Tutorial: Spot PLSS Well Locations and Map Them

Estimated time: 6 minutes.

In this lesson, you will learn how to spot wells that have their locations defined in terms of Public Land Survey descriptions (Range, Township, and Section); you will use the RockWare LandBase to convert this type of location information to actual X,Y coordinates in a UTM Easting and Northing format.

You cannot proceed here unless you have completed the "Download RockWare LandBase" section of the tutorial. Be sure you’ve also accessed the Utilities program tab and opened the Samples project folder.

1. Locate the Project Manager pane along the left edge of the program window.  Here you'll see groupings of a variety of different RockWorks file types in the Samples folder.

3. Expand the Datasheet Files heading in the Project Manager.  You'll see a long list of sample data files.
    
4. Locate the file "PLS_Points_to_XY_01.RwDat" - the list is alphabetical - and double-click on it. The program will load the contents of the data file into the Utilities datasheet.
   Note: you can also open .RwDat files into the Utilities datasheet using the File | Open command.
   
   The program will display a listing of 13 wells that are described using land grid quarter/quarter or footage descriptions.
    
5. To spot the wells, select the Coords | Coordinate Converter (Multiple Points) option from the upper Utilities menu.
    
6. Input: On the left side of this window, you need to tell the program the format in which the source coordinates are recorded. Click the small down arrow and choose Public Land Survey.
   
   
7. Data Columns: Use these prompts along the left to select which columns contain what data. The name of the currently-selected datasheet column for each required input field is displayed below each prompt. To change a column name for any of the prompts simply click on the small down-arrow and select another column name. The prompts and column names you need to establish are listed here:
   1. Meridian: Set to the column named Meridian.
   2. Range: Set to the column named Range.
   3. Township: Set to Township.
   4. Section: Set to Section.
   5. Description: Set to Legal.
       
8. Output: On the right side of the screen, you need to tell the program the format in which you want the output coordinates to be recorded. Click the down arrow and select UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) - Meters.
   
   
9. Data Columns: Use these prompts to select where the computed coordinates are to be listed.
   1. UTM Easting: Set to the column named 7 for recording of the computed X coordinates.
   2. UTM Northing: Set to the column named 8 for recording of the computed Y coordinates.
       
10. Universal Transverse Mercator Projection: Use these large buttons at the bottom of the window to choose:
    • Datum = WGS-84 (NAD-83)
    • Zone = 13
       
11. Click the OK button at the bottom of the Coordinate Converter window to proceed.
    
    The program will compute the X and Y location coordinates for each well, in meters, based on the information stored in the reference land grid database. The computed coordinates will be listed in the Easting and Northing columns in the main datasheet, to the right of the Location column.
     
12. To create a simple point map of these wells, select the EZ Map command from the Utilities Map menu.
     
13. Use the Input Columns prompts along the left to establish data setup information.
    1. X (Easting): Set to UTM Easting.
    2. Y (Northing): Set to UTM Northing.
    3. Z (Elevation): This setting will be ignored since you won’t be plotting contours.
        
14. Map Layers: Click on the Options button to the right.
    1. Background Image: Uncheck this option.
       
       
    2. Symbols: Be sure this option is checked so that the map will include location symbols. To the right you'll see the Symbol options.
       
       1. Column-Based: Be sure this option is selected.  This tells the program to use symbols stored in a column in the datasheet to represent the map locations.
          • Symbol Column: Choose the datasheet column named Symbol which, as you might guess, tells the program where to read the symbols from.
          • Dimensions: Choose Uniform Size, and enter a Size of 2. These dimensions represent a percent of the map width. In your own work, should you wish to increase the size of the symbols, just set the Size to a greater percentage.
       2. Be sure the other Symbol options are not checked (Uniform, Circles, and Table-Based).
           
    3. Symbol Labels: Check this option to include labels with the symbols. To the right you'll see the label options.
       1. Content: Click on this tab to choose where the labels will plot relative to the symbols, and the content for the labels.
          • Plot Label: Southeast: check this.  
          • Data Column: Choose the ID column - click on the small down-arrow to see a list of the data columns.  You may need to scroll upward though the list to find the ID column.
            This tells the program to plot sample ID labels to the southeast of the symbols.
          • Text Color: choose a color by clicking on the color box.
          • Opaque Background: Remove any check from this box.
          • Plot Label: Southwest, West, Northwest, North, Northeast, East, and South: The remaining Plot Label check-boxes should be cleared.
       2. Dimensions: Click on this tab.
          • Automatic Offset: Leave this option un-checked. (Note, though, that this is a very nifty tool to use in your own work. It prevents over-plotting in crowded maps.)
          • Font Size: Click here and set this to:  2
          • Initial Offset: the default of "1" should work well.
       3. The remaining Orientation and Leader Line settings should be fine.
           
    4. Contour Lines: off
    5. Colored Intervals: off
    6. Triangle Network: off
    7. Borders: off
    8. Click OK to close this window.
       
       
15.  Interpolate Edge Points: off
     
16. Click the Process button at the bottom of the EZ Map window.
    
    The program will display a very simple point map on the screen, in a RockPlot2D tab.
     
17. Save the map:
    1. Choose the File | Save command from the RockPlot menu.
    2. In the displayed prompt, enter the file name: Spot-points     and click the Save button.
        
18. If you created a land grid map in part 2 of this section, you can combine this point map with the land grid map.
    Click on the File | Append command. The program will prompt you for the name of the map to append to this point map.
     
19. Locate and click on the file named reference-grid.Rw2D that you created earlier, and click the Open button.
    
    RockWorks will read the contents of the land grid map and append it to the point map.  The combined image will be displayed in a new window.
    
    

21. Expand the Layers pane by clicking on the small "+" button in the upper-right corner of the image pane.
     
22. Right-click on the Points layer and select Bring to Front from the pop-up menu.  This will move the points and their labels to the foreground.

23. Save the new combined file using the File | Save command, and name this map grid and points
     
24. You may close this window ().
     

 Converting Coordinates
 

See also: RockPlot2D Tutorial for lessons on editing maps
 

  Back to land grid menu

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