File Formats

A number of distinctions for different file types used by Surfer are compiled in the tables below. The tables are organized first by the type of content and then alphabetically by the abbreviation for the file format. The tables provide links to detailed information about the file formats. Some file types have more than one content type and this is noted in the tables. Below the charts is the Understanding File Format Properties section with additional file format information.

File format charts

Content types

Surfer supports data, grid, and 3D grid file formats.

Files can contain raster (image) information, vector (lines) information, or both. There is no raster to vector conversion in Surfer. If you have an image on the screen and try to export it as a vector format, such as a DXF, the resulting file will be blank. If you have an image on the screen and have drawn polylines or polygons and export as a vector format, only the drawing objects are included in the file.

Coordinate types

Different types of coordinate systems control how the coordinates are shown on the map. In the tables below, the coordinate systems for the file types are noted as one of these three:

Real world coordinates are those such as latitude/longitude, UTM, etc.,
Pixel coordinates,
Other coordinates such as page coordinates, metafile coordinates, etc.

Surfer automatically converts real world coordinate systems to the map's target coordinate system, so maps with different coordinate systems can be easily combined in Surfer.

Data types (vector, image, data)

Surfer supports a wide range of file formats for importing and exporting your data files. The correct method for opening a file depends on its type.

Vector Files
- Most vector files can be opened or imported using the Home | New Map | Base command and the Import dialog. A blank cell means the file cannot be imported.
- Use the File | Export command in the plot window to export most vector files.
Raster Files
- Unless otherwise noted in the table, use the Home | Insert | Graphic command in the plot window, the Import dialog (i.e. Home | New Map | Base) or the Open Grid dialog (i.e. Home | New Map | Contour) to open the format.
- To export most raster files, use the File | Export command in the plot window.
Data Files:
- The File | Open or Data | Merge command in the worksheet can be used to open data files or merge the contents of data files into an existing worksheet.
- Use the File | Save | Save As command to save data files or the File | Export command to export data files.

File Format	File Name	More Than One Content Type	Coordinate Type	Import	Export
000	S-57 Electronic Navigation Chart		Real world	X
ACCDB	Microsoft Access				X
AN?	ACR-NEMA Medical Image		Pixel	X
BLN	Golden Software Blanking			X	X
BMP	Windows Bitmap		Pixel	X	X
BNA	Atlas Boundary	Vector, Data	Real world	X	X
CSV	Comma Separated Variable			X	X
DAT	Data			X	X
DBF	Database			X	X
DICOM3	Medical Image		Pixel	X
DDF	SDTS Topological Vector Profile		Real world	X
DGN	Microstation Design v7		Other	X
DLG	USGS Digital Line Graph		Real world	X
DXF	AutoCAD DXF		Real world, Other	X	X
E00	Esri ArcInfo Export Format^{*see note at bottom of page}		Real world	X
ECW	ER Mapper		Real world	X
EMF	Windows Enhanced Metafile	Raster and Vector	Other	X	X
EMF	Windows Enhanced Metafile	Vector and Raster	Other	X	X
EPS	Encapsulated Postscript		Pixel		X
GDB	Esri File Geodatabase		Real world	X
GIF	Image		Pixel	X	X
GML	Geography Markup Language		Real world	X
GPX	GPS Exchange File		Real world	X	X
GSB	Golden Software Boundary		Real world	X	X
GSI	Golden Software Interchange	Raster and Vector	Real world	X	X
HTML	HTML Image Map		Pixel		X
IMG	ERDAS Imagine Image	Raster and/or Grid	Pixel, Real world	X
JPG	JPEG Compressed Bitmap		Pixel, Real world	X	X
JPEG2000	JPG 2000 File Interchange Format			X	X
GEOJSON	GeoJSON Data Interchange		Real world	X
KML	Google Earth KML		Pixel, Real world	X	X
KMZ	Google Earth KMZ		Pixel, Real world	X	X
LAS	LiDAR LAS Binary Data		Real world	X
LAZ	LiDAR LAS Binary Data		Real world	X
MDB	Microsoft Access			X
MDB	Esri Personal Geodatabase		Real world	X
MID	MapInfo Data			X
MIF	MapInfo Interchange		Real world	X	X
PDF	Portable Document File (Vector)		Other, Real world	X	X
PDF	Portable Document File (Raster)		Pixel	X	X
PDF	PDF Portable Document (GeoPDF)			X	X
PDF 3D	Portable Document (3D PDF)				X
PLT	Golden Software PlotCall		Other	X
PLY	Stanford Polygon		Real world	X
PNG	Portable Network Graphics		Pixel	X	X
PNM/PPM/PGM/PBM	Image			X
PNM	ImageX		Pixel	X	X
RGB	SGI-RGB Image		Pixel	X	X
RT*	TIGER/Line File		Real world	X
SEG	SEG-P1 Exchange Format	Data and Vector	Real world	X	X
SHP	Esri Shapefile		Real world	X	X
SID	LizardTech MrSID Image		Pixel, Real world	X
SLK	Sylk Spreadsheet		Real world	X	X
SUN	Sun Raster Image		Pixel	X	X
SVG	Scalable Vector Graphics	Vector and Raster	Real world		X
TAB	MapInfo Table		Real world	X
TGA	Targa (TrueVision)		ixel	X	X
TIF	Tagged Image		Pixel, Real world		X
TIF	Image GeoTIFF				X
TXT	Text Data	Data and Grid		X	X
XLS	Excel Spreadsheet		Pixel	X	X
XLSX	Excel 2007 Spreadsheet			X	X
XLSM	Excel Spreadsheet 2007			X
VCT	IDRISI Binary Vector File		Real world	X
WMF	Windows Metafile	Raster and Vector	Other	X	X
WRL	VRML 3D Vector Model				X
XIMG	AVS X-Image				X

Grid files

Most grid files can be opened with the Open Grid dialog (i.e. Home | New Map | Contour).

The File | Save | Save As command in the grid editor or one of the grid menu commands in the plot window can be used to save this format with the Save Grid As dialog.

File Format	File Name	More than One Content Type	Coordinate Type	Import	Export
.?10g	GLOBE DEM			X
ADF	ADF Arc/Info Binary Grid			X	X
AM	Amira Mesh			X	X
AN?	ACR-NEMA Medical Image			X
ASC	ArcInfo ASCII Grid			X	X
ASI	Amira Stacked Images			X
BIL	Banded Interleave Grid By Line			X	X
BMP	Windows Bitmap			X
CPS3	CPS-3 Grid			X	X
DAT	XYZ data				X
DICOM2	Medical Image
DDF	SDTS Digital Elevation Model			X
DEM	USGS Digital Elevation Model			X	X
DOS	ETOPO-5			X
DTED	Digital Terrain Elevation Data			X
E008	Esri Grid Format		Real world	X
ECW	ERMapper			X
ERS	ER Mapper Grid			X	X
FLD	AVS Field			X	X
FLT	Esri Float Grid Format			X	X
FTG	Formatted Text Grid			X
GIF	Graphics Interchange Format			X
GRD	GRD Surfer 6 Text Grid
GRD	GRD Surfer 6 Binary Grid			X	X
GRD	GRD Surfer 7 Binary Grid			X	X
GRD	Geosoft Binary Grid			X	X
GRIB	GRIB Edition 1 Grid Format			X
GXF	Grid Exchange			X	X
HDF	Hierarchical Data	2D and 3D Grids		X	X
HGT	SRTM Elevation Data		Real world	X
HDR	GTopo-30		Real world	X
IMG	Analyze 7.5 Medical Image			X	X
IMG	ERDAS Imagine Image	Raster and/or Grid	Pixel, Real world	X
IMG	Idrisi Raster Format			X
INFO	Leica Confocal Scanning			X
JPG	Compressed Bitmap			X
JPEG-2000	JPG 2000 File Interchange Format			X
LAT	Iris Explorer			X	X
NC	NetCDF Grid File			X	X
PDF	PDF Raster			X
PNG	Portable Network Graphics			X
PNM/PPM/PGM/PBM	Image			X
RAW	Binary Grid			X	X
RGB	SGI-RGB Image		Pixel	X
SID	LizardTech MrSID Image			X
STK	Metamorph			X
SUN	Sun Raster Image		Pixel	X
TGA	Targa (TrueVision)		ixel	X
TIF	Image as Grid GeoTIFF			X	X
TXT	Formatted Text Grid			X
VTK	Visualization Toolkit	2D and 3D Grids		X	X
XIMG	AVS X-Image			X
ZMAP	Z-Map Plus Grid Format			X	X
ZYCOR	Z-Map Plus Grid Format			X	X

3D Grid file formats

Export STL files with the Save Grid As dialog. Convert an existing grid to STL with the Grids | Edit | Convert command, or save a grid in the grid editor with File | Save | Save As.

File Format	File Name	Content Type	Coordinate Type	Import	Export
DAT	XYZC data				X
HDF	Hierarchical Data Format			X	X
VTK	Visualization Toolkit			X	X

Understanding File Format Properties

The following information outlines the specific features of our supported file formats. This includes a breakdown of file types that have customizable drawing properties and those that contain editable text blocks.

Drawing Properties

The following file types have drawing properties such as line color, fill, etc.:

CLP Windows Clipboard, EMF Windows Enhanced Metafile,
Encapsulated Postscript,
KML Google Earth KML and
Google Earth KMZ,
MIF MapInfo Interchange,
SVG Scalable Vector Graphics,
TAB MapInfo Table,
WMF Windows Metafile

The DGN Microstation Design v7 and DXF AutoCAD DSF have some drawing properties.

Editable Text Blocks

The following file types have text blocks that are editable. Note that when the All text as lines option is chosen in the export options, the text is not editable.

CLP Windows Clipboard,
E00 Esri ArcInfo Export Format, ,
EMF Windows Enhanced Metafile,
GSI Golden Software Exchange,
PLT Golden Software PlotCall,
WMF Windows Metafile

The DXF AutoCAD DXF file format has some editable text block properties.

Remark about .E00 File Format

The .E00 file format is not publicly documented by Esri. Although Golden Software has tested this .E00 import filter software with a number of publicly available .E00 files, it may not be compatible with all .E00 files created by all versions of Esri application programs. Golden Software is not affiliated with Esri, and this import filter software is not a product of, nor endorsed by, Esri.