Surfer

Surfer: Perform contouring and 3D surface mapping operations with this robust piece of software

Surfer is a complex application that includes complete 3D visualization, contouring and surface modelling for Windows-based systems. The application is widely used for purposes like bathymetric modelling, landscape visualization, terrain modeling, contour mapping, surface analysis, volumetrics, 3D surface mapping and dridding.

The application includes an advanced interpolation engine that turns XYZ data into high quality maps. There are various gridding methos as well as control over gridding parameters such as custom variograms, to an extent which is not found in similar applications.

Users can use grid files from external sources like ESRI grid files and USGS DEM files. The applicaion’s contour maps offer complete control over all the map parameters. Even the default settings can be used to engender a contour map automatically or to simply double click a map to customize its features.

Shading and color are used to highlight your data features in the 3D surface map. The image maps display elevations of a grid file using various colors and they are automatically blended between percentage values so you get a smooth color gradation over the whole map.

Color anchors can be added at any percentage point and each can have a unique colors. Furthermore, these colors will be automatically coalesced between adjacent anchor points.