A powerful new visualization tool, Surfer easily imports drillhole data to generate a 2D drillhole layer that shows the location, deviation, and path of each hole, core, or well. You can view the path in a 2D map view and then visualize the drillhole in true 3D along with its data content (e.g. contaminant concentration, mineralization concentration, assay results, geophysical properties, etc.) Drillhole paths, data points and intervals can be displayed and colorized by data values.

The data to create a drillhole layer include a required collars data, optional survey data, and optional interval and point data. These data can be used to create single or multiple drillhole layers. After creating a drillhole layer, review the information on defining Drillhole Layer Properties and Individual Drillhole Properties for the 2D view and see View Drillhole map Surfer's 3D View for information on creating a 3D drillhole layer view.

Additional related resources:

• Surfer Drillhole Maps Training Video
• Surfer Drillhole Manager Tool Tip Video

The following list describes the types of data that Surfer needs to create a drill hole layer:

• Collars data should have information about the drillhole, such as Hole ID (name), East (X) coordinate, North (Y) coordinate, elevation, starting depth, ending depth, azimuth, and inclination. The Hole ID, East (X), and North (Y) coordinate fields are required for this table type. A collars table is required unless you import a LAS (log-ascii) file as interval and point data.
  
  
• Optional survey data should have information about the orientation of the drillhole, such as Hole ID, depth, azimuth, and inclination. The Hole ID is a required field for this table.
  
  
• Optional interval and point data should have actual down hole information in one or more data file (e.g., XLSX, DAT, and CSV) or LAS files. LAS files import both the downhole data and the collars information.

Create a Drillhole map using the steps below:

1. In a new plot window click the Home | New Map| Specialty | Drillhole command or in a plot window with an existing map, click the Map Tools | Add to Map | Layer | Drillhole command. A Drillhole Data Import dialog will appear.
   
   
   

2. Click the Browse and Add buttons to select each of the drillhole data files (collar and optional survey, interval, and point data), and then click Next to open the Drillhole Data Import dialog. A Drillhole Data Import dialog will appear for each data file selected to be imported.  Click the Browse and Add buttons to select each of the drillhole data files (collar and optional survey, interval, and point data), and then click Next to open the Drillhole Data Import dialog. A Drillhole Data Import dialog will appear for each data file selected to be imported. 
   
   
   
3. In a Drillhole Data Import dialog to import collars or survey data: Note: If both the collars and survey table have azimuth and inclination data, Surfer will use the survey table data. If only the collars table has azimuth and inclination data, specify both a Start Depth and End Depth in the collars data import definition. If neither the collars nor the survey data has azimuth or inclination data, then Surfer will assume that the hole is vertical. 
   1. Select from the Source lists in the Table Fields section to associate the Name field to the correct Source from the imported file. Surfer creates some default rows, such as Hole ID to help associate the imported data. Rows marked with a star are required. 
   2. Use the Units fields to define the units for source data. 
   3. Click the plus button next to any additional data in the Source Fields section to import that data or click the Add All Fields button to add all data. Additional data can be used for filter conditions. For any additional rows that were added to the Table Fields section, click the red X button to not import that data.
   4. After associating the Name to the Source data and defining any Units, click Next to display the next data import dialog.
      
      
4. If interval or point data were selected to be imported, a Drillhole Data Import dialog will appear for every data source. If the imported data are interval data, click Interval (From/To) Data. If the imported data are point data, click Point (Depth) Data. Interval data will usually have rows with Hole ID, From, and To, and point data will have Depth data.
   
   1. Use the Source lists in the Table Fields section to associate the Name field to the correct Source from the imported data. Surfer creates some default rows, such as Hole ID to help associate the imported data. Rows marked with a star are required.
   2. Click the green plus button next to any additional data in the Source Fields section to import the data or click the Add All Fields button to add all data. Additional data can be used for filter conditions. For any additional rows that were added to the Table Fields section, click the red X button to not import that data.

   3. After associating the Name to the Source data and defining any Units, click Next. If additional imported data need to be defined, another Drill hole Data Import will appear.
      
      

5. If one or more LAS files were selected to import, each LAS file will import data into a collars and a points table into the Collars and Points in the Drillhole Data Import dialog. The Collars tab is similar to the collars table Drillhole Data Import dialog described above and will take data from the well information block and the parameter information block in the LAS file. The Points tab will take data from the curve information block in the LAS file. 
   
   

   1.  Use the Source lists in the Table Fields section to associate the Name field to the correct Source from the imported data. Surfer creates some default rows, such as Hole ID to help associate the imported data. Rows marked with a are required. 
   2.  If all LAS files have the same data format, check the Apply to all LAS files in this set check box to apply this data import definition to all LAS files selected to be imported. 
   3. Click the green plus button next to any additional data in the Source Fields sec tion to import that data or click the Add All Fields button to add all data. Additional data can be used for filter conditions. For any additional rows that were added to the Table Fields section, click the red X button to not import that data. 
   4. After associating the Name to the Source data and defining any Units, click Next to display the next data import dialog. 
   5. Continue to define any additional LAS files and click Next to advance to the next import definition.  
      
      
6. After defining all imported data, the final Drillhole Data Import dialog will appear.
    
   Under Drillholes to Display, either click All to use all drillhole data or click Filter to filter the current drillholes to only display a filtered group of drillholes. Use the five Filter Conditions rows to build a filter using fields in the collars table or write your own expression in the text box. Click the arrow on a Filter Conditions row to view or select a previously used query.
   
   
7. After defining any needed filters, click the Finish button to create a drillhole layer. After the drillhole layer is created, review the information on creating a 3D view, defining drillhole layer properties, or using the Drillhole Manager to manage imported data or to import additional data. Note: There are several ways to open the Drillhole Manager: 
   1. Select an existing drillhole layer in the Contents window and on the General page in the Properties window, click the View button.
   2. Select the map and click Map Tools | Layer Tools | Open Drillhole Manager.
   3. Right click the drillhole layer and click Open Drillhole Manager.