Add graticule lines or another grid to your map to view the location in multiple sets of coordinate units! Display latitude and longitude graticule lines over a projected map, or create a map in meters and add a grid in feet.

Add latitude and longitude graticule lines over your projected map with a click of a button!

Graticule Features

• Change the units of the graticule or grid between lat/long and any other supported linear units (feet, meters, miles, kilometers, etc)
• Display lines across the map, or crosses at the intersections
• Set the line properties
• Set the unit spacing and starting location
• Set the label properties, such as placement location, orientation, offset, font and label format
• Display ticks on the axis for the graticule or grid labels
• Set the tick line properties

Display axis labels in projected units (e.g. meters) and create a graticule displaying the corresponding lat/long values! Show the graticule as crosses instead of lines, and format the lat/long labels in one of many degree minute second formats.

Display two sets of units on your map! Add a graticule to a projected map and set the units to another linear unit to covert the graticule to a grid.

In addition to creating maps, you can perform a variety of functions using grid files. Just a few of the possibilities include:

• Calculating the volume and areas of grid files! You can calculate the planar and surface area, and calculate the volume between two grid files, or a grid file and any horizontal plane.
• Applying a mathematical equation to grid files. Examples include subtracting one grid file from another to create an isopach map, converting outliers to a minimum or maximum value, or multiplying one grid file by a conversion factor to convert the Z units from meters to feet.
• Applying grid filters to emphasize details or remove background variation in the grid file.
• Blanking specified regions in a grid file to prevent contours or map data from being drawn through those areas (ie. buildings, roads, or outside of field areas).
• Creating cross sections and topographical profiles.
• Combining multiple grid files into a single, easy to use grid file.
• Extracting subsets of grids or DEMs based on rows and columns.
• Transforming, offset, rescale, rotate, and mirror grids.
• Smoothing grid files to create smoother maps.
• Calculating first and second directional derivatives at user-specified orientations.
• Calculating differential and integral operators utilizing gradient, Laplacian, biharmonic, and integrated volume operators.
• Analyzing your data with Fourier and Spectral Analysis with Correlograms and Periodogram.
• Calculating residuals to find the difference between the original data point values the interpolated Z values at those points, or to find the Z values at any specific XY locations.
• Converting a grid file from any supported format to any other supported format.
• Last 10 grid functions are automatically saved.

Grid functions were used to combine bathymetric data with local terrain data.
Available grid functions in Surfer converted the Z values in the bathymetric grid from
bathymetric units to elevation units, and cleared the data in the areas outside the
lake boundary. The grid of lake bathymetry was then combined with the grid of
the local terrain elevation to create a single composite grid file.

Clean up your grid with the grid node editor!

Surfer's powerful grid node editor allows you to view and edit each individual grid node in a grid file. You can edit the grid node's Z value simply by selecting a grid node and entering a new Z value in the edit box. Grid nodes are represented by small black +'s, and blanked nodes (null values) are represented by blue x's, so it is easy to see your exact data.

Select a grid node and the Z value for that node is displayed in the toolbar.
You can edit the Z value and resave the grid.

Zoom in close to the grid nodes and the Z value for each
grid node is displayed under the symbol!

Track the grid node location on a map by clicking
on a node in the grid node editor window, and having the
respective location highlighted on the map in the plot window.

Surfer image maps use different colors to represent elevations of a grid file. Surfer automatically blends colors between percentage values so you end up with a smooth color gradation over the entire map. You can add color anchors at any percentage point between 0 and 100. Each anchor point can be assigned a unique color, and the colors are automatically blended between adjacent anchor points.

This powerful feature allows you to create color maps using any combination of colors. Add a color scale to show the values of the different colors! Image maps can be created independently of other maps, or can be combined with other map layers. They can be scaled, resized, limited and moved.

Customize your image map by adding color, including a color scale, and
overlaying it with other map layers to make the map as informative as
possible! The above map is created from an image map of Colorado
elevation overlaid with a base map layer showing the county boundaries.

Image Map Features

• Display pixel maps or smoothed images
• Save and load custom color map files for the exact desired display
• Use one of the built-in presets as the color map
• Create an associated color scale
• Overlay image maps with contour, post, or base maps
• Specify a color for missing data, or choose to make areas of no data transparent
• Change the rotation and tilt angles
• Adjust the layer opacity

Colorful and smooth image maps can be combined with base maps and
contour maps to create informative displays. Image courtesy of Igor
Yashayaev, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Canada.

Display image maps with hill shading for a 3D effect!

Adding multiple map layers to your map gives you a way to combine different types of data in one map. For example, you can drape a georeferenced image over a 3D surface map, overlay multiple base maps with a contour map, or plot a post map with contours over a wireframe map.

And because you can add any number of map layers to a map, you can show any amount of data on a single map. You are limited only by your imagination!

The object manager and property manager makes the editing of any object simple. The object manager displays all the objects in the plot document in an easy-to-use hierarchical tree arrangement.

Double click on objects in the object manager to easily edit them, check or uncheck the check boxes next to their name to show or hide them, drag and drop objects to rearrange the order in which they are drawn, and overlay maps by dragging and dropping map layers from one map frame into another! Select any object or map layer in the object manager for easy deletion.

When an object is selected in the object manager, changes to the object can be made in the property manager. The property manager is a docked window that is always displayed on the screen. You can make the property manager floating or close it, if you do not want it to display. All of the properties for an object are listed in the property manager. For instance, the Contours layer is selected in the object manager in the image below, and you can change the contour layer properties in the property manager. Once the change is made in the property manager, it is immediately applied in the plot window.

Use the object manager and property manager
to easily access and edit all objects
in your plot window.

Point cloud maps display LiDAR data as points at XY locations. Color is assigned to the points by elevation, intensity, return number, or classification. The point cloud layer includes commands for modifying, classifying, and exporting points. Point cloud layers are displayed in the 3D View as three-dimensional points. LiDAR data can be combined from multiple files and filtered with various criteria when creating a point cloud map. The point cloud layer requires one or more LAS/LAZ LiDAR data files to be selected for the input files.

This example shows a point cloud layer in the plot window (left) and 3D view (right). The colormap is applied by elevation.

Creating a Point Cloud Map

To create a point cloud map:

1. Click the Home | New Map | Speciality | Point Cloud command.
2. Select one or more LiDAR files in the Open dialog and click Open.
3. Add or remove files, set the coordinate system, and apply filters to the points in the Import Points dialog, if desired, and click OK.

The map is automatically created with reasonable defaults. The point cloud layer name includes the input file name in the Contents window, e.g. Point Cloud - myData.las. If the point cloud layer consists of multiple input files, a "+" is appended to the layer name, e.g. Point Cloud - myData.las+.

Editing an Existing Point Cloud Map

To change the features of the point cloud map, open the point cloud map properties by clicking on the point cloud map in the plot window or clicking on the point cloud layer name in the Contents window. The properties are displayed in the Properties window.

To classify, modify, or export points or grids, open the Point Cloud ribbon tab by clicking the point cloud map in the plot window or clicking the point cloud layer name in the Contents window. The Point Cloud tab is added to the ribbon and automatically selected.

Adding a Map Layer

When point cloud maps are created, they are independent of other maps in the plot window. For example, creating a point cloud map while a contour map is present in the plot window yields two separate maps, each with its own set of axes and scaling parameters. To create a single map with the point cloud map data points on the contour map, select both maps by clicking the Home | Selection | Select All command. Overlay the maps using the Overlay Maps command.

Alternatively, you can add the point cloud map directly to the existing contour map by creating the point cloud map using the Home | Add to Map | Layer | Point Cloud command. This automatically adds the point cloud map to the contour map axes.

Another alternative, is to create both maps using the Home | New Map commands. Then, select one map and drag the map layer to the other map object. This is equivalent to using the Overlay Maps command to overlay maps. For example, create a contour map with the Home | New Map | Contour command. Create the point cloud map using the Home | New Map | Speciality | Point Cloud command. This creates two separate maps. Click on the point cloud layer in the Contents window, hold down the left mouse button, and drag the point cloud layer into the contour map. A single map with two map layers, using one set of axes and scaling parameters is created.

Point cloud maps cannot be added as a map layer to 3D wireframe maps, but a point cloud map can be added to any other map layer, including 3D surface maps.

Saving a Point Cloud Map

Surfer embeds most grid and vector data in the Surfer SRF file. However, Surfer does not embed the point cloud data in the SRF file. Surfer saves a path to the source data, the Import Points options, and point cloud layer settings. When sharing an SRF file with a point cloud layer with another user, provide the user with the LAS source data files. Consider storing LAS source data in a network location if you often share SRF files with point cloud layers.

When opening an SRF file that includes a point cloud layer, Surfer first checks the saved file path to locate the data. If the data is not found in the same path with the same name, Surfer then checks paths relative to the SRF file location for the LAS source data. If the source data is still not found, the Import Points dialog is displayed with missing data files highlighted. Click Update File Path in the Import Points dialog to locate the missing source data files.

When opening an SRF file with a point cloud layer, the point cloud data loading progress is displayed in place of the layer until the source data has finished loading. You can begin working on your map while the point cloud data loads.

Post maps show points at XY locations, such as sample locations, well locations, or original data point locations. Use the points to show the distribution of data points on the map, and to demonstrate the accuracy of the gridding methods you use. Add multiple labels to the points, connect the points with a line, and control the size, shape and color of the symbol.

Also create classed post maps that identify different ranges of data by automatically assigning a different symbol or color to each data range.

Use post maps to display the location of your XY data

Post Map Features

• Create any number of post maps on a single page
• Use proportional or fixed size symbols
• Full control of symbol style, color, and frequency
• Post all points, a specific range of points, or every nth point
• Specify custom symbols from the worksheet
• Add labels from a data file and adjust the angle of the label and the plane in which the label appears
• Drag post map labels to place them exactly where you want them
• Make a classed post map to post different symbols for specified ranges of data values
• Create a classed post legend to display the symbols and data ranges
• Save and load classes for a classed post map
• Adjust the layer opacity

Different symbols are used to display different ranges of data in classed post maps.
Here, a classed post map is overlaid on a wireframe map and 3D label lines have
been added to lift the symbols up off the map surface

Use multiple post maps to differentiate between different types of points.
For example, create a separate post map for each type of well in a field.

Surfer's automatic profile tool makes it easy to visualize the change in Z value from one point to another.

Simply select the map, add a profile, and draw the line on the map. Include as many points as you want in the line; it could be a simple two-point line, or a zig-zag shape. In all cases, the profile is created showing the Z value change along the length of the line. Reshape the line on the map, and the profile automatically updates.

Profile Features

• Title and font properties
• Setting any areas with missing data to skip, minimum Z value, or a custom value
• Line and fill properties
• X and Y scaling
• Exporting the profile line to a text data file

Easily create a profile by simply drawing a line on the map!

Shaded relief maps are raster images based on grid files. Colors are assigned based on slope orientation relative to a light source. Surfer determines the orientation of each grid cell and calculates reflectance of a point light source on the grid surface.

The light source can be thought of as the sun shining on a topographic surface. Surfer automatically blends colors between percentage values so you end up with a smooth color gradation over the map. You can add color anchors so each anchor point can be assigned a unique color, and the colors are automatically blended between adjacent anchor points. This allows you to create color maps using any combination of colors. Shaded relief maps can be created independently of other maps, or can be combined with other layers. Shaded relief maps can be scaled, resized, limited, and moved in the same way as other types of maps.

Create detailed shaded relief maps! This map shows a turbidite fan
and was created with multi-beam echo-sounder data obtained
in the Caribbean Sea.

Shaded Relief Map Features

• Create photo-quality relief maps from grid files
• Control light source position, relative slope gradient, and shading
• Overlay with contour, vector, post, or base maps for highly effective displays
• Shading calculations based on several shading methods, including Simple, Peucker's Approximation, Lambertian Reflection, and Lommel-Seeliger Law
• Set relief parameters using Central Difference or Midpoint difference gradient methods
• Save and load custom color map files for the exact desired display
• Use one of the built-in presets as the color map
• Specify a color for missing data, or choose to make areas of no data transparent
• Change the rotation and tilt angles
• Adjust the layer opacity

Create spectacular maps in seconds. This map consists of a shaded relief
map overlaid with a contour map detailing the salinity of the Atlantic Ocean
at 100 meters. Image courtesy of Igor Yashayaev, Bedford Institute of
Oceanography, Canada.

Combine a shaded relief map with contour and base map features.