Seismograph exports we read
Which seismograph export files the import walk reads, what it looks for in each, the units and numbers it understands, and what to do when a file does not read.
The import walk reads the text export a seismograph's software writes for one event: a CSV or ASCII file with a block of samples, usually under a few lines about the event. It does not read a maker's own binary event files; export the event as text first. Each file can be up to 25 MB, far more than one event needs.
What to export
From your seismograph's software, export the event's waveform as text (CSV or ASCII), not the histogram and not only the summary. If the software also prints an event report as a PDF, save that too: the walk keeps it with the record, and the blast report can append it.
When you have only the printed report, you can still add the record from its figures: see Summary only.
Makers the walk recognises
The walk recognises a maker from the words near the top of the file and reads the export in that maker's layout:
| Make | Recognised by | Channels | Units assumed when the file states none |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instantel | Instantel, Blastware, THOR, Micromate, Minimate, Blastmate | Tran, Vert, Long, MicL | mm/s, Pa |
| Nomis | Nomis, SuperGraphics | Radial (read as Long), Transverse, Vertical, Sound | in/s, psi |
| Sigicom | Sigicom, INFRA | T, V, L | mm/s, Pa |
| White | White Industrial, Mini-Seis | R (read as Long), V, T, A | in/s, mbar |
| GeoSonics | GeoSonics, SSU | Tran, Vert, Long, Air | in/s, psi |
| Syscom | Syscom, MR3000, MR2002 | X, Y, Z: always asks which is which | mm/s, Pa |
A unit the file states always wins over the assumed one. A file in a maker's layout also fixes the instrument's make on the Instrument screen.
Exports differ between software versions. If a file from one of these makers reads wrongly, correct it on the Columns screen, and send the file to ShockAI support so the next one reads by itself.
A table of your own
Any other text file reads when it is a table with a header row naming the channels: a column each for Tran, Vert and Long, and optionally time and a microphone. The walk accepts the usual spellings: Tran, Transverse or T; Vert, Vertical or V; Long, Longitudinal, Radial, L or R; Mic, Air or Sound. Put the unit in the header, as in Tran (mm/s) or Air (Pa).
With no time column, give the sample rate and the pre-trigger on the Columns screen.
Units
- Velocity: mm/s, in/s or m/s. Everything is shown in mm/s.
- Microphone: Pa, psi, mbar or kPa for a waveform. The printed airblast figure is in dB(L).
If a file states no unit at all, nothing in it can show that the assumed one is wrong. Check the peaks on the Review screen against the printed report before you import.
Numbers and decimal commas
A file that writes its decimals with a comma (12,5), as many European exports do, reads as it is. In the lines above the samples, the other mark groups digits (1,250 ft in a file that uses decimal points). Numbers you type in the walk take a lone comma as the decimal point.
Clocks and time zones
A seismograph's clock has no time zone, so the walk reads the trigger time in the project's time zone. When it is out, by minutes or an hour, the pairing with a ShockAI unit lines the two records up from their waveforms anyway; for a record with no pair, the trigger time is what the file says.
When a file will not read
The walk says what it found:
- Too large: a seismograph export is text and well under 25 MB. Check it is the export, not an archive.
- Not a seismograph export: choose the CSV or ASCII export, or the vendor's PDF report.
- Empty: export the event again.
- No samples: no block of numbers was found under a header row. If this is the event report, choose Summary only and type its figures.
- Too few columns: a waveform export has a column for each of Tran, Vert and Long.
- Could not be read: the file is not text the walk understands. Export it again as CSV or ASCII.
A file that reads but looks wrong on the Columns screen or the Review screen usually has its channels in other columns than expected, or a different unit: correct them there. Histogram (interval) records cannot be imported yet.