GENERALIZED GEOLOGICAL MAP OF THE WORLD AND LINKED DATABASES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA OPEN FILE 2915d TABLE OF CONTENTS HISTORY DESCRIPTION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS LICENCE NOTES HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS GIS IMPORTATION TIPS TABLE OF CD-ROM CONTENTS ______________________________ HISTORY The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) has recognized the need for a highly generalized geological context map boldly depicting Precambrian terranes, significant as hosts for Canadian ore deposits, for the purpose of visualizing economic resources, with their characteristics and controls, in their global paleo- tectonic settings. This view was initially inspired by the World Atlas of Geology and Mineral Deposits (Derry, 1980), in which page-sized simplified geological maps of subcontinental areas in several projections and at scales between 1:7 500 000 and 1:30 000 000 served to illustrate global geological history and mineral deposit settings. In 1986, a similarly simplified precursor to the current Generalized Geology of the World was prepared as a wall map on a single sheet. As a result of critical review, and because of technological advances in GSC map preparation, this new Generalized Geology of the World was recompiled and reconstituted in the form of a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) data set in 1993. A GIS data set consists of georeferenced (geo)graphical components which can be linked to a database, and processed using GIS software with plotting and map composition utilities to make displays. The database can contain a wide range of qualitative and quantitative data associated with the georeferenced elements. The full data set may be more than would ever be displayed at one time, but can be called upon selectively to prepare short-term displays customized to specific themes. Such flexible generalized maps can be used by specialists in mineral deposits and other fields, such as volcanology, petrology, and paleontology, to assist in visualizing global scale geoscientific patterns. The Generalized Geology of the World GIS data set was originally envisaged as an in-house resource to aid in the preparation of global scale thematic context maps and diagrams. In the spring of 1994, the plan was revised to prepare the world geology data set and two mineral deposit data sets for release to the public on this CD-ROM. The SurView geoscience data viewing software package (Grant, 1992) was modified to provide a simple, GIS-independent utility with which to view these data. DESCRIPTION The Generalized Geological Map of the World and Linked Databases comprises three basic digital data sets, one providing the raw components of a generalized geological map of the world, and the other two mineral deposit databases to be viewed against the geological backdrop. A Microsoft-Windows spatial data viewing application, SurView, utilizing these three data sets in its own proprietary format is included as a fourth component of this package. These four components reside in four separate directories on the CD-ROM. This CD-ROM is meant to be a distribution medium, rather than a self-contained query and data retrieval module. The three data sets are intended as input data for geographical information systems (GIS) software, an ever expanding family of computer software systems and tools designed for the display, analysis and management of geographically referenced data. If you are not using a Unix workstation loaded with ARC/INFO(TM) GIS software, or a personal computer running MS-DOS(TM) and Microsoft-Windows 3.1 (TM), you must convert the data from one or more of the four other formats provided into the proprietary format of your own GIS software system in order to make use of it. The four interchange formats provided for each data set are the ARC/INFO ASCII export interchange format (E00) for graphics and databases, ARC/INFO ASCII generate format for graphics, the AutoCAD(R) ASCII format (DXF) for graphics, and the dBASE(TM) format (DBF) for databases. This process will likely require a solid understanding of how your GIS software works and careful perusal of the 'README' text files which accompany each data set and each interchange format relevant to your system for that set. The reward will be a customizeable geological context map, and mineral deposit data sets that you can add to your own geographically referenced data sets and overlay on the geology map for your own personal or corporate applications. The three data sets are meant for the preparation of displays which visually communicate global geoscientific patterns at scales approximating the 1:35 million scale for which they were prepared. The geological map data, especially, are NOT intended for any type of quantitative analysis, because much detail was omitted, and units were grouped and simplified in the process of generalization. Even ignoring the high level of generalization, the geopositioning of map data sources was of variable accuracy, and the spatial accuracy of the map as a whole may have been compromised by rubbersheeting and by reconciliation of different generalized renditions of overlapping or adjacent areas. The high level of generalization must be kept in mind when zooming in on areas of the map on a computer display screen. LICENCE NOTES The digital data and software supplied in this open file are subject to the licence conditions as stated on the cover. It is supplied on the understanding that it is for the sole use of the licensee, and will not be redistributed in any form, in whole or in part, to third parties. Any references to proprietary software in the documentation, and/or any use of proprietary data formats in this release does not constitute endorsement by the Geological Survey of Canada of any manufacturer's product. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We gratefully and proudly acknowledge that this data product is the combined work of many members of the Geological Survey of Canada and several people outside the survey, apart from those whose names appear as authors of its contents, and apart from senior management of the Geological Survey of Canada who supported its development. The preparation of the digital data, and the three hard copy maps that form other components of this open file collection (OF 2915a: Generalized Geology of the World, OF 2915b: Global Distribution of Sediment-hosted Stratiform Copper Deposits and Occurrences, and OF 2915c: Hydrothermal Activity and Associated Mineral Deposits on the Sea Floor) was accomplished under the auspices of the Digital Cartography Section, Geoscience Information and Communication Division, and the Mineral Resources Division. Major contributions other than authorship or senior project management were provided by: _______________ Carleton University, Department of Geology E. de Kemp - Tested formatted data. _____ Exploration Computer Services, BHP Minerals Canada Limited, Toronto I. A. Allen - Tested formatted data. _____ Continental Geoscience Division, Geological Survey of Canada, Natural Resources Canada B. Brodaric - Tested formatted data. K. D. Card - Edited geology of North America, Baltic Shield and Australia. A. Cieselski- Edited geology of Canadian Shield. M. Schau - Tested formatted data. M. von Kronendonk - Provided the principle data sources for Western Australia. _____ Cordilleran Division, Geological Survey of Canada, Natural Resources Canada J. O. Wheeler- Edited geology of North America and its attribute database. _____ Geophysics Division, Geological Survey of Canada, Natural Resources Canada R. Kane - Cut pre-master CD-ROM, and provided technical assistance. W. McNeil - Tested formatted data. W. Miles - Converted and tested data. W. Roest - Provided the bathymetric, topographic, and oceanic plate boundary data for hard copy maps and SurView application. J. Tod - Facilitated CD-ROM preparation. D. Viljoen - Tested formatted data. _____ Geoscience Information and Communication Division, Geological Survey of Canada, Natural Resources Canada R. Allard - Acted as systems manager, shared time on his workstation, and provided technical advice. R. Burns - Reviewed the documentation, tested programs and data, and provided technical advice. R. Butterfield - Tested formatted data and reviewed database structure. B. Chagnon - Tested formatted data. V. Dohar - Prepared ARC/INFO plotting and query routines,provided technical advice, and provided space on his workstation. D. Everett - Digitized, and provided time on his workstation. J. Glynn - Oversaw preparation the CD-ROM disc and provided technical advice. P. Hermann - Shared time on his workstation. M. Hudon - Participated in preparation of the DXF formatted data, tested formatted data, and provided technical advice. P. Huppe - Tested formatted data and provided technical advice. D. Kurfurst - Digitized data. G. Labelle - Encouraged the initiation and continuation of the project, provided computer facilities, provided technical advice and management, and tested formatted data. M. Methot - Acted as systems manager and shared time on his workstation, and provided technical advice. L. Renaud - Shared time on his workstation and provided technical advice. M. Sigouin - Imported and processed the geographical basemap, produced the cartographic design, prepared line and shade sets, ARC/INFO plotting and editing routines, coordinated, and provided technical advice. T. West - Digitized, reprojected, and rubbersheeted geological linework, imported mineral deposit points, designed and produced legends, captions, annotations and insets, developed topographical relief techniques for ocean floor and land-based geology, produced all hard copy maps, prepared ARC/INFO routines for plotting and querying, and provided technical advice. _____ Mineral Resources Division, Geological Survey of Canada, Natural Resources Canada S. Adcock - Tested formatted data. D. F. Garson - Converted seafloor mineral deposits from text to dbf format, tested formatted data, and reviewed database structure. J. A. Grant - Checked data integrity and developed map viewing software module, SurView, to enable user to check CD-ROM contents, and edited documentation. R. M. Laramee- Reviewed attribute database structure. A. Rencz - Tested formatted data. R. Thorpe - Edited Precambrian geology. D. Wright - Tested formatted data. ______________ Geological data sources are contained in the database files in the ARCINF, DBASE, and ARCEXP subdirectories of each of the three data sets, and can be linked spatially to geographical-geological features using some GIS software packages. HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS This CD-ROM is a medium of data distribution, and its data sets contain the elemental data required to form a geological basis from which maps can be customized using many GIS software packages. It is hoped, but cannot be guaranteed, that the data has been provided in enough formats that one or more can be imported, possibly with some data manipulation, into whatever GIS software the licensee of this data has access to. The GIS software must be able to import geographical data in one of the following formats: ARC/INFO format for Unix workstations or for PC's, PC-compatible ARC/INFO interchange format (E00 extension), PC-compatible ARC/INFO generate format, or PC-compatible AutoCAD format (DXF extension). It should be noted that software that can import only the geographical data, such as AutoCAD without a GIS extension, is not enough to produce a meaningful map or GIS product. The software used must also be able to import descriptive, or attribute, data to link to the graphical data in one of the following formats: INFO(TM), the information management software of Henco Software, Inc., and the database management component of ARC/INFO, PC-compatible ARC/INFO database export exchange file format (E00 extension), or PC-compatible dBASE format (DBF extension. This CD-ROM was written to ISO-9660 CD-ROM specifications. To be used with most GIS systems, the data must be copied from the CD-ROM onto the user's own hard drive and converted into the GIS's proprietary format. It will therefore be necessary to have a sizeable amount of free space for data on the hard drive - e.g., over 150 megabytes if all of the DXF files are going to be processed along with the dBASE tables; over 70 megabytes if one complete (attribute plus geographic) data set is going to be transferred, converted, and processed from the EOO files; and over 50 megabytes if the ARC/INFO coverages are to be transferred onto the host hard drive, manipulated, and augmented. SurView, the geographical data viewing application provided with its proprietary versions of the three geology and mineral deposit data sets, requires a 80386 PC or better running Microsoft-Windows 3.1. A math coprocessor or 80486 is not required, but is recommended for reasonable performance. As data conversion into proprietary format has already been performed, the SurView application can be run directly from the CD-ROM, provided one small file (CTL3DV2.DLL) has been copied over from the CD-ROM onto your hard disc according to its documentation. GIS IMPORTATION TIPS The Unix versions of: (a) the ARC/INFO generalized geology contained in an archive file /GENGEOL/ARCINF/GENGEOL.TAR, (b) the ARC/INFO sedimentary copper deposit sites contained in the archive file /SEDCU/ARCINF/SEDCU.TAR, and (c) the ARC/INFO seafloor deposit sites contained in the archive file /SEADEP/ARCINF/SEADEP.TAR, can be restored onto Unix-based platforms using the Unix tar command. Each tar file should each be restored into its own, newly-created directory, which will then become an ARC/INFO workspace. If the directory used is already an ARC/INFO workspace, the restoration process will replace the info directory and log file, causing data loss. The tar files are uncompressed, and are roughly equivalent in size to the workspaces they encapsulate. All files and subdirectories other than the archived Unix version of the ARC/INFO workspaces are in PC-compatible format. If you copy the ASCII files directly to a non-PC system, the PC file format will have to be converted to the native file format for your system. For example, the 'dos2unix' command described in your Unix documentation should be used on these files after importing them onto a Unix platform. If you use a file transfer application such as 'Kermit' or 'ftp' to move the files to a non-PC system, the ASCII file transfer mode will do the conversion for you. If your GIS is not one for which the ARC/INFO workspaces are ready-made, one of the first issues to be faced will be choice of interchange formats to import. Scrutiny of the documentation accompanying your GIS system may soon reveal whether or not there are utilities for importing graphics in either of ARC/INFO's ASCII exchange formats, E00 or GENERATE files, or AutoCAD's DXF format, or all three. If utilities for importing either of the ARC/INFO ASCII formats are available, those formats are preferable because it is certain that your GIS will recognize the special numerical Key, or User-ID, which is used to link the appropriate attribute data from the DBF or EOO database to the geographical feature. The correct attachment of the numerical Key to geographical entities derived from the DXF files will require some custom programming, even if the files are imported into an Autodesk GIS product (GIS software developed for use in an AutoCAD environment). The 'README' documents in the DXF subdirectories outline three strategies for attaching Keys. If your GIS converts database tables to dBASE-like tables, the dBASE database tables should be imported instead of the database tables in E00 format. Yet other GIS systems require database items to be converted to numerical values before importation, which might be accomplished by translating the dBASE tables to numerical tables with dBASE or comparable database management tools. If E00 is the chosen import format, it must be decided whether it is necessary, possible, or desirable with your particular GIS system to import the graphical features already attached to the attribute data chosen for display (see \GENGEOL\README.TXT or /GENGEOL/README.UNX). The range of provided E00 file types are: (a) geographical files without the attribute data, (b) geographical files with a single set of display attribute data attached, (c) database files, and (d) some plotting utility files for ARC/INFO use only. Documentation accompanying the GIS will reveal your options. Some GIS systems recognize nothing further than the numerical Key, and will require the separate steps of importing the attribute data and linking of the attribute data to geographic features within its own environment. Others require that attribute data be joined to the geographical feature and imported at the same time. If there is a choice, the purpose and duration of the project for which the data is being imported might influence the decision on whether to import separated or joined E00 files. If the generalized geology data set is to be used in a long term project in which it might be augmented, edited, or preprocessed for several different purposes, it is suggested that the attribute data and the geographical features be imported and stored separately, for more flexibility and more efficient management and enhancement. If the objective is once-only display or casual inspection, the combined version may be more efficient. Before importing the data, or combining it with other data, it might be advisable to check whether your GIS can handle the two projections provided. The ARC/INFO coverages and E00 coverage files are in the van der Grinten I projection (Central Meridian 10 degrees East) to match the projection chosen for the hard copy map series, but the DXF and GENERATE files are in the more common standard Mercator projection (Central Meridian 10 degrees East). Subdirectories containing E00 files in Mercator projection have been added to the E00 format directories for each publication. As might be guessed, the projection is immaterial in choosing the database format. Checking the results of each importation step may help catch some of the other common problems in importing data. The units used in preparing the geographical-geological data are metres, stored as single precision real numbers. The minimum and maximum coordinates may have high absolute values. They may overflow the data type limits of the rare GIS which reads coordinates as integers, or may cause inappropriate rounding of real number values in some CAD or GIS systems. If this happens, import failure may result or garbage may be produced; the latter might be detected if the resulting display (zoomed to its extents) shows a pattern dissimilar to polygon patchworks, arcs, or point clusters enclosed in continental outlines. These problems may be overcome by with import precision, scale factors, or other parameters. In addition, breaks in linework or gaps at nodes can occur during importation or change in projection; again, visual inspection for closed polygons or dangles may help spot these flaws. These will have to be mended before a polygon topological structure is built within a vector-based GIS, or before gridding or rasterizing. Large rock unit polygons which are bounded by a huge number of arcs may have to be artificially subdivided to be utilized in many GIS environments. Symptom of this problem will be a failure to fill the polygon with color or pattern, or polygon boundary gaps or dangles. Subdivision into smaller polygons can be accomplished by adding new boundary arcs (coded to indicate that they are not really contacts) and duplicating labels, and, then, rebuilding topology if necessary. If there is no means of setting the destination path independently from the source path in your conversion utility, source files must be copied over onto the destination drive. This CD-ROM is 'read-only'. Finally, prepare to be patient. Importation processes tend to be slow with large files such as the E00 files of rock unit polygons or the dxf files of polygon boundaries. Importation times of one to six hours will not be unusual for the largest files on some computer platforms. TABLE OF CD-ROM CONTENTS README.TXT - This document (DOS ASCII text format). README.WRI - This document (Microsoft Windows Write format). README.UNX - This document (Unix ASCII text format). \GENGEOL: GENERALIZED GEOLOGY OF THE WORLD: R. V. Kirkham, L. B. Chorlton, and J. J. Carriere (compilers). A Table of Contents and description of this data set are provided in README.TXT, README.WRI, or README.UNX in the GENGEOL directory. \SEADEP: HYDROTHERMAL ACTIVITY AND ASSOCIATED MINERAL DEPOSITS OF THE SEAFLOOR: M. D. Hannington, I. Petersen, I. R. Jonasson, and J. M. Franklin (compilers). A Table of Contents and description of this data set are provided in README.TXT, README.WRI or README.UNX in the SEADEP directory. \SEDCU: GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION OF SEDIMENT-HOSTED STRATIFORM COPPER DEPOSITS AND OCCURRENCES: R. V. Kirkham, J. J. Carriere, R. M. Laramee, and D. F. Garson (compilers). A Table of Contents and description of this data set are provided in README.TXT, README.WRI or README.UNX in the SEDCU directory. \SURVIEW: SURVIEW, A MICROSOFT WINDOWS VIEW OF GENERALIZED GEOLOGICAL MAP OF THE WORLD AND SELECTED GLOBAL MINERAL DEPOSIT DATA: J. A. Grant. A Table of Contents and instructions for SurView are contained in README.TXT, README1.WRI, and README2.WRI in the SURVIEW directory.