Import Generic Sensor Format echo sounder data as Hydromagic raw data

This function allows you to import Generic Sensor Format files as raw data into your Hydromagic project.

Created by Scott Ferguson and Daniel A. Chayes. The file format specifications and C source code for a library to read and write GSF files are available from Leidos, who maintain both the format specification and the source code. The GSF library source code is published under the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 2.1.

Starting the raw data import wizard

All file formats which Hydromagic is able to convert to proprietary raw data files, can be imported through the "Import Data Wizard". To start the wizard, right-click the "Raw Data" folder in the "Project Explorer" and select the 'Import Data Wizard...' option:

The "Import Data Wizard" can be launched from the "Project Explorer".

Select file format

The first page of the wizard allows you to set the format of the file(s) we wish to import. Since this guide is about importing Generic Sensor Format data, we select the 'Generic Sensor Format Files (*.gsf)' option from the drop-down list.

Select the "Generic Sensor Format Files (*.gsf)" format from the drop-down list.

Select file(s) to import

To select the files to import, you have to select in which folder they are copied. This can be done by clicking the "Browse..." button. After selecting the folder, click "OK", and Hydromagic will automatically scan for GSF files and shows them in the list:

Select the files you wish to import into your Hydromagic Survey project by checking the check boxes in front of the file names. To import all files at once, simply click the "Select All" button. When selection has completed, click the "Next" button to go to the next page of the wizard where we are going to adjust the import settings.

Select the file(s) to import. You can import multiple files at a time.

Starting the import

Once the format and files are selected, click the 'Finish' button to start the import process by clicking the 'Finish' button on the last page of the wizard.

The file currently processed is displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the screen and the wizard shows a message box stating 'File(s) successfully imported as raw data file(s)' as soon as the process has completed. Click 'OK' to close the dialog and the imported files will be centered in the map view (only when they contain position data). After importing raw data files, you can download a background map of the covered survey area using the built-in map downloading tool.

After clicking the "Finish" button, the import process will start.

Checking the imported raw data file(s)

After the import is complete, you can right-click the generated raw data files, and select "Analyze Data..." to inspect the imported values and timestamps. When the import did not complete successfully, you can refer to the "Processing" tab of the activity view for more details on the error shown.