GGSD data exchange file formats

Data Exchange File Formats

Data exchange file formats are essential to support interoperability between software programs. The summary table below lists the main categories of data exchange formats, and many of the formats supported by the programs listed in the GGSD. The links lead to details of each data format, and lists of the programs supporting the data formats. Summary statistics are provided. The current status of each format is assessed as follows:

Development The data format is in development and not yet in general use

Active The data format is in general use and actively supported and updated by its sponsoring organisation

In use The data format is in general use but the sponsoring organisation has not updated it for some time

Inactive The data format is little used, and it has not been maintained by the sponsoring organisation

Obsolete The data format has been superseded, and support has been discontinued

The initial version of this summary was prepared as part of A Review of Electronic File Formats for the Exchange of Geotechnical Information in Transportation Schemes for the Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA) funded by the UK Highways Agency and carried out by Tim Spink, Fleur Loveridge and Chris Power.

Asset
Format name	File extension	Description	Status	Ownership	Number of programs
GADML	.xml	Geotechnical asset condition information for UK Highways Agency	Active	Open source	0
TransXML	.xml	XML Scheme for exchange of transportation data including: Survey/Roadway Design; Transportation Construction/Materials; Highway Bridge Structures; Transportation Safety.	Development	Open source	0

Database and Spreadsheet
Format name	File extension	Description	Status	Ownership	Number of programs
Access	.mdb	Relational data	Active	Proprietary	40
Comma Separated Values	.csv	Tabular data	In use	Open source	23
dBase	.dbf	Relational data	Active	Proprietary	21
Excel	.xls	Tabular data	Active	Proprietary	90
Extensible Markup Language	.xml	Structured data	Active	Open source	3
FoxPro	.dbf	Relational data	Active	Proprietary	7
Paradox	.db	Relational data	In use	Proprietary	9

Documents
Format name	File extension	Description	Status	Ownership	Number of programs
NCCTP	.xml	Open transfer format of project files for collaborative working	Active	Open source	0
Portable Document Format	.pdf	Image of formatted text	Active	Proprietary	8
Rich Text Format	.rtf	Formatted text	In use	Open source	12
Text	.txt	Unformatted text	In use	Open source	8
Word	.doc	Formatted text	Active	Proprietary	32

Drawings
Format name	File extension	Description	Status	Ownership	Number of programs
DWG	.dwg	AutoDesk's drawing file format	Active	Proprietary	48
DXF	.dxf	Autodesk's drawing exchange file format	Active	Proprietary	110
Microstation	.dgn	Microstation drawing file format	Active	Proprietary	15

Geoenvironmental
Format name	File extension	Description	Status	Ownership	Number of programs
CDX	.xml	Central Data Exchange format for US Environmental Data	In use	Open source	0
EDF	.txt	Electronic Deliverable Format for environmental test results including subformats for laboratory analytical reports (LAB EDF), field sample chain of custody (COC EDF), field sample collection information (FIELD EDF), location information (LOCSETUP EDF) a	In use	Open source	3
EQUIS		Environmental Quality Information System	Active	Proprietary	5
ESdat LDIF	CSV	Laboratory Data Interchange Format used in Australia and Canada	Active	Proprietary	1
EVS	.pgf	3D environmental data transfer format	In use	Proprietary	4
IRPIMS/ERPIMS	.mdb	U.S. Air Force Installation Restoration Program Information Management System (IRPIMS)	In use	Open source	3
NEDTS	.txt	Navy Environmental Data Transfer Standards (NEDTS).	In use	Open source	1
The Australian National Groundwater Data Transfer Standard	.xml	The Australian National Groundwater Data Transfer Standard	Active	Open source	0

Geological
Format name	File extension	Description	Status	Ownership	Number of programs
Datamine		Drilling information and 3-D geological modelling data.	In use	Proprietary	1
DGSM		Digital Geoscience Spatial Model. Geology, structural geology, landforms, stratiraphy	In use	Proprietary	0
Earthvision		3D modelling format for proprietary software	In use	Proprietary	1
eEarth	.xml	International borehole data interchange format	Active	Open source	0
epiSEM IS	.xml	EPIcentre Shared Earth Model. Petroleum industry focussed research project for transfering geological models.	Development	Open source	0
ESML	.xml	Earth Science Markup Language to describe the structure, semantics and content of any earth science dataset	Active	Open source	0
GeoSciML	.xml	Geology, structural geology, landforms and text	Development	Open source	0
LogPlot		Borehole information	In use	Proprietary	4
Micromine		Mining data processing software with proprietary data format.	In use	Proprietary	2
NADM	.xml	North American geological map Data Model	Development	Open source	0
RESCUE		Petroleum industry transfer of data from geomodels through the use of the Epicenter data model	Active	Open source	0
Rockworks		Borehole information	In use	Proprietary	2
SBB	.xml .txt. or .xls	Shallow boreholes tranfer format for sales from The Netherlands National Geological Survey	Active	Open source	0
SEP	.mdb	Borehole information	In use	Open source	2
Surpac		Mining industry data transfer format	In use	Proprietary	1
Vulcan		Mining data and 3-D mining modelling	In use	Proprietary	4
WinCORE		Borehole information	In use	Open source	1
WinLog		Borehole information	In use	Proprietary	7
XMML	.xml	Data transfer format for Mining Industry (eXploations and Mining Markup Language)	Active	Open source	0

Geophysics
Format name	File extension	Description	Status	Ownership	Number of programs
Atlas CLS Field Tape		Oil industry well logging format	Obsolete	Proprietary	1
BIT	.bit	Western Atlas Basic Information Tape data. Tape format for oil industry well logging.	In use	Proprietary	3
DLIS		Schlumberger geophysical logging format. Oil industry. Digital Log Interchange Standard	In use	Proprietary	4
DT1	.dt1	Ground Penetrating Radar format. Associated with PulseEKKO GPR equipment	In use	Proprietary	1
DZT	.dzt	Ground Penetrating Radar format. Associated with Geophysical Survey Systems equipment	In use	Proprietary	1
GeophysicalML	.xml	Exchange of information about geophysical acquisition/processing objects (source events, stations, receivers, bin nodes) and of data sets which are related to those objects.	Development	Open source	0
Geoshare		Geophysical logging format.	In use	Open source	2
HeaderDescriptorML	.xml	Details which variant of SEGY a tape represents	Development	Open source	0
LAS	.las	Log ASCII Standard files	Active	Open source	16
LIS/LIS-79	.lis	Geophysical logging format, now superseded by DLIS	Obsolete	Proprietary	10
LOG		Oil industry logging format	Obsolete	Proprietary	2
Log II		Geophysical logging format	Obsolete	Open source	1
LogGraphicsML	.xml	XML format for exchanging well log graphics	Development	Open source	0
RD3	.rd3	Ground Penetrating Radar format for RAMAC equipment	In use	Proprietary	1
RP66		Petroleum industry geophysical well log format including Digital Log Interchange Standard (DLIS)	In use	Open source	2
SEG-2/SEG-Y		Seismic data format	Active	Open source	4
SPWLA		Oil industry logging format	In use	Open source	1
WellLogML	.xml	XML format for exchanging well log data (aspires to supercede LAS)	Development	Open source	0
WellPlot ML	.xml	Format for exchanging well log related information (eg graphs)	Development	Open source	0
WITSML version 1.3	.xml	Wellsite information transfer standard markup language	Active	Open source	0

Geotechnical
Format name	File extension	Description	Status	Ownership	Number of programs
AGS	.AGS	Geotechnical field, laboratory and monitoring data transfer format.	Active	Open source	30
AGS-M	.AGS	Monitoring data transfer format. Now included in AGS 3.1	In use	Open source	1
AGSML	.xml	Geotechnical field, laboratory and monitoring transfer format. Incorporated within DIGGS	Development	Open source	0
bch	.bch	Inclinometer monitoring data file type.	Obsolete	Proprietary	1
CivilXML	.xml	Construction records - principally piling, and associated geotechnical data. Incorporated within DIGGS.	Development	Open source	0
COSMOS	.xml	California based geotechnical data transfer format for earthquake studies. Incorporated within DIGGS	Development	Open source	0
DIGGS	.xml	Data interchange for geotechnical and geoenvironmental specialists. Based on AGSML, COSMOS and CivilXML	Development	Open source	0
GEF	.gef	CPT test results	Active	Open source	4
GeoMil		CPT test results	In use	Proprietary	2
Geopoint		CPT test data format	In use	Proprietary	1
GeotechML	.xml	Geotechnical field, laboratory and monitoring transfer format	Inactive	Open source	0
Gorilla!		CPT test results	In use	Proprietary	1
NENGEO		Dutch CPT test results format.	Obsolete	Open source	1
NGES	.xml	Geotechnical data exchange format for scientific research sites	In use	Open source	0
RocProp		Database of Rock Properties	In use	Proprietary	0
RPP	.rpp	Inclinometer monitoring data	In use	Proprietary	1
SGF		CPT test results	In use	Open source	2
SlopesML	.xml	Slope stability case history format	Inactive	Open source	0

Images
Format name	File extension	Description	Status	Ownership	Number of programs
Graphics Interchange Format	.gif	Raster graphics format	In use	Proprietary	31
JPEG	.jpg	Raster graphics format	In use	Open source	42
Portable Network Graphics	.png	Raster graphics format	In use	Open source	11
Portable Pixel Map	.ppm	Raster graphics format	In use	Proprietary	2
Tagged Image File	.tif	Raster graphics format	In use	Proprietary	32
Targa	.tga	Raster graphics format	In use	Proprietary	9
Windows bitmap	.bmp	Raster graphics format	In use	Proprietary	66
Windows metafile	.wmf	Vector graphics format	In use	Proprietary	49
Zsoft Paint	.pcx	Raster graphics format	In use	Open source	16

Mapping and GIS
Format name	File extension	Description	Status	Ownership	Number of programs
Atlas BNA	.bna	Atlas GIS file format	Obsolete	Proprietary	6
Atlas GIS	.agf	Geographical Information System spatial data format.	Obsolete	Proprietary	3
DEM	.dem	Digital Elevation Model.	In use	Open source	16
DLG	.dlg	USGS Digital Line Graphics mapping data	In use	Open source	5
E00	.e00	Geographical Information System spatial data format. Transfer format for ArcInfo	Obsolete	Proprietary	3
ERDAS	.lan or .gis or .img	Mapping image format	In use	Proprietary	3
GenIO		3D engineering modelling software transfer format used by MOSS/MX	In use	Proprietary	2
Geopak		3D engineering modelling software	In use	Proprietary	1
GEOSPOT		Geographical Information System image data format for satellite imagery	In use	Proprietary	2
GML	.xml	Geography Markup Language	Active	Open source	0
GRASS		File format for Geographic Resources Analysis Support System open source GIS	In use	Open source	3
LandGML	.xml	Incorporates spatial data used by designers, contractors and surveyors using GML 3.	Active	Open source	0
LandXML	.xml	Incorporates spatial data used by designers, contractors and surveyors. Interoperability with MX.	Active	Open source	1
LAS	.las	Interchange format for LIDAR data	Active	Open source	1
MIF / MID	.mif or .mid	MapInfo data transfer files	In use	Proprietary	29
MOSS		3D engineering modelling software transfer format. Now known as MX	Obsolete	Proprietary	3
SDSFIE		Spatial data standard for facilities, infrastructure and environment. US military standard, adopted for USACE geotechnical data management	In use	Open source	0
SDTS		Spatial data transfer standard. Mandatory compliance for US federal agencies	In use	Open source	0
Shape	.shp	ESRI ArcView GIS file format	Active	Proprietary	45
Surfer boundary	.bln	Surfer vector boundary file format	In use	Proprietary	5
Surfer grid	.grd	Surfer gridded data file	In use	Proprietary	5
TIGER		Topologically Integrated Geographical Encoding and Referencing Files. Line based.	In use	Open source	0
XYZG		Rockworks 3D model transfer format	Inactive	Proprietary	3

Petroleum Geoscience
Format name	File extension	Description	Status	Ownership	Number of programs
eosML 1.0	.xml	Project to develop and distribute a standardized XML specification for the description of fluid system properties using compositional equation of state (EOS) models	Development	Open source	0
ProductionML	.xml	Standardized, XML-based production reporting	Development	Open source	0
WellHeaderML	.xml	A basic well information data exchange standard with an evolving global base schema and country by country profile schemas.	Development	Open source	0
WellPathML	.xml	A general-purpose directional survey data transfer specification	Development	Open source	0
WellSchematicML	.xml	A standardized XML specification for the description of well schematics, including wellheads, boreholes, tubulars and wellbore equipment.	Development	Open source	0

Printer
Format name	File extension	Description	Status	Ownership	Number of programs
Encapsulated postscript	.eps	Vector graphics format	In use	Proprietary	20
HPGL	.hgl	Vector graphics format	In use	Proprietary	20

Data exchange file formats are essential to support interoperability between software programs. The summary table below lists the main categories of data exchange formats, and many of the formats supported by the programs listed in the GGSD. The links lead to details of each data format, and lists of the programs supporting the data formats. Summary statistics are provided. The current status of each format is assessed as follows:
Development	The data format is in development and not yet in general use
Active	The data format is in general use and actively supported and updated by its sponsoring organisation
In use	The data format is in general use but the sponsoring organisation has not updated it for some time
Inactive	The data format is little used, and it has not been maintained by the sponsoring organisation
Obsolete	The data format has been superseded, and support has been discontinued
	The initial version of this summary was prepared as part of A Review of Electronic File Formats for the Exchange of Geotechnical Information in Transportation Schemes for the Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA) funded by the UK Highways Agency and carried out by Tim Spink, Fleur Loveridge and Chris Power.