RockWorks Revision History

RockWorks/17 Revision History
2016/Q1 (01/01/16-03/31/16)

(278) Improvement (03/31/16/MIW): The raster log calibrator now allows the user to select the top or bottom of a log by pressing the Enter key instead of using the mouse.

(245-277) New Feature (03/31/16/JPR): Programs menus that include 2D striplogs now include an option titled "Create List of Logs". This list will be saved within a specified ASCII text file and contains the ID's for all boreholes that are included within the diagram that is to be created. It is intended for special (rare) applications in which the user must have a list of borehole logs that are included within a digram (e.g. profiles in which there are clustered logs rendering unreadable, over-plotted log-titles, or profiles in which the logs are just too small).

Options:

File In Which To Store The Log List: ASCII text file that will contain alphabetically sorted list of the borehole IDs.
Dislay List Upon Completion: This will load and display the Log List into a text editor.

The following profile example illustrates the utility of the Log List. Notice from the plan view map that boreholes DH-04 and DH-12 only pierce a portion of the profile "swath". As a consequence, they appear as small, unlabeled log fragments within the profile. The Log List provides a means to confirm their presence within the profile.

This new capability has been added to the following programs:

(245) Borehole Manager | Aquifers | Profile
(246) Borehole Manager | Aquifers | Projected Section
(245) Borehole Manager | Aquifers | Section
(247) Borehole Manager | Colors | Profile
(248) Borehole Manager | Colors | Projected Section
(249) Borehole Manager | Colors | Section
(250) Utilities | Planes | Dips -> Profile
(251) Borehole Manager | Fractures | Profile
(252) Borehole Manager | Fractures | Projected Section
(253) Borehole Manager | Fractures | Section
(254) Utilities | Grid | Grids -> Profile | Single
(255) Utilities | Grids | Grids -> Profile | Multiple
(256) Utilities | Grids | Grids -> Section
(257) Borehole Manager | I-Data | Profile
(258) Borehole Manager | I-Data | Projected Section
(259) Borehole Manager | I-Data | Section
(260) Borehole Manager | Lithology | Profile
(261) Borehole Manager | Lithology | Projected Section
(262) Borehole Manager | Lithology | Section
(263) Borehole Manager | P-Data | Profile
(264) Borehole Manager | P-Data | Projected Section
(265) Borehole Manager | P-Data | Section
(266) Utilities | Solid | Profile
(267) Utilities | Solid | Projected Section
(268) Utilities | Solid | Section
(269) Borehole Manager | Stratigraphy | Profile
(270) Borehole Manager | Stratigraphy | Projected Section
(271) Borehole Manager | Stratigraphy | Section
(272) Borehole Manager | T-Data | Profile
(273) Borehole Manager | T-Data | Projected Section
(274) Borehole Manager | T-Data | Section
(275) Borehole Manager | StripLogs | 2-Dimensional | Profile
(276) Borehole Manager | StripLogs | 2-Dimensional | Section
(277) Borehole Manager | StripLogs | 2-Dimensional | Projected Section

(244) Cosmetic (03/30/16/JPR): The "Clip (Vertically Truncate) Diagram" elevations now appear within a separate dialog box that is accessed via the new Options button that appears to the right of the Clip option.

This sub-menu is used by 40 application menus.

(243) Cosmetic (03/30/16/JPR): The Utilities Datasheet | View | Find Closest Point option has been moved into the new Search sub-menu.

(242) New Feature (03/30/16/JPR): A button labeled "RCL" has been added to the lower right-hand corner of the new Find & Replace menu (see item #228 below) to view the RCL commands that are issued by the Find & Replace utility.

(228-241) New Features (03/30/16/JPR): The Datasheet | Search | Find & Replace program has been significantly enhanced:

The Find & Replace utility may be used to find specified text and numeric values within a designated column. Based on the results, the data may be simply highlighted (i.e. a simple "Find" operation), replaced, or the associated data row(s) can be enabled or disabled. The options within the Find & Replace menu are described as follows:

Data Column: The column that is to be searched.
(228) Where to Start?
First Row: The search will start at the first row in the datasheet and progress down through the datasheet.
- Current Row: The search will start at the row that contains the cursor and progress down through the datasheet.
(229) Type of Search?
- (230) Text: Used to search for text strings (e.g. lease name).
  - Target: The text "string" to be searched for.
  - Case Sensitive: If unchecked, the case doesn't matter (e.g. "Acme Lease" is considered the same as "ACME LEASE").
  - (231) Target in Cell: Cell content can be a subset of cell target. Example: Enabling only monitor wells when all monitor well names begin with "MW" and all production wells begin within "PW".
  - (232) Cell in Target: Cell content can be a subset of the target. Example: If searching for "Oil Well", a cell labeled "Well" will be considered a match.
- (233) Numeric:
  - (234) Exact: The target and the cell must have exactly the same values. Trailing zeroes are ignored.
  - (235) Range: All values between a specified mininum and maximum will be considered a match.
    - Minimum: Values equal to or greater than this value and less than or equal to the specified Maximum will be considered a match.
    - Maximum: Values less than or equal to this value and greather than or equal to the specified Minimum will be considered a match.
  - (236) Statistical: This option will look at all of the data within the specified column and compute the mean and standard deviation. The selected filter will then be used to locate the cells that fall within the designated category.
    - Background: Filters values are between the mean minus one standard deviation and the mean plus one standard deviation.

(M-1SD) > X < (M+1SD)

Slightly Positively Anomalous: Filters values that are between the mean plus one standard deviation and the mean plus two standard deviations.

(M+1SD) > X < (M+2SD)

Moderately Positively Anomalous: Filters values that are between the mean plus one standard deviation and the mean plus two standard deviations.

(M+2SD) > X < (M+3SD)

Strongly Positively Anomalous: Filters values that are between the mean plus one standard deviation and the mean plus two standard deviations.

(M+3SD) > X < (M+4SD)

Extremely Positively Anomalous: Filters values that are between the mean plus one standard deviation and the mean plus two standard deviations.

X > (M+4SD)

Slightly Negatively Anomalous: Filters values that are between the mean plus one standard deviation and the mean plus two standard deviations.

(M-2SD) > X < (M-1SD)

Moderately Negatively Anomalous: Filters values that are between the mean plus one standard deviation and the mean plus two standard deviations.

(M-3SD) > X < (M-2SD)

Strongly Negatively Anomalous: Filters values that are between the mean plus one standard deviation and the mean plus two standard deviations.

(M-4SD) > X < (M-3SD)

Extremely Negatively Anomalous: Filters values that are between the mean plus one standard deviation and the mean plus two standard deviations.

X < (M-4SD)

(237) What to Do?
- (238) Highlight Cell: The first cell that meets the search criteria will be highlighted and the process will terminate (without showing a summary dialog). This is the same as a simple "Find" operation (i.e. no replacement).
- (239) Enable/Disable: The Enable/Disable options are best used in conjunction with the Edit | Enable All and Edit | Disable All options. Example: Let's say that you're working with a geochemical dataset and you only want to plot points that have calcium level greater than 50%.
- Enable: The checkbox within the "Use" column will be checked for all rows in which the target is found.
- Disable: The checkbox within the "Use" column will be un-checked for all rows in which the target is found.
- (240) Replace:
- Replacement: The text string that will replace the cell(s) that meet the search criteria. Note: This can be any text, thereby allowing you to replace numeric searches with text strings (e.g. values < 1.0 replaced by "Below Detection Limit").
- (241) Confirm Replacements: If checked, the user will be prompted before each replacment. The confirmation dialog provides options for accepting the replacement, denying the replacement (and proceeding with the search), canceling the operation, and making all subsequent changes without additional confirmation.

Show Summary: Displays a dialog after completion that shows the number of matches that were located and/or the number of changes that were made.

Note: The searching ignores the status of the Use column. In other words, all rows are scanned.

(227) Improvement (03/28/16/JPR): The Borehole Manager | QuickMap tab now un-checks the Background Image checkbox if the image and/or specified world file don't exist. This is done right after notifying the user that either of the files don't exist rather than infinitely nagging the user to fix the image and/or world file.

(226) New Feature (03/28/16/JPR): A new category titled "Search" has been added to the main datasheet menu. This new menu currently has only one option titled "Find & Replace" which is used to replace specified text within a designated column.

(225) New Feature (03/27/16/JPR): A new setting titled "Lateral Cell Margins" has been added to the Preferences | General Program Settings | Datasheet menu.

This new option will add the specified number of blank pixels to either side of text within the Utilities Datasheet for better readability especially when a left-justified column is immediately to the right of a right-justified column.

Note: Changes to the lateral margins do not take effect until the program is re-started. The new default lateral margin is 3 (versus 0 for the previous versions).

(152-224) New Feature (03/26/16/JPR): The 2D Overlay option now allows for up to five RockPlot2D diagrams to be overlain on top of the main diagram.

The new Overlay capability has been added to the following 72 programs:

(151) New Feature (03/26/16/JPR): An Overlay option has been added to the Utilities | Map | Grid-Based Map program.

(151) New Feature (03/26/16/JPR): An Overlay option has been added to the Utilities | Map | EZ-Map program.

(150) New Feature (03/26/16/JPR): An Overlay option has been added to the Borehole Manager | Lithology | Plan Map program.

(149) New Feature (03/25/16/JPR): An Overlay option has been added to the Borehole Manager | Map | Borehole Locations program.

(148) RCL Command Change (03/25/16/JPR): The following RCL variable names have been changed:

Old Name	New Name
MAP_OVERLAY , ACTIVE	MAP_OVERLAYS , ACTIVE
MAP_OVERLAY , FILE_NAME	MAP_OVERLAYS , FILE_1_NAME

These changes have been made to provide planned future capabilities for appending more than one map - stay tuned.

(147) Bug Fix (03/25/16/JPR): The Overlay option within the Borehole Manager | Lithology | Isopach (2D) | Diagram Options menu now works correctly.

(146) Bug Fix (03/25/16/JPR): The Overlay option within the Borehole Manager | Stratigraphy | Structural Dimensions | 2-Dimensional | Diagram Options menu now works correctly.

(145) Improvement (03/24/16/JPR): The Utilities | Datasheet | File | Print utility now uses the column alignments introduced within item #143.

(144) Bug Fix (03/24/16/JPR): The Borehole Manager | Stratigraphy | Model program no longer hangs-up if;

(1) Stratigraphy Types To Be Included | Only Units Flagged As "Show In Legend" = True
(2) Uppermost Surface = Disabled
(3) Interpolate Surfaces | Constraining Surface | Replace Top Surface With Ground Surface = True

(143) New Feature (03/23/16/JPR): The dialog that appears when the user clicks on a column heading within the RockWorks Datasheet now includes a tab option titled "Alignment" if the data column is designated as "Text" or "Pick List".

The Alignment tab will appear for all items except for those that display graphic content (i.e. Color, Line Type, Pattern, & Symbols).

(134-142) Cosmetic (03/20/16/JPR): The "Scaling & Bin Size" and "Bin Colors" options within the Histogram menu that is used by a variety of programs have been converted to dialog boxes that include graphic examples.

These changes have been made to the following programs:

(134) Utilities | Grid | Statistics | Histogram
(136) Utilities | Solid | Statistics | Histogram
(137) Utilities | Statistics | Histogram | Single
(138) Utilities | Statistics | Histogram | Multiple
(139) Borehole Manager | I-Data | Histogram
(140) Borehole Manager | T-Data | Histogram
(141) Borehole Manager | P-Data | Histogram
(142) Borehole Manager | P-Data | Analyze | P-Data Histograms By Lithology

(133) New Feature (03/19/16/JPR): The "Stiff Dimensions" menu item within the Utilities / HydroChem / Stiff Map program menu now includes an Options button that displays the following dialog:

The Uniform option behaves just like the previous versions in which all of the diagrams within the map are plotted at the same relative size.

The new Proportional To TDS option will automatically scale each Stiff diagram between the minimum and maximum dimensions based on the TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) that are computed for that site as shown by the following examples:

(132) New Feature (03/16/16/JPR): A new option titled "Symbol Key" has been added to the group of options within the Utilities / HydroChem / Stiff Map program menu.

Clicking the Options button adjacent to the Symbol Key checkbox will display a dialog that determines the position and size of the Stiff Diagram key.

The new Stiff Map key will show an idealized, annotated stiff diagram.

(131) Cosmetic (03/16/16/JPR): A group of options within the Utilities / HydroChem / Stiff program menu have been redesigned/relocated into a tabbed dialog that is accessed by selecting the "Diagram Options" item within the main Stiff menu.

(130) Bug Fix (03/15/16/MIW): The Utilities / Survey / Borehole Survey program no longer moves the origin coordinates to 0,0.

(129) Improvement (03/14/16/JPR): The RockPlot3D Google Earth export dialog now "remembers" the menu settings.

(128) New Feature (03/14/16/JPR): A new option titled "Start With Descent From Outer Space" has been added to the Utilities / EarthApps / Flyover / Advanced: Circular program menu.

This new capability will automatically add a virtual introduction to the flyover such that it starts in outer space. The "camera" position starts out by pointing towards the opposite side of the Earth relative to the project area. The Earth then spins around such that the project area is directly below. The "camera" then descends. As it descends, it gradually tilts to the same angle as that specified for the first circular fly-over. Unlike the standard Google Earth fly-in (i.e. clicking on a waypoint), the descent does not appear to exponentially accelerate with the descent. Instead, a geometric progression is used to slow the descent down as the camera moves closer to the project area. Then net result is the illusion of a uniform descent thereby providing the viewer with a better spatial orientation.

Click on the link below to view a demonstration of this new capability.
https://youtu.be/ouTtWt8dSyQ

(127) New Feature (03/04/16/JPR): A new program titled "Correlate Grids" has been added to the Utilities | Grid | Statistics menu.

This program is used to identify spatial correlations between grid models that don't necessarily represent similar units (e.g. ppm versus occurrences per cell). Stated euphemistically; it's a way to compare apples and oranges.

Here's how the program works:

For each of the input grids (lead concentrations in soil versus birth defects within the fictitious example shown below), the standard deviation and mean are computed for all of the grid nodes.
The grid nodes are then recomputed to represent the number of standard deviations from the mean in order to quantify just how anomalous a node value is relative to the entire node population.
- The following terminology (from mineral exploration) may help in understanding what these new values represent:
  - Background: Values that are less than 1 standard deviation from the mean.
  - Weakly Anomalous: Values that fall between 1 and 2 standard deviations from the mean.
  - Moderately Anomalous: Values that fall between 2 and 3 standard deviations from the mean.
  - Strongly Anomalous: Values that fall between 3 and 4 standard deviations from the mean.
  - Extremely Anomalous: Values that are greater than 4 standard deviations from the mean.
  - Outrageous Xtreme Tactical Ultra-Anomalous: OK, we make this one up.
- Note: During this process, negative anomalies are converted to zero. It is assumed that the user is only interested in positive anomalies.
On a node-by-node basis, the absolute value of the differences between the node values are subtracted from the higher value. For example, let's say that a lead node has a value of 3.6 while the corresponding birth defects node has a value of 3.1. The resulting correlation coefficient would be 3.1 ( 3.6 - abs ( 3.6 - 3.1) ). That node would therefore be considered as a point where both the lead and defects are strongly correlative in a spatial sense.
- In the diagram below, the spatial correlations, shown by solid-filled color contour bands, highlight an area where the lead and birth defects are weakly correlative.

Caveats / Disclaimer:

This approach assumes that both data sets encompass a large enough area and sample population / distribution to establish the "background" levels for each component.
This results do not in any way, shape, or form, establish causality - just spatial correlation. Indeed, many spatial correlations are often purely coincidental and misuse of this methodology will inevitably result in professional ridicule, humiliation, and sexual dysfunction.

(126) Improvement (03/04/16/MIW): When attempting to compress/zip files (e.g. backing up, downloading, Google Earth exports, etc.) that have a path name longer than 240 characters, a cryptic Windows error message is not longer generated. Instead, RockWorks now intercepts the Windows message and issues a more explanatory message explaining that Windows only handles up to 240 characters for the compression process to proceed. Although this doesn't fix the problem (you'll still need to change the path names), it does provide a meaningful explanation.

(125) Bug Fix (03/04/16/MIW): Appending RockPlot3D files no longer causes a duplication of the "Default View".

(124) Cosmetic (03/02/16/JPR): The Stratigraphic Modeling interpolation options have been consolidated with the gridding algorithm menu and relocated into a new tabbed dialog box. In the process, the Onlap/Underlap options have been renamed to "Modeling Sequence". This change was made so that more documentation and graphic examples could be incorporated into the menu.

This new change applies to the following menus:

Stratigraphy / Fence
Stratigraphy / Profile
Stratigraphy / Model
Stratigraphy / Plan
Stratigraphy / Surface
Stratigraphy / ESRI Fence

(123) New Feature (03/02/16/JPR): A new option titled "Enable Randomization" has been added to the Preferences | General | Miscellaneous tab. When enabled (the default setting), the Randomization option will add very small random numbers between zero and 1/1,000,000th of the project height to the z-values used by the Delunay triangulation. This applies to triangulation-based gridding, any gridding using the densify option, EZ-Map, and EZ-Volume.

Warning: Disabling this option will cause fatal divide-by-zero errors and/or infinite loops if the input data contains duplicate points. The ability to disable the randomization has been added for very rare instances in which the tiny offsets are creating unacceptable differences between successive processing of the same data (e.g. using surfaces to clip high-resolution block models).

(122) New Feature (03/01/16/JPR): A new option titled "Underlap" has been added to the programs that create stratigraphic models. As a consequence, the Onlap option (which is mutually exclusive with the new Underlap option) has been grouped into a radio-button group under the new Onlap/Underlap heading.

The options within the Onlap/Underlap group are described and shown (using triangulation-based gridding algorithm) as follows:

None: Stratigraphic units are defined by interpolating grid models based on the borehole data. The program makes no consideration about overlying or underlying stratigraphic units which means that (1) gaps may occur between units and (2) units may overlap each other.

Onlap: Starting from the lowest unit and proceeding upward, if a unit extends below the underlying unit, it will be truncated along the top of the underlying unit.

Underlap: Starting from the highest unit and proceeding downward, if a unit extends above the overlying unit, it will be truncated along the base of the overlying unit.

(121) Improvements (03/01/16/JCJ): Copying an existing MS SQL Server based project to a new, locally-based, SQLite database now works as expected.

(119-120) Improvements (02/29/16/MIW): The following changes have been made to the Confirm Interval dialog:

(119) Non-numeric values are automatically rejected.
(120) Values less than or equal to zero are automatically rejected.

(118) Improvement (02/25/16/MIW): The Axis Labels in RockPlot3D now use an automatically derived contrasting color.

(117) Bug Fix (02/25/16/MIW): The axis polyline and tubes in the 3D borehole plot now terminate at the total depth (TD).

(116) Bug Fix (02/25/16/MIW): Zooming in quickly in RockPlot3D no longer sporadically cause a loss of system resources.

(115) Improvement (02/25/16/MIW): A new scheme to avoid excessive redrawing has been incorporated into the RockPlot3D program.

(114) Improvement (02/25/16/JCJ): The dialog for adding and/or editing optional fields within the Borehole Manager is now sizable to accommodate long field names and descriptions.

(113) Improvement (02/25/16/JCJ): The dialog for optional Location table fields have been given more space for display when using 12 point fonts.

(112) New Feature (02/25/16/JCJ): The Help | Download | Download menus now includes an option for downloading the help files.

(111) Cosmetic (02/25/16/JPR): The Help | Download | Landbase option has been renamed to "Downloads" because if now includes other downloadable file options (e.g. help files).

(110) Bug Fix (02/25/16/JCJ): The Settings menu | Visible Features | Filter behaves better based on RockWorks17 licensing

(109) Improvement (02/25/16/JCJ): Copying the Project Support Tables from an existing project is now faster.

Changes and additions are described as follows:

(095) The Videos | Utilities - Introduction link has been updated for RockWorks17 (versus RockWorks16).
(096) The Videos | Borehole Manager - Introduction link has been updated for RockWorks17 (versus RockWorks 16).
(097) A new video titled "RockPlot2D - Introduction" has been added to the Videos category.
(098) A new video titled "RockPlot3D - Introduction" has been added to the Videos category.
(099) A new category titled "Links" has been added.
(100) The RockWare Website and RockWare Blog have been moved from the Miscellaneous category into the new Links category.
(101) A new link has been added for the RockWare LinkedIn Page.
(102) A new link has been added for the RockWare Facebook Page.
(103) Expand and Collapse buttons have been added for the menu tree.

(093) Bug Fix (02/19/16/JPR): The Raster Log Calibrator no longer shows corrupted images on some video cards when the images are very large and the view is zoomed-in.

(092) Bug Fix (02/18/16/JPR): The File / Open option within the Utilities / Imagery / PicShow program now displays the first image correctly. The previous version required that the program be re-loaded after opening a new datasheet.

(091) Bug Fix (02/18/16/JPR): The block model smoothing now produces consistent results. Unfortunately, this required that the disabling of the multi-threading (parallel processing) algorithm meaning that the smoothing is now slower.

(090) New Feature (02/17/16/JPR): A new tab titled "Gradient Vectors" has been added to all of the programs that create two-dimensional grid-based maps.

This will create either upgradient or downgradient vector (arrow) maps which may be plotted by themselves or in combination with other map layers (e.g. contours).

(087-089) New Features (02/17/16/JPR): The following new features have been added to the new "Gradient Vectors" dialog and corresponding subroutine:

(087) The "frequency" of gradient vectors (arrows) may now be defined. A value of 1 means that a vector will be plotted for every grid node. A value of 2 means that a vector will be plotted for every other other grid node. A value of 3 will plot every third node, and so on. The maximum length of the arrow will be adjusted accordingly such that the maximum arrow lengths span the number of cells specified by the frequency.
(088) The vector thickness can now be proportional to the dip amount.
(089) The arrowhead size is now proportional to the arrow length (i.e. short arrows will have small arrowheads whereas long arrows will have large arrowheads).

(078-086) Improvement (02/17/16/JPR): The slope, aspect, and second-derivative computations, used by the following programs, are significantly faster:

(078) Utilities | Grid | Directional Anayses | Aspect Map
(079) Utilities | Grid | Directional Anayses | Gradient Vector Map
(080) Utilities | Grid | Directional Anayses | Second-Derivative Map
(081) Utilities | Grid | Directional Anayses | Slope Map
(082) Utilities | Grid | Directional Anayses | Slope/Aspect Analysis
(083) All programs that use the Warping option for solid model smoothing.
(084) Utilities | Grid | Directional Analyses | Grid → Stereonet
(085) Utilities | Grid | Export | ASCII
(086) Utilities | Grid | Export | RockWare Utilities Datasheet

(077) Cosmetic (02/16/16/JPR): The Utilities | Grid | Directional Analyses | Grid → Downgradient Vector Map and Grid → Upgradient Vector Map programs have been combined into a new program titled "Grid → Gradient Vector Map".

(076) Bug Fix (02/15/16/MIW): The Clear button in the Profile Selection dialog now clears the previous profile from the display.

(074) Bug Fix (02/08/16/JCJ): The Striplogs / Fill-In Missing Stratigraphy utility no longer sporadically rounds the depths to integers.

(071-073) Improvements (02/08/16/JCJ): The following changes have been made to the AGS (Version 3.1) Importer:

(071) The program no longer assumes that a "**PROJ" string serves as a flag to identify the first group in order to identify if the file is a version 3 or 4 format. Instead, the program now looks for a "**" to start a new group.
(072) Files name may now be defined as an unlimited number of lines provided that the names are terminated with a ",". The previous version limited field names to two lines.
(073) The import errors (stored within a file titled "ImportError.log" are now displayed upon completion.

(071) Bug Fix (02/08/16/MIW): Picking a polygon fill from the Lithology or Stratigraphy types within RockPlot2D no longer requires an Advanced License.

(070) Bug Fix (02/08/16/MIW): Enabling the Volumetrics within Stratigraphic Modeling no longer causes an Access Violation during the model processing.

(069) Bug Fix (02/08/16/MIW): Cutouts are now properly pasted to surfaces within RockPlot3D.

(065-068) Improvement (02/04/16/MIW): Turning on the Snap feature within the following menus no longer causes the map to flicker:

(065) Section
(066) Profile
(067) Projected Section
(068) Fence

(056-064) New Features (02/04/16/JCJ): Options have been added to the following programs that allow the changes to be made to the current borehole, all enabled boreholes, and all boreholes:

(056): Colors: Analyze: Comments to Color
(057): Colors: Analyze: Raster Imagery to Color
(058): I-Data: Analyze: GT (Grade x Thickness) Compositing
(059): I-Data: Analyze: Resample
(060): P-Data: Analyze: Add Random
(061): P-Data: Analyze: GT (Grade x Thickness) Compositing
(062): P-Data: Analyze: Gamma-to-Grade
(063): P-Data: Analyze: Logarithmic
(064): P-Data: Analyze: Resample

(055) Cosmetic (02/04/16/JPR): The Utilities / Total Dissolved Solids program no longer asks for the ID and Symbol columns because they're not used by the program.

(054) Cosmetic (02/04/16/JPR): The Utilities / Ion Balance program no longer asks for the ID and Symbol columns because they're not used by the program.

(048-053) Cosmetic (02/04/16/JPR): The ion column selection for the following programs have been moved into a new dialog box as shown below.

(048) Utilitities / HydroChem / Durov Diagram
(049) Utilitities / HydroChem / Ion Balance
(050) Utilitities / HydroChem / Piper Diagram
(051) Utilities / HydroChem / Stiff Diagram
(052) Utilities / HydroChem / Stiff Map
(053) Utilities / HydroChem / Total Dissolved Solids

(047) New Feature (02/04/16/JCJ): The Data Dictionary has been moved inside of the database for SQL Server projects. It is still maintained as XML files for local databases (SQLite and MS Access). The setting preferences that are maintained in the Data Dictionary (Borehole Manager Datasheet settings) are still held in XML files since they can be for different users who have separate project folders for the same database.

This new feature allows the RockWorks database to be located within the Microsoft Azure cloud!

(046) New Feature (02/04/16/JCJ): The ADO Import for the Utilities datasheet has been relabeled to "External Database". This change has been made because the program uses a FireDAC (quasi-universal database interface) connection dialog to connect to a database. FireDAC uses ODBC and not ADO/OLEDB drivers.

(045) Improvement (02/04/16/JCJ): The initial browse for a project folder allows the creation of a new folder. This occurs when launching RW17 without an installed Samples folder if the Preferences / General Program Settings / On Startup / Prompt For Folder option has been enabled.

(044) Bug Fix (02/04/16/JCJ): Database errors that occur when changing between projects that use different database engines (e.g. Cannot open the database. [FireDAC][DatS] -10, Fixed length column [NeedXYZCalc] data length mismatch. Value length - [4], column fixed length - [2]) no longer occur.

(043) Bug Fix (02/03/16/MIW): The Help Browser within the main Preferences dialog is no longer disabled if the Help-From-Folder option is disabled.

(042) New Feature (02/02/16/JPR): A new option titled "Auto-Offset" has been added to the Utilities / HydroChem / Stiff Map program.

The options for the Auto-Offset are identical to the new Auto-Offset for the Pie Chart Maps (see Item #23 below).

(038-041) Improvements (02/02/16/JPR): The following improvements have been made to the Utilities / Map / Spider Map program:

(038) The data columns are now specified within a more readable table similar to the new Pie Chart Map data columns (see Item #30 below).
(039) The maximum number of components has been increased from 9 to 12.
(040): The Labeling options are now accessed via a separate dialog identical to the new Pie Chart Map labeling (see Item #28 below).
(041): A new Auto-Offset capability, identical to the new Auto-Offset for the Pie Chart Maps (see Item #23 below), has been added.

(035-037) Improvements (02/02/16/JPR): The following improvements have been made to the Utilities / Map / Bar Chart Map program:

(035) The data columns are now specified within a more readable table similar to the new Pie Chart Map data columns (see Item #30 below).
(036) The maximum number of components has been increased from 9 to 12.
(037): A new Auto-Offset capability, identical to the new Auto-Offset for the Pie Chart Maps (see Item #23 below), has been added.

(031-034) Improvements (02/02/16/JPR): The following improvements have been made to the Utilities / Map / Starburst Map program:

(031): The data columns are now specified within a more readable table similar to the new Pie Chart Map data columns (see Item #30 below).
(032): The maximum number of components has been increased from 9 to 12.

(033): The Labeling options are now accessed via a separate dialog identical to the new Pie Chart Map labeling (see Item #28 below).
(034): The Symbol Index has been renamed to "Symbol Key" and now offers more placement options identical to the new Pie Chart Map / Symbol Key option (see Item #30 below).

(030) New Feature (02/01/16/JPR): A new option titled "Symbol Key" has been added to the Utilities / Map / Pie Chart Map program.

This new capability is used to plot an index pie chart will all components at equal percentages along the right side of the map. Labels for each component will always be plotted regardless of the "Labeling" setting.

The options available within the new Symbol Key Options dialog are shown and described as follows:

Position: Defines where the key will be plotted.
- Automatic: Automatically positions the key either to the upper-right or lower-right of the main diagram (outside any border annotation).
- Manual: Positions the key relative to the upper-right corner of the diagram. Units are expressed as a percentage of the Project Diagonal (the distance from the SW corner of the project area to the NE corner).
Radius: Radius of key expressed as a ppercentage of the Project Diagonal (the distance from the SW corner of the project area to the NE corner).

(029) Improvement (02/01/16/JCJ): The Import into the Utilities from "ADO (Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects)" has been renamed to "External Database". The change is due to using FireDAC to form the connection. For more about the FireDAC Connection Editor, please see the following link: http://help.rockware.com/rockworks17/WebHelp/data_bh_import_ado_1.htm

(025-028) Improvements (02/01/16/JPR): The following changes have been made to the Utilities / Map / Pie Chart Map program:

(025): The pie-wedge data columns are now specified within a more readable table.

(026): The maximum number of pie-wedges has been increased from 9 to 12.

(027): The Inner Radius is now specified within the Dimension sub-menu.

(028): The Labeling options are now accessed via a separate dialog:

(024) New Feature (01/30/16/JPR): A suite of new options have been added to the Outer Radius for the Utilities / Map / Pie Chart Map menu.

These new options provide for pie-charts whose radii vary, depending upon a selected data column. For example, consider groundwater ion concentrations in which the a TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) column is used to define the radius of the pie charts:

The new diagram scaling capabilities are described as follows;

Fixed: All diagrams will be plotted at the same size.
- Size: Radius in terms of the Project Diagonal (% of the distance from the SW corner of the project area to the NE corner).
Variable: Diagrams will be plotted at different sizes based on the data within a designated column.
- Column That Defines Size: Column within datasheet that will be used to define diagram size.
- Scaling Method: There are three different methods for sizing the diagrams based on a designated data column: Please Note: All of these options require experimentation before getting the "Goldilocks" size. To speed-up this experimentation, it is strongly recommended that the Auto-Offset be disabled until the last iteration.
  - Multiply By Scale Factor: The value within the designated column will be multiplied by a specified scale factor.
    - Compute Natural Logarithm: A useful tool for automatically scaling diagrams without huge ranges (think mega-outliers) in the sizes is to instruct the program to first compute the natural logarithm of the data within the data column.
    - Scale Factor: The data within the designated sizing-column will be multiplied by this number. Note: If the Compute Natural Logarithm option has been enabled, the scale factor will be applied AFTER the natural logarithm has been computed.
  - Normalize To Data Range: This option will scan all of the data within the designated column to determine the range of values. The data will then be normalized between zero and 1.0. These are the values that are multiplied by the associated Minimum Size and Maximum Size settings to determine the diagram dimensions.
    - Minimum Size: Mininum diagram size in terms of the Project Diagonal (% of the distance from the SW corner of the project area to the NE corner).
    - Maximum Size: Maximum diagram size in terms of the Project Diagonal (% of the distance from the SW corner of the project area to the NE corner).
  - Defined By Lookup Table: The diagram dimensions will be determined by a lookup table in which minimum, maximums, and diagram sizes are specified for an unlimited number of discrete intervals. For example, if the data column used for sizing falls between 100 and 500, the diagram for that row of data will have a radius of 0.1 (as expressed in terms of the Project Diagonal). Note: Although this method is more cumbersome to the other options, the benefits are significant.
    - Table Name: This is the name of the currently-selected table. The program will support an infinite number of different tables. To create a new table, click the Edit button.
    - Edit Button: Click on this button to select a different table or to create a new table. The table editor is where the minimums, maximums, and diagrams sizes are specified.

Special thanks to Lesley Sebol and Peter Barkmann for the ideas!

(023) New Feature (01/27/16/JPR): A option titled "Auto-Offset" has been added to the Utilities / Map / Pie Chart Map menu.

This new feature is used to automatically offset the pie-charts such that they do not overlap adjacent pie-charts.

The Options for the new auto-offset capability are described as follows:

Plot Lines: If a diagram has been moved by the auto-offsetting, a line will be drawn from the new midpoint to the original position.
- Line Style: This controls the color and thickness of the connector line.
  - Plot Arrowhead: If checked, an arrowhead will be plotted at the end of the line (the endpoint at the original position).
  - Fill Arrowhead: If checked, the arrowhead will be plotted as a solid triangle color that is filled with the same color as that specified for the Line Style. If unchecked, the arrowhead will be plotted as two lines along the outer limbs of the triangle.

Filled (Left) versus Unfilled (Right)

Arrowhead Size: The size of the arrowhead triangle as a percentage of the project diagonal (the distance from the SW corner to the NE corner).

Plot Symbol: This option will plot a symbol at the line endpoint (i.e. the original, pre-offset, midpoint of the sample).
- Symbol & Color: This controls the symbol type (e.g. circle, rectangle, etc.) and the color of the symbol.
- Symbol Size: The size of the symbol as a percentage of the project diagonal (the distance from the SW corner to the NE corner).
- Symbol Line Thickness: The thickness (in pixels) of the line segments that make up the symbol.
Line & Symbol Plotting Order: These settings will determine if the connecting line will be plotted before (below) or after (above) the diagram is plotted.
- Plot Line Below Diagram: This setting will plot the line before the diagram is plotted. As a consequence, the diagram may completely cover the line in which case it will not be possible to determine the offset of the diagram relative to it's original, pre-auto-offset position.
- Plot Line Above Diagram: This setting will plot the line after the diagram has been plotted.
Omit Lines & Symbols If Offset < Cutoff Distance: This option will omit offset lines, symbols, and perimiter borders if the offset falls below a designated threshold distance. This may be desirable for eliminating offsets that are negligible.
- Cutoff Distance: The distance as a percentage of the project diagonal (the distance from the SW corner to the NE corner) below which the connecting lines, symbols, and perimeters will not be plotted.

Plot Border Around Offset Diagrams: This provides another means for highlighting diagrams that have been offset.
- Line Style: This defines the color, thickness, and style (e.g. dashed) for the border that will be plotted around the diagram.

(022) New Feature (01/20/16/JPR): A new program titled "Contour Animation" has been added to the Utilities / Map menu.

This program creates contour map animations based on data that changes over time (e.g. groundwater potentiometric surface elevations). These animations may be saved as animated GIF, AVI, Google Earth Timespans (see example below), individual images, or PicShow slide shows.

As shown by the following example, the input for the Contour Animator consists of a datasheet that contains the sampling site ID, xy coordinates, dates (with optional time of day information), and one or more magnitudes (e.g. water levels, contaminant concentrations, etc.). To facilitate data entry and readability, it is not necessary to repeat the X and Y coordinates for rows of data that are associated with the same sample site. Instead, the missing information will be based on the previous, non-blank, coordinates.

There are six main groups within the Contour Animation Options menu:

1. Input:

Data Columns: Used to specify the appropriate data columns within the datasheet.

Manually Specify Duration: If left unchecked, the animation will be automatically computed based on the oldest and most recent sampling dates.

Sampling Interval: When generating the initial grids for the animation, RockWorks will use this setting to filter the points. For example, consider a site that has been sampled on a quarterly basis, starting on January 1st, 2015. If the sampling interval has been set to "quarters", all samples between 1/1/15 and 3/1/15 will be used to make the first grid. All samples collected between 4/1/15 and 6/30/15 will be used to make the next grid, and so on. This is how you can accommodate that sampling for a given period doesn't necessarily occur at exactly the same moment.

NOTE: The Sampling Interval does not determine the number of transitional maps that are created between the sample intervals. Instead, the number of transitional frames is defined within the Output Options (described below).

2. Gridding:

The Gridding Options are described within the Utilities / Map / Grid-Based Map menu.

3. Map:

The Map options are described within the Utilities / Map / Grid-Based Map menu.

4. Image:

Transparent: Used to define a color (e.g. white) which will be transparent. This option mainly applies to Google Earth exports in which you only wish you have generated a color-filled contour map that only shows the higher concentrations. By setting the transparent color to white, the uncolored portions of the maps won't cover the Google Earth imagery.

Change Background Color: This will set the background color to something other than white.

Compression Level: The compression level will make the files smaller at the expense of resolution.

Save Progressive: Progressive images will render themselves at a lower resolution when the image is initially displayed and then and then change to a higher resolution once the entire image is loaded into memory.

Image Size: This is the easier, and recommended, method for specifying the size of the images. By specifying the image width in pixels, the program will automatically compute the image height such that the aspect radio (width/height) is maintained.

Scale Factor: This is a more difficult way to specify the image dimensions that is based on a scale factor and an image resolution.

Margin: This will add a border to the image using the Background Color.

Pattern Scaling: If the maps include patterns, the pattern scaling options provide a means to adjust them if they're too small or large depending upon the image resolution.

5. Titles:

The Titles option provides a means to add a title along the perimeter of the image that shows the date/time represented by each image. The actual date format is very flexible, allowing you to just show the year, month, minute, etc.

6. Output:

The Output options provide a means to save the animation in a variety of formats including:

Animated GIF: Great for embedding with web pages and email.
AVI: Great for uploading to YouTube and Facebook. AVI files may also be loaded into video editing software (e.g. Sony Movie Studio, Techsmith Camtasia, etc.) for subsequent editing and enhancement.
Google Earth: Animations will be controlled by the Google Earth "timespan" control.
- Draped: Images will be draped over the surface topography.
- Floating: Images will be plotted as horizontal planes at a specified elevation.
Image Files: Useful if you wish to include individual frames within a report.
PicShow: Loads all images into the Utilities / Imagery / PicShow program.

(021) New Feature (01/19/16/JPR): A new option labeled "Google Earth" has been added to the Utilities / Imagery / PicShow / EarthApps / Export Points / Quick-Locator program now works correctly.

This program will assign dates to the images by computing the timespan for each image by computing the duration between the specified starting and ending dates and dividing by the total number of images.

(019) Improvement (01/25/16/JCJ: LAS imports for multiple files now test for and adds a trailing path delimiter if it's missing.

(018) Enhancement (01/20/16/MIW): Spatial Filter options have been added to the Utilities / Volumetrics / Block Model Grade Statistics By Level program.

(017) Bug Fix (01/20/16/MIW): The 3D Shape Export no longer fails to include a trailing slash character if the output path is changed.

(016) Improvement (01/20/16/JCJ): The check for lack of data (barren) in BorePlot, now only gets counts from the db instead of full DataSets meaning that the program now runs faster on network-based configurations.

(015) Bug Fix (01/18/16/MIW): The PLSS conversion within the Utilities / EarthApps / Points / Quick-Locator program now works correctly.

(014) Bug Fix (01/18/16/MIW): The Range & Township (Public Land Survey) conversion within the Utilities / Coordinate Converter / Single-Point program now works correctly when using the Footage-From-Line option.

(013) Improvement (01/18/16/MIW): Pasting data from the Windows clipboard into a single cell within the Lithology Picker now works correctly when a clipboard item contains an invalid number.

(012) Improvement (01/18/16/MIW): Pasting data from the Windows clipboard into a single cell within the Stratigraphy Picker now works correctly when a clipboard item contains an invalid number.

(011) Bug Fix (01/14/16/JCJ): For MS SQL Server the "DBCC CHECKIDENT" command is used to reset the table's starting primary key back to 1. If the user does not have sufficient rights to do this the program will trap it and continue on.

(010) Bug Fix (01/08/16/MIW): The Vertical Exaggeration that is stored within RockPlot2D files is now used when setting the Best Fit scaling within the RockPlot2D program.

(009) Bug Fix (01/08/16/MIW): Color tables opened within the ReportWorks Color Legends dialog are now sorted properly.

(008) Bug Fix (01/06/16/MIW): Stratigraphic superface and subface maps now display the correct z-minimum and z-maximum within the Confirm Contours dialog.

(007) Bug Fix (01/06/16/MIW): Stratigraphic isopach maps now display the correct z-minimum and z-maximum within the Confirm Contours dialog.

(006) Bug Fix (01/06/16/MIW): The solid Kriging now accommodates a broader range of data sets (i.e. z-range < average distance).

(005) Bug Fix (01/06/16/MIW): The grid Kriging now accommodates a broader range of data sets (i.e. z-range < average distance).

(004) Bug Fix (01/06/16/MIW): Creating a stratigraphy model with a "base plate" no longer fails (i.e. the base plate grid is now set to the project dimensions).

(004) Bug Fix (01/06/16/JCJ): The program will now copy the data correctly if the user creates a new project based on an existing project in which the user elects to copy only the Enabled boreholes.

(003) Improvement (01/06/16/JCJ): The program will now automatically rebuild the System folder if it's missing from the project folder.

(002) Improvement (01/06/16/JCJ): The "Swath" option that is used for including boreholes within profiles is now available for all licensing levels.

(001) Improvement (01/06/16/JCJ): The "Snap" option that is used for picking boreholes for sections, profiles, and fence diagrams is now available for all licensing levels.

Previous Quarter (Q4/15) - RockWorks17