Demonstration Video

Surfer 9 - Part 9
Base Maps
PART 9
1. Introduction
2. Importing Base Maps
3. Editing of Base Map Items
4. Advanced Editing of Base Map Items

1. Welcome to Golden Software’s demonstration video for Surfer 9 – Part 9. In this demonstration I’ll be
covering the topic of working with base maps.

2. Base maps in Surfer are very important for displaying information on your maps, such as roads, well
locations, section and township lines, aerial photographs, etc. You can import any number of files as
base maps. The file will import in real world map coordinates (according to the file), so you can
overlay it with your other map layers. Surfer is compatible with many different types of base map files,
such as DXF, SHP, E00, georeferenced image files, and BLN files.

To import a file as a base map, simply go to Map | New | Base Map. Select the base map file you
want to open. For this example, I’ll select the CentralCalifornia GSI file, which is included in the Surfer
Samples folder in versions 9.8 and above. After the file is selected, click Open. The base map is
imported. In the Object Manager, I can see the Map object which contains one map layer, called
Base.

I’ll go to View | Fit to Window so we can see the map a little more clearly.

The GSI file I choose to import is in UTM coordinates, and so the map has the same UTM
coordinates on the X and Y axes, with units of meters.

I can click the + button to the left of the Base layer to expand this group. You can see all the
individual components of the file I imported. In this example, the Base layer contains the counties in
central California as polygons, and one georeferenced image in the background.

Once a file is imported as a base map, you can edit, remove and add individual items to the Base
layer.

3. Editing items in a base layer is easy to do in Surfer.

a. You have the option of changing the properties for all items at once. For example, to change
the line style for all the polygons in the base map layer at once, double click on Base in the
Object Manager.

b. In the Map: Base Properties dialog, click on the Line button (or whichever button you wish to
change the properties of), and change the properties. For example, I’ll click on the Color
button and change the color to Yellow, and I’ll increase the Width value, and click OK.

c. Click OK to see the changes.

d. You can also change the properties of each individual item in a base map by simply double
clicking on it in the plot window or in the Object Manager. I’ll double click on this polygon.

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 e. Make the changes you desire to the polygon properties. For example, I’ll choose a fill pattern,
I’ll change the Foreground Color to Purple, and I’ll change the Background Opacity value to
0%. Opacity is the amount of transparency applied to the color. 100% opacity mean the color
is opaque, and 0% opacity means the color is completely transparent. So my fill pattern will
have a solid foreground color with a transparent background. Click OK to apply the changes.
You can see that the polygon is now filled with my selected properties.

f. You can remove items simply by selecting them in the plot window and pressing the Delete
key on the keyboard. This filled polygon is already selected, as indicated by the small cyan
selection circles around it. I’ll press Delete on the keyboard and the polygon is deleted.

g. You can also reshape polylines and polygons in a base map. This is useful if the objects in
the base map file were not originally drawn correctly, or if they need to be slightly adjusted. In
this case, I probably wouldn’t want to actually reshape the counties of California, but I will do
so to exemplify how to reshape objects.

h. I’ll first zoom in a bit closer to the map by clicking on the zoom in tool and clicking on the
map. I’ll press Esc on the keyboard to exit Zoom mode.

i. Select the object you want to reshape, I’ll click on this polygon to select it, and go to Edit |
Reshape.

j. When you enter into Reshape mode, all the vertices that make up the polyline or polygon are
visible as small blue squares. This way, you can select any vertex and move it to a new
location to make changes to the shape of the object.

k. If you want to reshape another object, simply click on that object and reshape it.

l. Press the Esc key on the keyboard to exit reshape mode. I’ll go back to View | Fit to
Window so we can see the entire map again.

4. More advanced editing, such as adding items, selecting multiple items, or copying and pasting items
requires you to enter the base layer group. Entering the base layer group allows you to perform more
functions on the individual components of that base map. To enter the group, right click over the Base
layer in the Object Manager and go to Enter Group.

a. Now you can add additional items to the base layer, such as text labels, lines or polygons. To
add more items to the base layer, simply use the commands under the Draw menu. For
example, I’ll go to Draw | Text, click in the plot window, type in my new text label and click
OK. The text is now part of the base map. You can see the text in the plot window and the
text object is included in the Object Manager as part of the Base layer. I’ll press Esc on the
keyboard to exit Draw mode.

b. You can also select multiple items at once to change their properties. This is useful if you
want to change the properties of multiple items, but not all the items in the base map, and
changing them individually would be too tedious. Click on the first item you want to select.
When you are entered in the base map group, selected objects are indicated by white
selection boxes connected with a blue line. This is called the bounding box. Then you can
either hold the Shift key down, and click on the last item (which will select all intervening
items), or you can hold the Ctrl key down and select multiple non-contiguous items. When
you select multiple items, the bounding box in the plot window expands as each item is
added to the selection. For example, there is only one bounding box for all the selected
polygons.

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 c. Once the polygons are selected, right click and go to Properties. Make the edits you want. I’ll
go to the Line tab and change the color from Yellow to Orange, and click OK. You can see
that all the polygons I selected now have an orange line color.

d. You can move objects in a base map. If some objects are overlapping or not placed correctly;
you can simply select an object, such as the text label I created, and drag it to its new
location.

e. You can also copy and paste items in a base layer. Select an item either in the plot window or
the Object Manager.

f. Go to Edit | Copy, and Edit | Paste. The pasted item will be pasted right on top of the
original item. Click and drag the item to the correct location on the map.

g. When you are done with your changes, exit the base layer group by right clicking over Base
in the Object Manager and going to Exit Group.

This concludes my demonstration of working with base maps in Surfer 9.