the cave. For example, if you were startinga new survey in Groaning Cave you'd probably name the file GROAN.DAT.(Data file in COMPASS have the extension ".DAT".

Remember, a Survey Data file can hold hundreds individual caves

surveys, so you can enter as many surveys as you want during eachediting session. Whenever you survey more passage in a cave and wantto expand the data, you simply return to the file and add moresurveys. SMAPS users sometimes feel that they must put each survey ina separate file. Although you can do this, it is very inefficient.Normally, you would put all of the data from a single cave into asingle Survey Data file. For example, you could put all 1200 surveysin Lechuguilla Cave into a single file called LECH.DAT. (Note:COMPASS for DOS is limited to about 30 miles of cave per file.)

PROJECT FILES.

The next level of organization in COMPASS is the Project File. Project

Files are used to combine several individual caves into a cave system.For example, I have data for the Huautla Cave System that consists ofover 60 separate caves combined using a single Project File.

If you have a very large cave, you can also split the cave intoseveral Survey Data files and use a Project to combine them all. Forexample, the Wind Cave data is split into seven separate data files,each containing a particular section of the cave.

SMAPS users sometimes get confused about Project Files and think that theProject File actually holds part of the data. A Project File is simply alist that tells COMPASS which Survey Data files to combine. This meansyou can have more than one Project File that uses the same data. For

example, you could have one project file that combines Lechuguilla andCarlsbad and another Project file that combines Lechuguilla and SpiderCave. This process of combining has no effect on the original data. Itjust creates a combined image of the caves without modifying the originalSurvey Data files.

THE PROJECT MANAGER

These files may seem a bit confusing, but COMPASS has a special programthat is designed to display, control and manipulate Survey Data Files and

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Project Files. The program is call the Project Manager. The ProjectManager allows you to create and maintain Survey Data files and Projectfiles using a simple mouse actions. In the Project Manager the surveydata is displayed visually as "tree" diagram. This makes it easy tovisualize and organize the cave data.

PROCESSING AND VIEWING DATA

Once you have entered your data into a Survey Data file you canclose, process, view and print images of the data. These operationcan be carried out automatically by the Project Manager. Survey datacan be processed and viewed at the "Project" level or at the "File"level. For example, if you have a project that consist of severalcaves, you can process and view the individual caves or the wholeproject. You simply highlight the section you are interested in.

SOFTWARE TOOLS

Although the Project Manager makes it look like COMPASS is a singleprogram, COMPASS actually consists several individual programs. This ispart of the philosophy of COMPASS which is designed around the "tool box"concept. Instead of trying to design a single huge program that tries todo a little bit of everything, COMPASS consists of several "tools" thatdo one job and do it very well. In other words, instead of giving you a

"Swiss Army Knife" program that does everything, but nothing really well,COMPASS gives you a screwdriver, a hammer and a saw, each one carefullydesigned to do one job really well.

Most of the time you don't need to think about the individual COMPASSprograms, because the Project Manager automatically runs the programswhen they are needed. However, there are instances where it is veryuseful to run the individual COMPASS programs. For example, you mightrun the Viewer manually to make it easy to view different caves thatyou have already processed. You could even run multiple copies of theViewer compare caves maps.