Geologic Map Day!!

This Friday is the third annual Geologic Map Day!! October 17th has been declared the official Geologic Map Day, as part of 2014 Earth Science Week. The purpose of this designation is to promote the awareness and importance of geologic mapping. 

Geologic Map Day partners include the American Geosciences Institute (AGI), the Association of American State Geologists, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Park Service, the Geological Society of America.

Golden Software has a strong foundation in geologic mapping and much of our customer base are geologists and engineers who regularly creating maps and images of geologic data. 

As an illustration of how one of our products can be used to display geologic maps, I have used Surfer to display map a lithologic map downloaded from a WMS server. Below are the instructions to create a map displaying the geologic units throughout the state of Colorado:

1. In Surfer, click Map | New | Base Map from Server command.
2. In the Download Online Maps dialog, click the triangle next to Select Data Source.
3. Navigate to Imagery | Colorado Mineral Resources and select Colorado_Lithology.
4. Click the triangle next to Select Area to Download.
5. Choose the option Entire data source extents.
6. Click the triangle next to Select Image Resolution to Download. Move the slider left or right to select the size of the image you would like to download.
7. In the Preview window, you will a preview of the geologic map image that will be downloaded. 
   1. Click the + or - to zoom in on an area.
   2. Click the hand icon and you can click and drag to pan the map area.
   3. Click the red selection box, to select an area on the map that you would like to zoom to and download.
8. The Log section displays the WMS server information from the options you selected for the image.
9. Click OK to download the specified map area into Surfer. You will see a Downloading Map dialog displaying the download progress. Your downloaded map will be displayed as a Base object in Surfer.

You can add additional objects to the map the same as you would any other map in Surfer. For example, I have created a Post Map which displays the Golden Software office location. To add a Post Map to an existing Map in Surfer, use the Map | Add | Post Layer command. 

Surfer is a great tool to display geologic data and other information about your state or site area. You can find more information about the capabilities of Surfer in the Surfer 12 webpage. 

If you do not currently have Surfer, you can download the Surfer demo to test out the features and functionality. The demo is fully functioning except the save, copy, print, and export commands have been disabled. To enable these commands, you can purchase a Surfer 12 license for just $849. You can purchase the software using our secure online order form and select Download Delivery to receive download instructions within two business hours! 

For more information about Geologic Map Day, to go: http://www.earthsciweek.org/geologic-map-day