EXE / ZIP. Most of our digital data products are distributed as self-extracting EXE files.They have been compressed using pkzip. Double click or "RUN" the EXE file and the data files will be unzipped automatically on any Windows based computer.The EXE file can also be opened in WinZip to view and extract the compressed files in the data set. On UNIX platforms, the unzip command will extract the compressed files in the EXE.

PDF. Stands for Portable Document Format. It is a digital document file format created by Adobe Systems in its software program Adobe Acrobat. These files can be read by Acrobat Reader. PDF files can be downloaded and viewed in an internet browser (such as Internet Explorer or Netscape), provided the user has installed the necessary plug-in. Acrobat Reader and the plug-ins can be downloaded from Adobe's own website (www.adobe.com).

DBF. This is the format that digital data is created in when generated from the database management package dBASE. This is a standard data exchange format which allows the data to be read in most commercially available database management systems, and also some GIS, desktop mapping, and spreadsheet packages.

DXF. This is the format that digital data is created in when generated from the CAD drawing package called AutoCAD. This format can be read by AutoCAD, and most CAD, GIS and desktop mapping packages.

Mineral Resources Branch - DXF/DBF. This format which is listed with many of our digital products contains the georeferenced points, lines and polygons from our GIS in a DXF format, while the GIS database attribute information is supplied in a DBF format. Where possible we have included one or more of the attributes as text in the DXF file in order to assist the user with linking his data to the attributes in the DBF files. Digital products downloaded will install into the desired directory on the client's computer.

E00. This format is call the ArcInfo interchange format and is generated from the GIS software package called ArcInfo. Data in this format can be read by all ESRI products including ArcInfo, ArcView and ArcExplorer 2 when it is converted into ArcInfo coverages. Some other GIS and desktop mapping packages may also be able to use this format. Digital products downloaded will install the E00 file into the desired directory on the client's computer. The client will then have to import the E00 file (using the Import71.exe utility) and create an ArcInfo coverage in the desired directory. This import procedure will create a sub-directory for each coverage and an INFO directory.

Mineral Resources Branch - E00. This format for MRB data contains one or more E00 files for the required coverages. All related tables can be found in the INFO directory which is created when the data is imported.

SHP. This is a format that digital data is created in when generated from the GIS software packages ArcInfo and ArcView. Data in this format can be read by all ESRI products including ArcInfo, ArcView and ArcExplorer 2 and 4. Some other GIS and desktop mapping packages may also be able to use this format.

Mineral Resources Branch - SHP. This format for MRB data contains the ESRI shapefiles for the georeferenced point, line and polygon data maintained in the MRB GIS, while the database attributes maintained in the GIS are supplied in a DBF format. Digital products downloaded will install into the desired directory on the client's computer. All digital products released in SHP format after February 2003 will be supplied with ready to use ArcView 3.2a and ArcExplorer 2 and 4 project files. In order to make this work the digital product will installed with our directory structure. This is be included in the compressed .exe file that you need to uncompress. When the digital product is installed in your desired location the upper level directory installed will be a named dp999v88 where 999 is the digital product number and the 88 is the version number. The directory below this is our data set ID. Described below is the directory structure that will be created on your PC when the .exe file is uncompressed, directories in () may or may not exist.

dp999v88					digital product id combined with version number
	dataset_id				MRB's data set ID
		shp
			theme1		contains ESRI shapefiles and legend .avl files for theme 1
				DBF	contains any related tables as DBFs
			theme2		contains ESRI shapefiles and legend .avl files for theme 2
				DBF	contains any related tables as DBFs
		(hotlinks)
			theme1
				data type	contains information that can be hotlinked to theme1
			theme2
				data type	contains information that can be hotlinked to theme2
		arcview
			project		contains an arcview project file with all themes. This project should be ready to run automatically
			(font)		may contain TTF fonts that may be used
		arcexpl			contains an ArcExplorer 2 .aep project file that should be ready to run automatically. It also contains an ArcExplorer 4 .axl project file. In order to run this you will need to edit the .axl (it is an ASCII file) and replace the string #DPMEPATH# with your drive and path to the dp999v88 directory
		metadata			contains metadata (data about data) for the digital product. This is same as what you can view ont he down load page. We have provided a copy in HTM that can be opened in any browser, and a .xml file that can be used in ArcCatalog
		(doc)			may contain other documentation on the product