Data Explorer File

This choice is for when you already have data stored in Data Explorer format, for example if you are using a filter which converts from another format to Data Explorer format.

CDF Format

This is a standard data format which Data Explorer imports directly. An application programming interface can be obtained from the National Space Science Data Center, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

netCDF Format

This is a standard data format which Data Explorer imports directly. An application programming interface for netCDF can be obtained from the Unidata Program Center in Boulder, Colorado.

HDF Format

This is a standard data format which Data Explorer imports directly. HDF was created at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.

Image File

Data Explorer directly imports TIFF, MIFF, GIF, and RGB format images.

Grid or Scattered File

This option allows you to specify a general array header which can describe a wide variety of formats of data. Data can be on a regular grid, a warped grid with positions explicitly specified, or scattered. The general array format can skip header lines and embedded descriptive text. Data can be multidimensional, multivariable, and series (see 5.1 , "General Array Importer").

Spreadsheet Format file

This option is typically used for non-spatial data, for example the output of a spreadsheet program which might look like:

      Customer       Sales        Profit
      company_a       1.2           938
      company_b       8.9          1037
          .            .             .
          .            .             .
          .            .             .