This section provides an overview of the file formats supported by Source. Table 5 lists the supported time-series data file formats. Raster data file formats are listed in Table 6. Several GIS, graphics and other formats that are also recognised by Source are listed in Table 7 but are not otherwise described in this guide.
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| Note: Formats with the ** symbol are part of the GDAL raster formats. A complete list of these is provided here. |
Table 5. Text-based time-series data file formats
| File extension | Description |
|---|---|
| .AR1 | Annual stochastic time series |
| .AWB | AWBM daily time series |
| .BSB | SWAT BSB time series |
| .BSM | BoM 6 minute time series |
| .CDT | Comma delimited time series |
| .CSV | Comma-separated value |
| .DAT | F.Chiew time series |
| .IQQM | IQQM time series |
| .MRF | MFM monthly rainfall files |
| .PCP | SWAT daily time series |
| .SDT | Space delimited time series |
| .SILO5 | SILO 5 time series |
| .SILO8 | SILO 8 time series |
| .TTS | Tarsier daily time series |
Table 6. Text-based raster data file formats
| File extension | Description |
|---|---|
| .ASC** | ESRI ASCII grids |
| .MWASC | Map window ASCII grids |
| .TAPESG | Grid-based Terrain Analysis Data |
Table 7. Other supported file formats
| File extension | Description |
|---|---|
| .FLT | ESRI Binary Raster Interchange format |
| .JPG | GEO JPG Image (also .JPEG), and must have an associated .jgw world file |
| .MIF | MapInfo Interchange |
| .SHP** | ESRI Shape files |
| .TIF** | GeoTIFF Image (also .TIFF) |
| .TILE | Tiled Raster Files |
| .TNE | Tarsier Node Link Network Files |
| .TRA | Tarsier Raster Files |
| .TSD | Tarsier Sites Data Files |
| .ADF** | ArcINFO/ESRI Binary Grid |
| .IMG** | ERDAS Imagine |
Anchor Annual stochastic time series Annual stochastic time series
Annual stochastic time series
| Annual stochastic time series | |
| Annual stochastic time series |
The .AR1 format contains replicates of annual time-series data generated using the AR(1) stochastic method. The file format is shown in Table 8. This format is not the same as the AR(1) format (.GEN) generated and exported by the Stochastic Climate Library.
Table 8. AR1 data file format
| Row | Column (space-separated) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3..nypr | |
| 1 | desc | ||
| 2 | nypr | nr | |
| odd | rn | ||
| even | value | value | value |
...
value is one of the nypr data points per row for the replicate, to three decimal places.
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|---|---|---|---|---|
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The .ASC format is a space delimited grid file, with a 6 line header as shown in Table 9. Values are not case sensitive and arranged in space delimited rows and columns, reflecting the structure of the grid. Units for cell size length depend on the input data, and could be either geographic (eg degrees) or projected (eg metres, kilometres). Units are generally determined by the application, with metres (m) being common for most TIME-based applications. For a file format description, refer to:
...
Arcinfo grid coverages can be converted to .ASC files using ESRI’s GRIDASCII command. ASC files can be imported into ArcGIS using the ASCIIGRID command.
Table 9. .ASC data file format
| Row | Column (space-delimited) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3..n | |
| 1 | ncols | nc | |
| 2 | nrows | nr | |
| 3 | xref | x | |
| 4 | yref | y | |
| 5 | cellsize | size | |
| 6 | nodata_value | sentinel | |
| 7..n | value | value | value |
where:
nc is the number of columns
nr is the number of rows
xref is either XLLCENTER (centre of the grid) or XLLCORNER (lower left corner of grid)
yref is either YLLCENTER (centre of the grid) or YLLCORNER (lower left corner of grid)
(x,y) are the coordinates of the origin (by centre or lower left corner of the grid)
size is the cell side length
sentinel is a null data string (eg -9999)
value is a data point. There should be nc × nr data points. data points.
Anchor AWBM daily time series AWBM daily time series
AWBM daily time series
| AWBM daily time series | |
| AWBM daily time series |
An AWBM daily time-series format file (.AWB) is an ASCII text file containing daily time-series data formatted as shown in Table 10. Dates (the year and month) were optional in the original AWBM file format, but are not optional in the format used in Source.
Table 10. AWB data file format
| Row | Column (space-separated) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2..ndays+1 | ndays+2 | ndays+3 | |
| 1..n | ndays | value | year | month |
where:
ndays is the number of days in the month (28..31)
value is the data point corresponding with a given day in the month (ie. ndays columns)
year is the year of observation (four digits)
month is the month of observation (one or two digits).
Anchor SWAT BSB time series SWAT BSB time series
SWAT BSB time series
| SWAT BSB time series | |
| SWAT BSB time series |
A .BSB is a line-based fixed-format file, typically used by applications written in FORTRAN. The header line gives the fields for the file with subsequent lines providing data for each basin to be used for each time-step. The format is shown in Table 11. For more details refer to the SWAT manual.
Table 11. .BSB data file format
| Row | Character positions (space added) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1..8 | 10..12 | 14..21 | 23..36 | 38..46 | |
| 1 | SUB | GIS | MON | AREAkm2 | PRECIPmm |
| 2..n | id | gis | mon | area | precip |
where:
id is the basin identifier (both SUB and the id are text, left-aligned)
gis is the GIS value (integer, right-aligned, eg. "1")
month is the month of observation (integer, right-aligned, eg. "0")
area is the basin area in square kilometers (real, right aligned, eg "1.14170E+02")
precip is the basin precipitation in millimetres (real, right aligned, eg "1.2000").
Anchor BOM 6 minute time series BOM 6 minute time series
BOM 6 minute time series
| BOM 6 minute time series | |
| BOM 6 minute time series |
A .BSM (also .PLUV) is a fixed-format file, typically supplied by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology for 6 minute pluviograph data. The file has two header lines (record types 1 and 2) followed by an arbitrary number of records of type 3. The formats of record types 1..3 are shown in Table 12, Table 13 and Table 14, respectively.
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blank ASCII space characters
Table 13. .BSM data file format (record type 2)
| Row | Character positions (space padded) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1..6 | 7..12 | 13..16 | 17..18 | 19..20 | 21..n | |
| 1..n | snum | blank | year | month | day | {raini...} |
where:
snum is the station number
year is the year of the observation (four digits)
month is the month of the observation (one or two digits, right-aligned, space padded)
day is the date of the observation (one or two digits, right-aligned, space padded)
raini is a rainfall data point as explained below.
Anchor Comma delimited time series Comma delimited time series
| Comma delimited time series | |
| Comma delimited time series |
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Comma delimited time series
A .CDT comma delimited time-series format file is an ASCII text file that contains regular (periodic) time-series data. The file type commonly has no header line but, if required, it can support a single line header of "Date,Time series 1".
You can use the .CDT format to associate observations with a variety of time interval specifications. Table 15 shows how to structure annual data, Table 16 how to specify daily data aggregated at the monthly level, and Table 17 the more traditional daily time series (one date, one observation). Table 18 explains how to supply data in six-minute format.
Table 15. .CDT data file format (annual time series)
| Row | Column (comma-separated) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |
| 1..n | year | value..n |
where:
year is the year of observation (four digits, eg. 2011)
value is the observed value (eg. 9876).
Table 16. .CDT data file format (time series with monthly data)
| Row | Column (comma-separated) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |
| 1..n | mm/yyyy | value |
where:
mm is the month of observation (two digits, eg. 09)
yyyy is the year of observation (four digits, eg. 2011)
value is the observed value (eg. 2600).
Table 17. .CDT data file format (daily time series with daily data)
| Row | Column (comma-separated) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |
| 1..n | date | value |
where:
date is the date of observation in ISO format (eg. 2000-12-31)
value is the observed value (eg. 2600).
Table 18. .CDT data file format (six-minute time series)
| Row | Column (comma-separated) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3..n | |
| 1..n | date | time | value |
where:
date is the date of observation in ISO format (eg. 2000-12-31)
time is the time of observation in hours and minutes (eg 23:48)
value is the observed value (eg. 10).
Anchor Comma-separated value Comma-separated value
Comma-separated value
| Comma-separated value | |
| Comma-separated value |
A comma separated value or .CSV file is an ASCII text file that contains data in a variety of representations. When a .CSV contains regular (periodic) time-series data, there are at least two columns of data. The first contains a time-stamp and the remaining columns contain data points associated with the time-stamp. The format is shown in Table 19. All columns are separated using commas. Annual data can be entered using the notation 01/yyyy, where yyyy is a year. Header lines in .CSV files are usually optional.
Table 19. .CSV data file format
| Row | Column (comma-separated) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2..n | |
| 1 | Date | desc |
| 2..n | date | value |
...
value is a data point (eg a real number with one decimal place)
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A .DAT is a two-column daily time-series file with the fixed format shown in Table 20. Note that the first two characters in each line are always spaces with the data starting at the third character position.
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value is the data point (real, two decimal places, right aligned, eg "1.20").
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An .IQQM time-series format file is an ASCII text file that contains daily, monthly or annual time-series data. The file has a five line header formatted as shown in Table 21. The header is followed by as many tables as are needed to describe the range delimited by fdate..ldate. The format of each table is shown in Table 22.
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