Hi list,
I'm facing the need to process some sonar files in XTF (eXtensible
Triton Format), but I can't find anything as OS to do it.
Does anyone have experience with such a format?
XTF References:
http://www.tritonimaginginc.com/site/content/public/downloads/FileFormatInfo/Xtf%20File%20Format_X24.pdf
http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/sfmapping/sonar_xtf.htm
Free (as free beer) reader:
http://www.knudsenengineering.com/html/software/postsurvey.htm
Thanks,
Giovanni
Hi Giovanni
There is nothing free to read XTF format that I know of. The format is freely available on triton's website. The format has become a standard de facto. However it is still difficult to get a really standard xtf file in between the manufacturer of sonar processing software.
My advice would be
1) knowing the name of the application that acquired the sonar data.
2) have a quick look at MBsystem which is the only sonar processing software free as free beer!! It won't read xtf but you might find a way to find a common denominator.
I ll be glad to know how you proceed as I might be of better help if you are more specific (acquisition software, sonar....)
Regards
I G. Allegri a écrit :
Hi list,
I'm facing the need to process some sonar files in XTF (eXtensible
Triton Format), but I can't find anything as OS to do it.
Does anyone have experience with such a format?XTF References:
http://www.tritonimaginginc.com/site/content/public/downloads/FileFormatInfo/Xtf%20File%20Format_X24.pdf
http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/sfmapping/sonar_xtf.htmFree (as free beer) reader:
http://www.knudsenengineering.com/html/software/postsurvey.htmThanks,
Giovanni
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Thanks Thierry for answering.
AFAIK the XTF I've been given were tranformed form original KEB files.
If I'm not wrong these formats are produced by Knudsen systems.
I new about MBsystem. As they say on the site, I hope they will
support XTF "sooner or later...".
In the meanwhile I try to explain what I need: I need to vectorize the
sonar echograms in an automatized way (I have about 300 files with
dozens of "pings" each one), to extract the thickness of soft
loam/clay deposits of some lake beds. So, my echograms show the
vertical lines of the single "pings". For every ping I would like to
extract the "first arrive" (the point where a signal above a threshold
appear for the first time on the vertical) and the point when the
signal decreases lower then another threshold (before signal decayes
because of power loss). The problem is that I'm not such a good
programmer! 
I know sogtware for seismic datas that can do it, but it's the first
time I work with sonars data, and this formats in particular.
The alternative is to pick the 3000 points by hand, and measure the
thickness for each segment!
I'll let you know if I make useful steps.
Giovanni
2008/8/1 Thierry Schmitt <thierry_schmitt@yahoo.com>:
Hi Giovanni
There is nothing free to read XTF format that I know of. The format is
freely available on triton's website. The format has become a standard de
facto. However it is still difficult to get a really standard xtf file in
between the manufacturer of sonar processing software.
My advice would be1) knowing the name of the application that acquired the sonar data.
2) have a quick look at MBsystem which is the only sonar processing software
free as free beer!! It won't read xtf but you might find a way to find a
common denominator.I ll be glad to know how you proceed as I might be of better help if you are
more specific (acquisition software, sonar....)Regards
I G. Allegri a écrit :
Hi list,
I'm facing the need to process some sonar files in XTF (eXtensible
Triton Format), but I can't find anything as OS to do it.
Does anyone have experience with such a format?XTF References:
http://www.tritonimaginginc.com/site/content/public/downloads/FileFormatInfo/Xtf%20File%20Format_X24.pdf
http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/sfmapping/sonar_xtf.htmFree (as free beer) reader:
http://www.knudsenengineering.com/html/software/postsurvey.htmThanks,
Giovanni
_______________________________________________
grass-user mailing list
grass-user@lists.osgeo.org
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/grass-user
G. Allegri a écrit :
> I'm facing the need to process some sonar files in XTF (eXtensible
> Triton Format), but I can't find anything as OS to do it.
> Does anyone have experience with such a format?
>
> XTF References:
http://www.tritonimaginginc.com/site/content/public/downloads/FileFormatInfo/Xtf%20File%20Format_X24.pdf
http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/sfmapping/sonar_xtf.htm
>
> Free (as free beer) reader:
http://www.knudsenengineering.com/html/software/postsurvey.htm
Thierry Schmitt wrote:
There is nothing free to read XTF format that I know of.
The format is freely available on triton's website. The format has
become a standard de facto. However it is still difficult to get a
really standard xtf file in between the manufacturer of sonar
processing software.
My advice would be1) knowing the name of the application that acquired the sonar data.
2) have a quick look at MBsystem which is the only sonar processing
software free as free beer!! It won't read xtf but you might find a
way to find a common denominator.I ll be glad to know how you proceed as I might be of better help if
you are more specific (acquisition software, sonar....)
Hi,
Some months ago I had a look at doing this, partly out of need, partly as a learning experience. From a search of the mailing list archives I don't think I posted anything public about it.
I am keen to see this happen, but am stalled until our new multibeam system is fully commissioned and I find some funding/time/cirtical need to justify the effort. A motivating factor is the effort to remove all software
dongles. To me they just represent pain, satellite phone calls in the middle of the night, and lost ship time+data. For zero science gain.
grumble grumble grumble. Something similar might be said for OS lock-in.
But sounding out a plan of action doesn't cost much, so...
I had considered a few alternatives:
- create a generic libxtf (LGPL?)
- GRASS support via a new C module (without a libxtf)
- postgis import tool
- sqlite import tool
- stand alone command line converter to csv or xml ascii format
(then shell script or python script importer to GIS)
- volunteer to hack support for it into MBSystems (see libxtf above)
(then work on MBSystems -> GRASS workflow code)
A hard part for me will be fighting the urge to write the prototype as
a Matlab script and only writing enough to get what we need from our particular instrument. I'd hope to leverage the power of FOSS to solve
those and create a generic solution, rather than going the lone coder
route with code useful only to our particular setup and needs.
please do add ideas+needs here:
http://grass.osgeo.org/wiki/Marine_Science#Sidescan_sonar_processing
comments, criticisms, ideas?
Hamish
It would be great to have a “libxtf” library. Yet I’m not such an expert C programmer, so I can’t contribute very much to it…
Anyway I’ll promote the idea inside the research institue to verify if it would be possible to support the development.
XTF is not a very simple format to parse, so for now I will look for other formats converions to see if it would be possible to analyze my KEB datas using the code of MBsystem.
2008/8/3 Hamish <hamish_b@yahoo.com>
G. Allegri a écrit :
I’m facing the need to process some sonar files in XTF (eXtensible
Triton Format), but I can’t find anything as OS to do it.
Does anyone have experience with such a format?XTF References:
http://www.tritonimaginginc.com/site/content/public/downloads/FileFormatInfo/Xtf%20File%20Format_X24.pdf
http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/sfmapping/sonar_xtf.htmFree (as free beer) reader:
http://www.knudsenengineering.com/html/software/postsurvey.htmThierry Schmitt wrote:
There is nothing free to read XTF format that I know of.
The format is freely available on triton’s website. The format has
become a standard de facto. However it is still difficult to get a
really standard xtf file in between the manufacturer of sonar
processing software.
My advice would be
- knowing the name of the application that acquired the sonar data.
- have a quick look at MBsystem which is the only sonar processing
software free as free beer!! It won’t read xtf but you might find a
way to find a common denominator.I ll be glad to know how you proceed as I might be of better help if
you are more specific (acquisition software, sonar…)Hi,
Some months ago I had a look at doing this, partly out of need, partly as a learning experience. From a search of the mailing list archives I don’t think I posted anything public about it.
I am keen to see this happen, but am stalled until our new multibeam system is fully commissioned and I find some funding/time/cirtical need to justify the effort. A motivating factor is the effort to remove all software
dongles. To me they just represent pain, satellite phone calls in the middle of the night, and lost ship time+data. For zero science gain.
grumble grumble grumble. Something similar might be said for OS lock-in.But sounding out a plan of action doesn’t cost much, so…
I had considered a few alternatives:
- create a generic libxtf (LGPL?)
- GRASS support via a new C module (without a libxtf)
- postgis import tool
- sqlite import tool
- stand alone command line converter to csv or xml ascii format
(then shell script or python script importer to GIS)- volunteer to hack support for it into MBSystems (see libxtf above)
(then work on MBSystems → GRASS workflow code)A hard part for me will be fighting the urge to write the prototype as
a Matlab script and only writing enough to get what we need from our particular instrument. I’d hope to leverage the power of FOSS to solve
those and create a generic solution, rather than going the lone coder
route with code useful only to our particular setup and needs.please do add ideas+needs here:
http://grass.osgeo.org/wiki/Marine_Science#Sidescan_sonar_processingcomments, criticisms, ideas?
Hamish
Hamish:
But sounding out a plan of action doesn't cost much, so...
I had considered a few alternatives:
- create a generic libxtf (LGPL?)
- GRASS support via a new C module (without a libxtf)- postgis import tool
- sqlite import tool
- stand alone command line converter to csv or xml ascii format
(then shell script or python script importer to GIS)
- volunteer to hack support for it into MBSystems (see libxtf above)
(then work on MBSystems -> GRASS workflow code)
An XTF to ASCII conversion tool would be most welcome; we use Knudsen 3.5 kHz sounders quite a bit for sub-bottom profiling, and you're pretty much stuck working in Knudsen GUI to convert/process the data.
I work with MBSystems quite a bit; I think any sort of integration with Grass would be a great idea, and would be willing to test/bugcheck/document any new modules developed for it (sorry, can't contribute coding...yet).
I didn't realize the WIKI for Marine Geoscience existed...I'll try to think about any issues I've come across and post to it.
~ Eric.