The General->Flat files chooser allows generic flat (2-dimensional) data to be loaded. The user must supply information about the format of the data by either specifying it directly or by loading a properly formatted header file. Flat files can be binary, ASCII values, or standard images (JPEG, GIF, etc.), and may contain multiple bands. Navigation may be loaded via separate navigation files or by specifying a bounding box for the data.

Image 1: Flat File Chooser

• Files - Selects the file. Enter in a file location or use the button to browse the local disk.
• Type - Selects the file type. McIDAS-V will attempt to determine the type of file being loaded. If it is an unknown format, Binary, ASCII or Image data will be displayed.
• Description - Displays a description of the data if available. If no description can be found, the file name is displayed.
• Properties->Dimensions -
• Elements - Lists the number of elements (columns) in the data.
• Lines - Lists the number of lines (rows) in the data.
• Bands - Lists the number of bands (layers) in the data.
• Units - Lists the unit type of the data.
• Sampling - Sets the number of points to skip in each dimension when loading the data. This is useful with very large data files.
• Properties->Navigation -
• Files - Specifies navigation files containing grids of Lat/Lon points by specified by clicking on the button.
• Bounds - Specifies a navigation bounding box by entering Upper Left (UL) and Lower Right (LR) Lat/Lon pairs.
• Scale - Specifies the scaling factor if the Lat/Lon navigation dimensions if different than the data.
• East positive - Indicates that the longitude values are East positive.
• Properties->Format -
• Binary - Represents fields necessary when loading Binary data. When loading binary files the Byte format, Interleave, and Endian-ness must accurately describe the data. A byte Offset into the data can also be given.
• ASCII - Specifies the Delimiter field when loading ASCII files.
• Image - Represents that a raw image has been selected.
• Missing value - Specifies missing values from the data.
• Help - Brings up this help page.
• - Loads the selected data.