The Data Summary

This is a summary of data about the cave. It applies to all the files processed. The following example illustrates a typical data summary.

DATA SUMMARY for : Fulfords.mak

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Number Of Files=        2      Station Aliases=        2

Number Of Surveys=     29      Number Of Stations=   270

Included Shots=       289      Excluded Shots=         0

Ignored Shots=          0      Number Of Loops=       17

Absolute Stations=      4      Purged Stations=        0

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Length Items:

Cave Length (Included)=       5,997.6 Feet           1,828.1 Meters   1.14 Miles

Completely Excluded=              0.0 Feet               0.0 Meters

Length Excluded=                  0.0 Feet               0.0 Meters

Total Surveyed=               5,997.6 Feet           1,828.1 Meters   1.14 Miles

Horizontal Length=            5,388.9 Feet           1,642.5 Meters   1.02 Miles

Horizontal Excluded=              0.0 Feet               0.0 Meters

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Cave Depth=                     259.5 Feet              79.1 Meters

Surface Length=                 506.4 Feet             154.3 Meters

Surface Width=                  473.0 Feet             144.2 Meters

Surface Area=               239,515.3 Ft^2          22,251.7 M^2  

Enclosed Volume=         62,157,184.8 Ft^3       1,760,095.5 M^3  

Cave Volume=                623,063.5 Ft^3          17,643.2 M^3  

Average Diameter=                10.2 Feet               3.1 Meters

Wall Area=                  203,932.4 Ft^2          18,945.9 M^2  

Floor Area=                  57,547.3 Ft^2           5,346.3 M^2  

Volume Density=           1.00 %

Average Inclination=     21.0 Deg.

Difficulty=              22.8

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Highest Station=                   CCCP3         10,129.5 Feet           3,087.5 Meters

Lowest Station=                     AAA4          9,870.0 Feet           3,008.4 Meters

North Most Station=                  AC7     14,346,873.5 Feet       4,372,927.0 Meters

South Most Station=                  SS7     14,346,400.5 Feet       4,372,782.9 Meters

East Most Station=                   B21      1,174,044.1 Feet         357,848.6 Meters

West Most Station=                   SC3      1,173,537.7 Feet         357,694.3 Meters

Furthest Station=                   CC15          1,357.3 Feet             413.7 Meters   0.26 Miles

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Average Shot Length=             20.9 Feet               6.4 Meters

Longest Shot=                    96.6 Feet              29.4 Meters

Shortest Shot=                    1.0 Feet               0.3 Meters

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There are 27 items in the data. Here is a description of each item:

Number Of Files. This is the number of files that were processed to produce the statistics and the current plot file. It does not count the project file itself, but it does include all the files included in a project file.

Station Aliases. This item displays the number of Aliases found in the file. An alias is the station that is in the same location as an another station, but has a different name. It is usually generated by creating a zero-length shot between stations. Aliases are used to add left, right, up and down for the last station in a survey.

Number Of Surveys. This is the number of distinct surveys processed. Only surveys with separate header information are counted. If you have merged surveys together and eliminated the survey header information, it will only count as a single survey.

Number Of Stations. This is number of unique station names that have been processed.

Included Shots/Excluded Shots. This is the number of shots that have been included or excluded from the length totals. It does not count exclusion from closure, plotting or total exclusion.

Ignored Shots. This is the number of shots that have been totally excluded from processing.

Number Of Loops. This is total number of distinct loops as defined by the Compass loop closure algorithm. They are not minimal loops, but the loops that defined by the natural survey order process.

Absolute Stations. This is the number of stations whose locations have been fixed to an absolute position in space.

Purged Stations. This is the number of station that have been removed the station list due to linking.

Cave Length (Included). This is the length of the cave excluding any shots that have been flagged with for length (L)  or complete (X) exclusion.

It is the slope length of the cave.. Slope length is the sum of all the tape lengths in the cave. It is the distance that you move through the cave, both horizontally and vertically. In other words, assuming the flags have been properly set, this is the physical length of the cave without any redundant shots.

Completely Excluded. This is the total length of all shots that have been completely excluded from processing with the X-flag.

Length Excluded. This is the total length of all shots that have been length excluded from processing with the L-flag.

Total Surveyed. This is the length of all surveys in the cave, including both excluded and included. It is a total of all the work done in the cave.

Horizontal Length/Horizontal Excluded. This is the included and excluded horizontal length of all the surveys processed. Horizontal length is the length of the cave when it is flattened into a horizontal plane. Horizontal length includes no vertical component.

Cave Depth. This is the absolute vertical distance between the highest and lowest points in the survey. It includes no horizontal movement.

Surface Length. This is the distance between the western-most point in the cave and the eastern-most point in the cave.

Surface Width. This is the distance between the southern-most point in the cave and the northern-most point in the cave.

Surface Area. This is the surface area of the cave. It is derived by multiplying the Length and Width described above.

Enclosed Volume. This is the volume of the rectangular prism that is bounded by the western, eastern, northern, southern, highest, and lowest points in the cave.

Cave Volume. This statistic gives the volume of the cave surveys processed. It is based on the passage Left, Right, Up and Down dimensions. Surveys that are missing LRUD’s for part or all of the data will give inaccurate volume calculations.

Volume Density. This is the percentage of the Enclosed Volume that is made of surveyed passages. It gives a rough calculation of the percentage of the rock volume that is taken up by cave passage. (Note: since this value is based on a rectangular Enclosed Volume, it can be distorted by the shape of the cave.)

Average Diameter. This is the average diameter of the cave passages in the cave. It is a measure of the "tightness" of the passages. Since smaller passages are harder to traverse, it is also a measure of how hard it is to move through the cave. Surveys that are missing LRUD’s for part or all of the data will give inaccurate diameter calculations.

Wall Area. This item measures the total surface area of all the walls in all the passages. These values can be used for things like heat transfer calculations, estimation the area available as the habitat for animals, etc. Surveys that are missing LRUD’s for part or all of the data will give inaccurate diameter calculations.

Floor Area. This item measures the total surface area of floor of the cave. These values can be used to calculate things like water flow. Surveys that are missing LRUD’s for part or all of the data will give inaccurate diameter calculations.

Average Inclination. This is average inclination or steepness of the cave passages. Since steeper passages are also more difficult to traverse, it is also a measure of how hard it is to move through the cave.

Difficulty. This statistic combines the effects of Passage Diameter and Passage Inclination to estimate the difficulty of moving through the cave. It is based on the fact that smaller or steeper passages are more difficult to move through. The maximum difficulty would be 100, but this would require a cave with all vertical passages and passage diameters under two feet. The most difficult cave in my data set has a difficulty of about 30. Surveys that are missing LRUD’s for part or all of the data will give inaccurate difficulty calculations.

Highest Station, Lowest Station Etc. This gives the location and station name of the extreme points of all the surveys processed. This is essentially the north, south, east, west and vertical boundaries of the surveys.

Furthest Station. This item displays the station that is the greatest distance from the entrance of the cave. This value is not the straight-line distance, but the distance required to walk through all the surveys to reach the station. The statistic is based on the route that was first used to get to the station. It ignores any more recently surveyed short cuts.

Average Shot Length. This is the average length of each shot in all the surveys. Caves with long, wide and straight passages have long average shot lengths. Caves with short, narrow and twisty passages have short average shot lengths. Only non-excluded, non-zero length shots are considered.

Shortest Shot, Longest Shot. This gives the length of the longest and shortest shots in the cave. Only non-excluded, non-zero length shots are considered.