Estimated time: 3 minutes.
In this lesson, you will load a dataset that has X and Y location coordinates, altitude above ground, strike and dip measurements at those sites, and radius, thickness and color values. You will create a map in which disk symbols are placed at the map locations, scaled in size and color.
- Return to the RockWorks Utilities program window (you can leave Google Earth open if you just completed the Cone Map lesson).
- Return to the Project Manager pane along the left side of the program window, and, under the Datasheet Files heading, look for the "StrikeDip_3D_Advanced_01.RwDat" sample file. Double-click on this file name to open it into the datasheet.
- Click on the EarthApps menu, click on Points, and choose the Strike & Dip | 3D Disks (Advanced) option.
- Input Columns: In the prompts along the left side of the window, be sure the following columns are selected.
- Easting: X
- Northing: Y
- Altitude: Altitude
- Direction: Strike (Azimuth)
- Dip: Dip
- Radius: Radius
- Thickness: Thickness
- Color: Color
Next, in the settings pane to the right, establish these options.
- Direction Represents: Choose Strike. This setting tells RockWorks that the directions listed in the datasheet represent the strike of the planar data, and that that the dip direction is 90 degrees clockwise of the listed azimuth.
- Declination Correction: This should be set to 0.
- Click the Process button at the bottom of the Strike & Dip Disks window.
The program will create a KML file listing the disks at the point locations, at the indicated orientation and dip angle, using the color and size you've specified in the datasheet. It will create a KMZ (zip) file containing the KML file. The Google Earth KML and KMZ file names will be assigned automatically.
- If RockWorks displays the KMZ name in a popup window for your reference, you can confirm:
- Automatically load file into Google Earth: Be sure this is checked if you want to display the output at this time.
- Show this message every time a KMZ File is Created: If checked, this window will be displayed each time a Google Earth output is created. Uncheck this if you prefer not to see this window in the future.
(Both of these settings are also available via the Preferences menu.)
- Click OK to continue or Cancel to cancel the operation.
The resulting map will be displayed in Google Earth, if requested. The "Disks" group will be listed under Temporary Places on the left side of the Google Earth display.
- Unlike the previous two maps which covered a large area, this map covers a relatively small space - use your navigation tools in Google Earth to zoom out of the map area.
- If you would like to save this map, right-click on the "Disks" heading under Temporary Places and choose Save to My Places.
- Click on the Strike and Dip Maps link below for information about other types of strike and dip maps you can create.
! Tip: In the EarthApps Samples project folder, there are sample datasheet files for all of the EarthApps programs - just look for the file with the same (or similar) name as the program. For example, for the Points | Strike & Dip | 2D Symbols program, you would open the "StrikeDip_2D_01.RwDat" file.
! Tip: Also in the EarthApps Samples project folder, there are menu settings files for all of the sample datasheets. When you select one of the program options, click on the Menu button at the top of the screen, click on Load from RCL, and browse for the ".rcl" file with the same name as the datasheet.
RockWorks will load the menu settings listed there - just review them and click the Process button!
- Feel free to take a break from the tutorial if you'd like to experiment with some of the other Point map sample files.
- You can leave the Google Earth window open if you like.
Strike and Dip Maps
Back to point map menu | Next (flyovers) 
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