Introduction: DSWIN is free NGS software designed to read NGS .dat files of datasheets and print user selected fields from the datasheets. It is a data mining tool. Generally .dat files containing all the datasheets of a county are downloaded from the NGS Yearly Archives page. The output of DSWIN can be imported into a spreadsheet program for sorting by the various fields and printing.
Source: The NGS PC Software page.
Usage notes:
- Start DSWIN, close its disclaimer page, click File, then Disk, then select a .dat file that you downloaded from the NGS.
- To make an output file:
- Click on File, then Save As, type a name for your output file in the File name box, click Save, click DSSELECT, and OK. This initiatiates an output file but does not yet make it.
Select the fields you want by clicking them in the "Available" box. A typical set of fields is: PID, DESIGNATION, USGS_QUAD, POS_SRC, MONUMENTATION, ALL REC_DATE.
- In the "Output" box, click "Include Header", "Single Line Only", and generally "Fixed Field".
- In the 3 "Delim" boxes, select the same delimiter, generally the vertical bar.
- Click OK
Note that POS_SRC indicates whether the mark's horizontal coordinates are adjusted or scaled.
- Note that ALL REC_DATE shows all the recovery dates including the monumentation date. This is good for finding the oldest marks.
- Note that .dat files can be combined by using the DOS copy command in a DOS window.
Example:
copy madison.dat + lincoln.dat + river.dat three.dat
- will combine the .dat files for Madison County, Lincoln County, and River County into a new .dat file called three.dat
Note that .dat files can alternatively be combined with the DSFILES program.