Enhanced File Format Compatibility

Micromine supports many GIS vector and raster formats, as well as some GPS file formats and Google Earth’s KML format. You can display these new formats directly in Vizex, import them to a Micromine file, or use some of them as a destination for exported Micromine data.

View or import a Google Earth KML file

Micromine supports the uncompressed Google KML format. If your data are saved in a KMZ file, open the file in Google Earth and re-save it to KML via File | Save | Save Place As. It will then be compatible with Micromine.

View a KML file in Vizex

1. Double-click the GIS Vizex Form to create a new GIS layer.
2. On the Input Data tab, double-click the File response and change the file type to KML Files (*.kml).
3. Browse to and select the desired KML file.
4. Optionally, switch to the UTM tab to perform an on-the-fly transformation to UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) coordinates. Enable Convert From Geographic to UTM and fill out the transformation parameters.
5. Micromine automatically detects the presence of placemarks (points), paths (lines), and polygons within the KML file. Depending on which of these feature types are present, set the cosmetic properties on the relevant tab.

You can use the Google Earth Name and Description attributes as you would any Micromine field, either as point or polygon labels or to create a colour, symbol, or hatch set.

Import data from a KML file

1. Select File | Import | Vector (GIS/GPS) Data from the main menu.
2. Double-click the GIS file response and change the file type to KML Files (*.kml).
3. Browse to and select the desired KML file.
4. On the Import Vector dialog, enable Import attributes.
5. Enter an Output File name and fill out the field names as required.

You must define a String or Join field if the KML file contains more than one point, path, or polygon, otherwise the imported data may be combined into a single string.

Export Micromine data to Google Earth

1. IMPORTANT: Use an option under Survey | Convert Coordinate Systems (from the main menu) to transform the data to geographic (latitude/longitude) coordinates on the WGS 84 datum.
2. Select File | Export | Google KML from the main menu.
3. Double-click the Input File response and select the desired Micromine file.
4. Specify the WGS 84 longitude and latitude fields and Angle units, along with any optional field names.

The data will be exported as placemarks (points) if you do not specify a String or Join field.

5. Choose the appropriate Google Altitude mode, Line colour, and Point icon.
6. Enter the Output File name and optionally enable Open file after export.

To prevent invalid data being exported to Google Earth Micromine will warn you if it detects coordinate values that fall outside the valid range for geographic coordinates (±180° for longitudes, ±90° for latitudes). In this event you should correct the data before proceeding.

View or import GIS vector data

Micromine supports many new GIS vector file types, including these major formats:

• Arc/Info binary coverages
• Arc/Info ASCII coverages
• Esri Personal Geodatabases
• Geographic Markup Language (GML) files

These new formats complement those already supported by previous Micromine versions.

View Vector GIS data in Vizex

1. Double-click the GIS Vizex Form to create a new GIS layer.
2. On the Input Data tab, double-click the File response and select the appropriate source format.
3. Browse to and select the desired file.
4. Optionally, switch to the UTM tab to perform an on-the-fly transformation to UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) coordinates. Enable Convert From Geographic to UTM and fill out the transformation parameters.
5. Where appropriate, Micromine automatically detects the presence of points, lines, and polygons within the file. Depending on which of these feature types are present, set the cosmetic properties on the relevant tab.

If the input file contains elevation data (as part of the geometry or as an attribute) you can use 3D Orientation option on the Input Data tab to display the data in 3D.

Import Vector GIS data

1. Select File | Import | Vector (GIS/GPS) Data from the main menu.
2. Double-click the GIS file response and select the appropriate source format.
3. Browse to and select the desired file.
4. On the Import Vector dialog, enable Import attributes.
5. Enter an Output File name and fill out the field names as required.

You must define a String or Join field if the file contains more than one point, polyline, or polygon, otherwise the imported data may be combined into a single string.

Working with Arc/Info coverage and Personal Geodatabase formats

Arc/Info Binary Coverage

An Arc/Info coverage has a specific structure that relies on one or more named folders (which define the names of the feature classes within the coverage), and an info folder to contain their attributes. Different feature classes have different folder names but share the same info folder. A coverage is invalid if its info folder is missing.

To display or import a feature class in Micromine requires you to navigate to the folder with that coverage’s name, and then choose the appropriate ADF file within it. Different data types (point, line, or polygon) use different ADF files. Choose arc.adf for lines, pal.adf for polygons, and pat.adf for points.

Micromine will only display or import spatial data from an Arc/Info coverage; it does not support annotations.

Personal Geodatabase

An Esri Personal Geodatabase (pGDB) can contain any number of feature datasets, each of which can contain any number of feature classes, each of which can be of a different data type (point, line, or polygon) and have its own attribute structure.

Micromine will display or import even the most complex pGDB as a single layer, with the following limitations:

• The data can be displayed in 3D if an elevation field is present. If it is common to all feature classes you can choose it via the Z field list (on the Input Data tab). If not, manually entering its name will display supported feature classes in 3D and the remainder in 2D.
• The data can only be symbolised using a colour, hatch, or symbol set if the appropriate attribute field name is common to all feature classes.
• The Properties window and Data Pop-up will display the attributes relevant to the selected feature class even if they are different from other feature classes. However, when importing a pGDB with different feature classes Micromine will simply append each new set of attribute fields to the file structure, which may produce a very large file. If needed, you can simplify the Micromine file after importing it.
• As with Arc/Info coverages, Micromine will only display or import spatial data; it does not support annotations. Any annotations within the pGDB will be displayed as the bounding rectangles of the annotation text. To avoid this, any annotations must either be omitted from the Micromine colour sets or displayed in the null colour.

Export Micromine data to a GIS vector format

Micromine supports exporting data to ArcView Shapefiles, Microstation DGN files, and Mapinfo Table or Interchange files. Data can be exported in 2D or 3D and attributes are fully supported.

1. Select File | Export | GIS from the main menu.
2. Double-click the Input File response and select the desired Micromine file.
3. Specify the X/East and Y/North fields, along with any optional field names.
4. Enable Export attributes.

The data will be exported as points if you do not specify a String or Join field.

5. Enter the Output File name and set the Type, Mode, and Feature type as appropriate.

Micromine enables or disables the Mode and Feature type options based on the output file type. Only Esri Shapefiles require you to define a Feature type. You can use this option to “downgrade” the exported data to a simpler feature type, for example to export polygons as polylines, or polylines as points.

View or import GIS raster data

Micromine supports many GIS raster file types, including these major formats:

• Arc/Info ASCII Grid
• Arc/Info Binary Grid
• Esri .hdr Labelled
• ER Mapper
• Golden Software Surfer Grids
• Grid Exchange Format
• USGS DEM
• ASCII Gridded XYZ
• SRTM HGT
• GDAL Virtual Raster

Micromine gives you complete flexibility for displaying raster data, which can be displayed as single- or multi-band images or as 3D grids. These new formats complement the existing image file formats supported by previous Micromine versions.

View GIS raster data as an image in Vizex

1. Double-click the Image Vizex Form to create a new Image layer.
2. On the Input Data tab, double-click the File response and select the appropriate source format.
3. Browse to and select the desired file.
4. Optionally, choose the desired colour bands for a Multi Band image.
5. On the Display Options tab, optionally set the Intensity, Transparency, and Interpolation (smoothing) as required.
6. If desired, create a Colour set to override the default image colour palette.

You can use a colour set to display raster data with values that exceed the standard 8-bit range of 0 to 255, which is common for elevation data. However, only the first band of a multi-band image will be displayed whenever a colour set is applied.

View GIS raster data as a 3D grid in Vizex

1. Double-click the Grid File Vizex Form to create a new Grid File layer.
2. On the Input Data tab, double-click the File response and select the appropriate source format.
3. Browse to and select the desired file.
4. Select the appropriate Orientation, and optionally the Section value.
5. On the Display Options tab, choose the 3D Shaded draw style and create a Colour set.

You can use the Adjust Z Values option to visually rescale raster data with heights in metres and X/Y coordinates in degrees (latitude/longitude). There are about 100 000 metres in a degree of latitude, so a multiplier of 0.00001 will produce natural scale (no vertical exaggeration).

Import GIS raster data as a Micromine grid file

1. Select File | Import | Grid (Raster) Data from the main menu.
2. Double-click the Input File response and select the appropriate source format.
3. Browse to and select the desired file.
4. Enter an Output File name.

View, import and export data to GPS file formats

Modern GPS units and software are capable of writing to the open source GPS Exchange (GPX) format, which Micromine now supports. Micromine also supports the proprietary GPS TrackMaker format.

View a GPS exchange format (GPX) file in Vizex

1. Double-click the GIS Vizex Form to create a new GIS layer.
2. On the Input Data tab, double-click the File response and change the file type to GPX Files (*.gpx).
3. Browse to and select the desired GPX file.
4. Optionally, switch to the UTM tab to perform an on-the-fly transformation to UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) coordinates. Enable Convert From Geographic to UTM and fill out the transformation parameters.
5. Micromine automatically detects the presence of points and lines within the GPX file. Depending on which of these feature types are present, set the cosmetic properties on the relevant tab.

Different GPS units and software write different information to a GPX file. You can use this information as you would any Micromine field, either as point or polygon labels or to create a colour, symbol, or hatch set. If your GPS writes elevation data you can use this to display the file in 3D.

Import data from a GPX file

1. Select File | Import | Vector (GIS/GPS) Data from the main menu.
2. Double-click the GIS file response and change the file type to GPX Files (*.gpx).
3. Browse to and select the desired GPX file.
4. On the Import Vector dialog, enable Import attributes.
5. Enter an Output File name and fill out the field names as required.

You must define a String or Join field if the GPX file contains more than one point or polyline, otherwise the imported data will be combined into a single string.

Export Micromine data to GPX format

1. IMPORTANT: Use an option under Survey | Convert Coordinate Systems (from the main menu) to transform the data to geographic (latitude/longitude) coordinates on the WGS 84 datum.
2. Select File | Export | GPS Formats from the main menu.
3. Double-click the Input File response and select the desired file.
4. Specify the WGS 84 longitude and latitude fields and Angle units, along with any optional field names.

The data will be exported as points if you do not specify a String or Join field.

5. Enter the Output File name and set the Type to GPS eXchange Format (*.GPX).

To prevent invalid data being exported to your GPS Micromine will warn you if it detects coordinate values that fall outside the valid range for geographic coordinates (±180° for longitudes, ±90° for latitudes). In this event you should correct the data before proceeding.

Internal File Types

See Also