Datamine Discover KB - Data Utilities

I am planning a regional exploration work program. What tools are available in Discover?

Josh Knight — Wed, 04 May 2022 04:05:48 GMT

Occurrence

How do I:

A. Add coordinates to a series of discrete point locations such as proposed regional RAB/aircore drill targets, and then add an incrementing identifier (e.g. HoleID) to each location?

B. Convert a series of proposed regional traverse lines/polylines into grid pegs/sample locations at a fixed spacing, each with coordinates and unique ID's?

C. Create a series of parallel traverse/sample line (i.e. a local grid), with pegs/point locations at fixed spacings, each with both local and real world coordinates, as well as unique ID's?

Solution

A. Add coordinates to a series of discrete point locations such as proposed regional RAB/aircore drill targets, and then add an incrementing identifier (e.g. HoleID) to each location?

1/. If a series of target locations have been added to say the cosmetic layer as points (e.g. the intersection of regional lineaments/faults with prospective stratigraphy), save these point objects to a new table (Map>Save Cosmetic Objects).

2/. Use Discover's Discover>Projection>Update Coordinates tool to create a new Easting/X and Northing/Y field to this table, and automatically populate these fields with the appropriate values. Note that by default the coordinates will ...

How do I reproject my data?

Josh Knight — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 07:21:42 GMT

MapInfo and Discover provides a number of different Reprojection Utilities, depending on the type of data to be transformed. Each of these tools will create a copy of the data in the specified output projection, typically with a default _reproject suffix added to the input file name. These tools are invaluable (for example) for ensuring all datasets are in the same Coordinate Reference System (projection).

Note: After reprojecting when you open in back in the map window, it will appear in exact same location. This is due to Mapinfo being a GIS system that reprojects on the fly. It will only appear in a different location when opened in a non-GIS program.

Vector data (i.e. points/polylines/polygons)

This is shown in the layer control with an icon -

There a numerous ways to reproject these -

1. Standard MapInfo way is to go to Home>Save>Save Copy As. Then on the save dialog, click the projection button and choose the new projection.

2. Use the Discover>Reproject>Reproject Coordinates. This uses the Discover projection engine with explicit NTv2 support. (note this doesn't support NativeX tab files).

3. Use the DISCOVER > Reproject > Multi-Table Reproject tool. This allows the current projections of multiple vector tables to be displayed and reprojected, either as new tables, or overwriting the existing tables.

Note with all of these methods only change the spatial vector data in the map. They do not update any coordinates in the browser table for say points. There ...

Is it possible to extract and update to a table the X/Y coordinates for a layer or group of selected points?

kbadmin — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:20:50 GMT

Yes, use the Discover>Projections>Update Coordinates tool.

By choosing "Selection" this will extract the coordinates for every selected point, and save these values into selected columns in a
new or existing table.

Alternatively select a Layer name and the coordinates for every point in the Table will be extracted.

Can you use Discover to create stacked geological, geophysical and geochemical sections/ profiles?

Josh Knight — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 06:38:25 GMT

Discover has a number of tools that can produce profiles.

The Surfaces>Draw Grid Profile uses a line or polyline drawn across multiple grids (e.g. soil geochemistry, FVD aeromagnetics, DEM) to generate a stacked profile as below:

Additionally, one of the profiles can be coloured by any overlying colour filled polygons (e.g. interpreted geology, regolith). Also, intersections from a vector polylines table (e.g. streams, faults) with the profile can be indicated.

Stacked Profiles can also be generated from regularly spaced point data, such as soil sampling or ground magnetic traverses conducted on a local grid. The Data Utilities>Create Stacked Profiles tool can convert data from this:

Into this:

How can I add a unique number to identify each record in a browser?

kbadmin — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:21:16 GMT

In Discover 10.0 you can use the Table Utilities->Add Unique Identifier tool. Not only does this

automatically increment each record by a user-specified value (e.g. 1, 5 10 or -2), but it allows the
user to add a prefix and/or suffix to each record.

If you have an older version of Discover that does not include this tool, you can use the manual
workaround as detailed below:

1/. Navigate to MapInfo's Table>Update Column
2/. Under 'Table to Update' and 'Get Value From Table' options select the table you wish to update.
3/. Set the numeric field (detailed in (a) above) as the 'Column to Update'.
4/. In the 'Value' text box type in 'ROWID': this is a MapBasic statement which will place a unique number
in all records starting from the number 1.

The example below will place a unique number in the column 'Unique_Number'. Each row will be populated
with its row number, hence the need to pack tables prior to running this tool.

An example of the populated table:

Yes, use the MODIFY>Nodes>Extract Nodes tool. This will extract every node into a new table, with X and Y coordinates automatically listed for each point.

Extract Nodes Error: "Select one or more lines, polylines or regions"

Josh Knight — Mon, 21 May 2007 07:17:52 GMT

Occurrence

Selecting multiple regions and applying the Extract Nodes tool.

Solution

Are you are trying to extract nodes from a rectangle, ellipse or rounded rectangle map object? This error message will be displayed if this is the case.

In MapInfo these shapes are not treated as true map objects as they are technically only defined by two points. This means that some functionality such as extracting nodes is unable to be performed
on these map objects. Convert these shapes to regions (Objects > Convert to regions) and then run the Extract nodes utility.