Improvement (06/22/03/JPR): The Geological Utilities / Grid / Directional Maps / Downgradient-Vectors program no longer requires that the the user enter the names for the slope and aspect grid models (created by the Slope/Aspect program).  Instead, the program now asks for the initial surface (grid) model.  It will automatically create the necessary slope and aspect models.

Improvement (06/17/03/JPR):  The Geological Utilities / Map / Multivariate Maps / Piechart Map program no longer labels pie slices that have zero-percent content.

Improvement (06/14/03/JPR): The following improvements have been made to the Geological Utilities / Util / Images / Digitize-from-Bitmap program;

• The programs now "remembers" the precious calibration parameters.  This means that it is no longer necessary to recalibrate the bitmap when starting a new session, assuming that it's the same bitmap from the previous session.

• The 3-Point calibration now works correctly with large coordinates (e.g. UTMs).

• The File/Import-Bitmap option has been renamed to "Load-Bitmap".

• The File/Load-Bitmap option no longer automatically invokes the File/Calibrate option after loading the bitmap.  Instead, the user must manually select the File/Calibrate option.  This is due to the new option (see first item in this list) whereby the program now remembers the calibration parameters from the previous session.

• The program now displays usage instructions along the right side of the screen.

• A new option called "Center Image" has been added to the list of mode options.  This utility will center the image on the item that the user has clicked on.

• A new option called "Zoom-In" has been added to the list of mode options.  This utility will center enlarge the diagram and center the image on the item that the user has clicked on.

• A new option called "Zoom-Out" has been added to the list of mode options.  This utility will reduce the size of the diagram and center the image on the item that the user has clicked on.

• The "Options" option has been moved to a new heading titled "View".

• A new option called "GoTo" has been added to the View menu.  This utility will center the image at a user specified location.

• The Scale, Zoom-In, and Zoom-Out increments may now be adjusted by a new item titled "Scale Increments" within the Options menu.

Improvement (06/11/03/MIW):  The redraw speed within the well-selection portion of the Borehole Manager / Striplogs / Hole-to-Hole program has been significantly improved.

Bug Fix (06/11/03/MIW):  The zoom function within the well-selection portion of the Borehole Manager / Striplogs / Hole-to-Hole program now works correctly.

Bug Fix (06/11/03/MIW): The Geological Utilities / Planes / Stereonet program now plots point symbols for data that is entered in quadrant format.  The previous version would contour, quadrant data but it failed to recognize quadrant format when plotting the observation symbols.

Bug Fix (06/11/03/MIW): The horizontal axis tick-marks within cross-sections produced by the Borehole Manager / Striplogs / Hole-to-Hole Section program are now plotted correctly.

- Uploaded 5/23/03 -

Removal (05/23/03/MIW):  Removed the option to insert and delete columns in the Borehole Manager datasheets since it only works for the current spreadsheet and well, and doesn't update the other wells.  Instead, column insertion and deletion is limited to the Geological Utilities.

Bug Fix (05/23/03/MIW): When importing ESRI "shape file" data, the program now properly recognizes multiple-part polylines and polygons.

Bug Fix (05/23/03/MIW): When importing data into the Geological Utilities datasheet, the program will now automatically add columns as needed.

Bug Fix (05/23/03/MIW): The RockPlot\2D / Export / RockPlot\3D program now properly exports the rectangle-fills that are created by the Geological Utilities / Map / Multivariate / BarChart Map program.

Improvements / New Feature (05/20/03/JPR): The following improvements have been made to the Utilities / Planes / 3-Points->Plane / One-Set program;

• The imbedded help screen has been improved (see example below).

• The program includes new menu options (see example below) to provide more user control over the output diagram.

Improvements / New Feature (05/19/03/JPR): The following improvements and new features have been made to
selected menus that use HTML-based help files (e.g. the Utilities / Map / SpherePlot program).

• The help window is relatively larger.

• The help window properly scales if the window is maximized.

• A new button titled "Browse" has been added to the help window.  This button will load the help messages into your web browser.  This feature allows the file to be printed via your web browser.

• The Refresh and Browse buttons have been converted to icons.

- Uploaded 05/18/03 -

New Feature (05/15/03/MIW):  The border options that are used by all programs that create 2-dimensional projected sections now include a set of options that allow the user to override the automatic elevation ranges.  This provides a means to create multiple cross-sections that are standardized to the same elevation range.

Bug Fix (05/14/03/MIW):  The Utilities / Hydrology / Drawdown / DrawDown Surface program now computes the proper drawdown when using metric units.  The previous water level surface construction was off because the coordinates were converted from meters to feet.

Bug Fix (05/14/03/MIW):  The Utilites / Grid / Edit program no longer locks up with selected video cards if the program is initially set to fill the entire screen.

Improvement (05/13/03/MIW):  The RockPlot/3D program now list the most recently used files in order from newest to oldest.

Bug Fix (05/13/03/MIW):  The RockPlot/3D slider bar that separates the data tree from the display window no longer gets stuck at the left or right edges when dragged to its fullest extent.

New Feature (05/12/03/JPR): The Geological Utilities / Survey / Bearing/Distance programs (Survey->XYZ, Survey->2D Map, and Survey->3D Diagram) now include an option titled "Inclination".  The number that is entered within this cell will be added to all bearings.  It is designed for either; (1) Users who have performed a survey based on magnetic north and wish to adjust for declination, and (2) users who wish to correct a survey in which the declination was improperly set on their compass.
 

Bug Fix (05/12/03/MIW):  The project folder, lithology table, and stratigraphy table edit boxes within the main RockWorks menu no longer appear as black with selected WindowsXP color schemes.

Bug Fix (05/10/03/MIW):  When plotting filled polygons within RockPlot/2D, the program would fail to properly fill the region of the polygon contained more than 250 vertices.  This has been fixed.

Bug Fix (05/09/03/MIW):  The RockPlot/3D / Import / Shape program no longer produces a fatal error if the DBF portion cannot be correctly imported.

Bug Fix (05/09/03/MIW):  The RockPlot/2D / Export / RockPlot/3D program now properly exports Bar Chart and Starburst maps.

Bug Fix (05/09/03/MIW):  The RockPlot/2d / Export / DXF program now properly exports filled rose diagram petals and pie charts.

Bug Fix (05/09/03/MIW):  The Edit / Column / Insert option no longer generates a "range check" error when adding columns to the geochemistry or geophysics datasheets within the borehole manager.  This fix also addresses a related problem in which errors were generated when transferring stratigraphy data from the borehole manager to the utilities datasheet.

Improvement (05/02/03/JPR): The Theis equation subroutine that is used by the Utilities / Hydrology / Drawdown programs now warns the user if a storativity value is too high.  The previous version would produce a cryptic overflow error.

New Feature (05/01/03/JPR): A new program called "Lithology -> I-Data" has been added to the Borehole Manager / Lithology / Export menu.  While reading downhole lithology data, this program will compare these lithologies to a "lookup table" that associates a real number with each lithology (e.g. Sandstone = 1.0, Limestone = 0.5).  These numbers may represent porosities, hydraulic conductivities, strength, cohesion, or any other quantitative value that you wish to model.  The program uses these numbers to populate a designated column within the Geochemistry tab for all of the boreholes within the current project folder.  Finally, these values may be used as the basis for creating solid models, fence diagrams, and contoured profiles.

In the following example, we start with a series of lithologic logs.

Lithology logs.  White and yellow units represents porous, siliclastic units.

Next, we create a Lithology/I-Data table that equated the lithologies with ballpark porosities.

Lithology/I-Data table loaded into Windows Notepad.

The Lithology -> I-Data program is then executed.  This creates a new data column within the Geochemistry tab.  We then create a solid model of these values resulting in the solid model shown below.

Porosity model combined with lithology logs.  Note how porous zones correspond with siliclastic lithologies.

Bug Fix (04/28/03/JPR): The Edit / Random / Geochemistry / Geophysics program no longer produces and divide-by-zero error if the data grid is larger than the sample set.

New Feature (04/28/03/JPR):  A new program called Grids -> Stratigraphic Logs has been added to the Utilities / Grid menu.

Given a list of grid models, this program will define (or redefine) the contacts within existing stratigraphic logs based on the contents of a list of one or more stratigraphic surface models. 

Possible applications include; 

• Interpolating elevations for missing contacts within borehole files (e.g. lost circulation intervals).
• Estimating what a log might look like before the borehole is drilled (i.e. prediction).

Bug Fix (04/25/03/JPR): The File/Transfer/Boreholes->Utilities(Locations) program now converts the cursor from an hourglass back to an arrow upon completion.

New Feature (04/22/03/JPR):  A new program titled "Fracture Discs -> Solid" has been added to the Geological Utilities / Solid menu. 

This program assigns voxel values based on the distance between a voxel node and the closest point on the closest disc.  These discs are meant to represent fractures.  Possible applications include;

• Hydrology: Fractured Aquifers

• Mining: Hydrothermal Conduits

• Petroleum: Fractured Reservoirs

• Geotechnical:  Site Excavations / Slope Stability

Fracture Modeling Menu

The following diagrams illustrated a typical application;

Three-dimensional diagram depicting original disc (fracture) data as plotted via the Utilities / OpenGL / Discs program.  Note relative alignments and spacing relative to the next diagram.

Distance-to-fracture model that was created by the Utilities/Solid/Discs->Solid program based on fractures depicted within the previous diagram.  Note, this model was created with the "Negate Node Values" option enabled.  This means that the distances (relative to the closest fracture) are expressed as negative values - see legend above.

Distance-to-fracture model combined with fracture discs.

Distance-to-fracture model in which lower values have been rendered completely transparent thereby showing regions where the fractures are clustered together (e.g. unstable or unsuitable road-cutting areas).  Note, this model was created with the "Negate Node Values" option enabled.  This means that the distances (relative to the closest fracture) are expressed as negative values - see legend above.

Distance-to-fracture model in which the lower values have been rendered completely transparent thereby showing regions where there are no fractures (e.g. stable, unfractured rock suitable for tunneling, etc.).

Combination of two models;  The yellow/red model is showing the fractured regions (Negate Node Values = Yes) while the blue/green region is showing unfractured regions (Negate Node Values = No).

New Feature (04/18/03/JPR):  A new program titled "Utilities Datagrid" has been added to the Borehole Manager / Fractures / Export menu.  The Fractures->Utilities Datagrid program will compute the xyz points at the fracture midpoints, and save this data within the Geological Utilities datagrid for subsequent use within other programs (e.g. rose diagrams, stereonets, fracture modeling, etc.) and/or incorporation into reports.

Fracture -> Utilities Datagrid Menu

New Feature (04/18/03/JPR):  A new program titled "ASCII File" has been added to the Borehole Manager / Fractures / Export menu.  The Fractures->ASCII program will compute the xyz points at the fracture midpoints, and save this data within an ASCII file for subsequent used within other programs and/or incorporation into reports.

Fracture -> ASCII Sample Output

Cosmetic (04/18/03/JPR):  A new pull-down menu titled "Fractures" has been added to the Borehole Manager menu.  This menu will be used for new programs that specifically deal with downhole fracture data.

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- Uploaded 04/16/03 -

New Feature (04/16/03/MIW):  The RockPlot/2D Import menu now includes an option titled "ESRI Shape File".

This program will import the following types of data from an ESRI "Shape" file;

• Point Data:  Point data will be converted to RockWorks symbols.  The symbol type, color, and size is defined within the following sub-menu.

• Line Data:  Line data will be converted to RockWorks lines.  The line color, thickness, and line-style is defined within the following sub-menu.

• Polygon Data:  Polygon data will be converted to RockWorks polygons.  The polygon fill-style and border-style are defined within the following sub-menu;

The Shape importer assigns the same symbols to all points, the same line styles to all lines and the same polygon colors to all polygons.  As a consequence, the user must set the desired attributes within the import menu.  The following diagram shows how an imported file may vary from the original ArcMap display depending upon the settings within the import menu.

Bug Fix (04/16/03/JPR):  It is now possible to manually specify the width of the "search swath" within the Borehole Manager / Striplogs / Vertical Projection / Multiple logs menu.  The previous version would ignore manual changes to this setting and only use those set by the "spin" buttons.

- Uploaded 04/14/03 -

Bug Fix (04/14/03/JPR):  The "Confirm-Contours" option now works correctly within the Borehole Manager / Stratigraphy / Structural Elevations / Two-Dimensional program.  The previous version would ignore the setting and always set the contour intervals automatically.

Bug Fix (04/13/03/JPR):  A rarely-occuring bug has been fixed within the contouring algorithm.  Specifically, open contours with selected labels would not blank-out the region behind the contour label.  This bug would also manifest itself by plotting the same, non-labeled open-contour line twice.  The latter bug was not apparent unless the file was expored as DXF or Shape and edited.

- Uploaded 04/09/03 -

Bug Fix (04/09/03/JPR):  A bug was introduced into the horizontal lithoblending within the 4/8/03 version.  This bug would manifest itself as a divide-by-zero error.  This has been fixed.

Improvement (04/09/03/JPR):  The Borehole Manager no longer creates automatic numeric titles for the downhole geochemistry and geophysics tables when starting a new project.  Instead, the titles are now blank.  This significantly speeds up the processing because the program (as described below) no longer process data within unlabeled columns.

- Uploaded 04/08/03 -

Improvement (04/08/03/JPR):  The data-loading step that occurs within every Borehole Manager process is now significantly faster.  The previous versions would attempt to process the data for all 250 geochemistry columns and 250 elog columns.  This version only attempts to process the data for items that have a column title.  The net result is a significant speed increase.  To speed up the execution times of existing projects, you may want to either delete unused column titles from within the Borehole Manager or you may manually edit the Elog_Titles.txt and Chem_Titles.txt files.