Export Map

Use the Map > Export menu option to export Geosoft maps to supported formats. The Export Map tool provides a simplified map export process to move data, grids, and images easily to other software systems.

Export Map dialog options

Output format

Select one of the supported formats:

Enhanced Metafile (*.emf)
Geosoft Plot (*.plt)
ArcView Shapefile (*.shp)
DXF AutoCAD (*.dxf)
DXF AutoCAD v12 (*.dxf)
Bitmap (*.bmp)
JPEG Low Quality (*.jpg)
JPEG (*.jpg)
JPEG High Quality (*.jpg)
J2K JPEG 2000 (*.j2k)
JP2 JPEG 2000 (*.jp2)
PCX (*.pcx)
PNG (*.png)

TIFF (*.tif)
TIFF Compressed (*.tif)
GeoTIFF (*.tif)
MapInfo TIFF (*.tif)
ArcView TIFF (*.tif)
Encapsulated PostScript (*.eps)
Geosoft COLOR grid (*.grd)
ER Mapper RBG (*.ers)
ER Mapper ECW Compressor (*.ecw)
MapInfo TAB (*.tab)
SVG Export (*.svg)
Keyhole Markup Language Zipped (*.kmz)
Keyhole Markup Language (*.kml)
Portable Document Format (*.pdf)
CGM Plot (*.cgm)

Most standard image formats, such as ERS and JPEG2000, do not natively support non-EPSG datums. As a result, when converting from native Geosoft grids to other standard image formats, only EPSG datums are properly translated; in these instances, custom or local projections will be ignored.

Colour depth

Several colour depth options will be available depending on which output format is selected:

Monochrome (1-bit)
16 Colour (4-bit)
16 Grey (4-bit)
256 Colour (8-bit)
256 Grey (8-bit)
True Colour (24-bit)

Image Raster Resolution

Select the Image Raster Resolution settings depending on your output file needs.

If you choose a resolution that is too high, the export may not be supported if the output file size is too large. In this case, the Estimated image size field will display "Unsupported size or "Unknown", and the OK button will be disabled until you lower the Image Raster Resolution settings.

Click on the Screen button to output the grid to a smooth image at the screen resolution. If you prefer to honour the grid resolution, select the Grid button, and the image in the output file will appear pixelated (the colour will change at the actual grid interval rather than the screen resolution).

The Grid button becomes enabled when a raster data (grid) group or aggregate is selected in the current map.

Estimated image size

This is informative, allowing you to determine if you do have adequate space to save the file.

Region to export

You can export the entire map – select Full map, or you can export a part of your image:

Select the Viewed Region option to export the area of the map that is displayed.
Set the region to export to Selection if you want to export the image within the current selection box in your map. This is a specified area (in centimetres or pixels) or a selected group in the Map Manager tool.

If you are exporting a viewed area for a map, and your map has a grid on it, the colour table used to display the whole grid will be used for the output file.

Export to

Select the File option to export the map to a file. Select the Clipboard option to copy your image to the clipboard for use with other applications.

You can use the clipboard to quickly export map files to files created by other applications. The clipboard will temporarily store the image as a Windows metafile that can be pasted into a word processing or graphics file created by another application.

Dither image

You can dither the image by applying a half toning error diffusion. The option is available only if the selected colour depth is not True Colour (24-bit).

Export Map as ArcView Shapefile

If you have a map that contains information that you would like to see in ArcView, the contents of the map can be exported to an ArcView Shapefile: in the Output Format field, select the ArcView Shapefile (*.shp) option.

The vector layers in the Oasis montaj map will be exported to the shapefile format. This creates (depending on the attributes included in the map) up to three different shapefiles and an index, and database files as follows:

test_ln.shp	lines
test_pg.shp	polygons
test_pt.shp	points

Each shapefile will also have an associated index and a database file:

test_ln.shx	index file for the shapefile test_ln.shp
test_ln.dbf	database for the shapefile test_ls.shp
etc.

Graphical quantities such as colours, line types, line thickness and pattern fills are not exported. Text annotations are also not exported. In ArcView, these details make up a theme, which must be created from the shapefiles and database information.

Export Map to KML Format

You can export a Geosoft map to a KML (Keyhole Markup Language) or KMZ (Zipped Keyhole Markup Language) file format for use within globe explorer applications supporting KML, such as Google Earth, World Wind, etc.

Export Hybrid Map to PLT and Metafile Formats

"Hybrid" maps are maps that contain both vector- and raster-based elements. Care should be taken in expanding these maps, because some elements are scalable and some are not.

Export Raster-based Map to BMP and TIF Formats

Raster-based maps contain data that are represented as pixels. These types of maps are not scalable, i.e., stretching reduces map resolution.

Currently, Windows bitmap (*.BMP) as well as tagged image format (*.TIF) maps in multiple modes are supported. You can export to monochrome (1-bit), low resolution colour (8-bit) or high resolution colour (24-bit). JPG, JPG2, PNG, and GeoTIFF are other raster image formats you can export to.

Note that the high resolution option can result in very large export files.

Export Vector-based Map to DXF Format

Vector-based maps are maps consisting of line-drawing commands, for example, for symbols or text. These types of maps can be scaled dynamically.

Currently, AutoCAD version 13 Drawing eXchange Format (*.DXF) files are supported. You should use this option selectively, because file sizes can be very large (50 to 100 megabytes, for instance, if you export many symbols). You can also export to a 3D DXF file through the 3D Viewer.