Golden Software Releases Surfer 12 with Logarithmic Scaling and Date/Time Support

Introduced in 1984, Surfer has emerged as the industry standard gridding and contour mapping software used by geologists, hydrologists and engineers. Surfer 12 offers twelve different gridding methods, including Kriging with variograms, to convert irregularly spaced XYZ data into a uniform grid. Display a grid or digital elevation model in one of eight fully customizable 2D and 3D grid-based map types: contour, watershed, image, shaded relief, 1-grid and 2-grid vector, 3D wireframe, and 3D surface maps. Enhance the display by adding post and base maps. Maps generated with Surfer are known for their clarity, vibrancy and accuracy.

Surfer 12 is full of new features requested by users. One of the most popular new features in Surfer 12 is the ability to grid and display data using a logarithmic scale. Take the log of the Z data prior to gridding and save the grid with either log or antilog values, create contour maps with logarithmically-scaled contour intervals, and fill maps with a logarithmically-scaled color gradient. This is tremendously important to create accurate maps when the data set spans several orders of magnitude.

In addition to gridding and displaying data on a logarithmic scale, users can now reverse the X or Y axis direction and use date/time data to create maps. Show descending data, such as depth data, in the correct orientation without modifying the raw data, and visualize your data with respect to time.

Three other powerful time-saving upgrades to Surfer 12 are downloading free online maps directly from Web Map Service (WMS) servers, saving SRF files in previous version (Surfer 11) format, and adding multiple labels to points in a post map. Surfer connects directly to online WMS servers, allows the user to pick the layers desired for download, and seamlessly integrates the images into existing projects. Users can also remain compatible with their colleagues. A Surfer 12 user can share their project with others who have not yet upgraded by saving it in Surfer 11 format. Many new enhancements have been added to post maps, but the most eagerly-awaited feature is the ability to create multiple labels for each point. Users can display all the important information at each point location with a click of a button.