Feature Files and Database Data

The Viewer has the ability to read or import special data that contains a list of features found in the cave. These features can be anything in the cave you wish to keep track of. For example, they could be minerals, formations, artifacts or a chemical analysis of the water in the cave.

"Feature" information is normally archived in CaveBase, the Compass cave database program, and then imported directly into the Viewer. (You can also generate these files using a standard database program, custom software or even manually.) Once this data has been imported into the Viewer, it can mark or display this information in a number of ways using the Complex Plotting options. For example, if you had a mineral inventory for a cave, you could mark every station with calcite near it with a "star" and every station with gypsum near it with a "circle." Once it has been imported into the Viewer, it can be saved to a standard plot file for later viewing. (For more information, see the CaveBase Help Files and the Compass DOS documentation.)