Open File

Open datasets such as electronic charts, vector maps, and raster surfaces/images in the application. Multiple datasets can be opened at the same time.

The open file is displayed the Display window. The information displayed in the Layers and Properties windows depends on the type of data opened.

If you have multiple layers open, they are drawn in the Display window in the order in which they were opened. You can change this order using the Layers Window.

All open files are listed in the Layers window and the Project window. An untitled project file is automatically created when a file is opened in the application without a project already opened. You will be prompted to assign a name to this project file if the application is closed without saving the project.

Format	Extension	Format	Extension
Autodesk AutoCAD DXF/DWG	.dxf, .dwg	Hydrographic Chart Raster Format	.chr
BSB	.kap	Intergraph Raster	.cot, .crl, .rle, .cit
Bathymetry Attributed Grid	.bag	Joint Photographic Experts Group 1992	.jpg, .jpeg
Bentley/Intergraph DGN	.dgn	Joint Photographic Experts Group 20002	.jp2, .j2k
CARIS File	.des	Keyhole Markup Language	.kml
CARIS HIPS¹ & SIPS1 Project File	.hips	LandXML Reference Model	.xml
CARIS HNS	.hns	Laser-Scan Internal Feature Format	.iff
CARIS HOB	.hob	Mapinfo	.mif
CARIS IGA	.iga	MrSID Seamless Image Database²	.sid
CARIS Reference Model	.xml	NOAA NGS Geoid Height Grids	.bin
CARIS SAF	.saf	National Imagery Transmission Format	.ntf
CARIS Shoal	.shl	NetCDF Coards Format	.nc
CARIS Spatial ARchive	.csar	NetCDF GMT	.gmt
CARIS Well-Known Text	.wkt	Portable Network Graphics	.png
Digital Elevation Map	.dem	S-100 Dataset	.000
ERMapper Enhanced Compression Wavelet2	.ecw	S-100 GML Dataset	.s100gml
ESRI ASCII Grid	.asc	S-57 Dataset	.000
ESRI Binary Grid	.adf	SQLite with SpatiaLite	.sqlite
ESRI Floating Point Grid	.flt	Tagged Image Format	.tiff, .tif
ESRI Shapefile	.shp	VPF Browse Library	dht
GRIdded Binary	.grb, .grib, .grb2, .grib2	VPF Database	lat
GeoPackage	.gpkg	VPF Library	lht
Geography Markup Language Files	.gml	Windows Bitmap	.bmp
Graphic Interchange Format	.gif	[GDAL] ASCII Gridded XYZ³	.xyz

¹ This term is a trademark of Teledyne Digital Imaging, Inc. Reg. USPTO.

² A plug-in is required to use this file format. The plug-in is available from Teledyne CARIS Support.

³ Details of the GDAL XYZ format specification is available from the GDAL Web site at http://www.gdal.org/frmt_xyz.html.

Some formats will only open in certain projections and will only function successfully with certain commands. For example, USGS ASCII Grid files must either be unprojected or in a UTM projection in the Northern hemisphere. Attempting to export to this format from any other format will only work if the source surface is in an acceptable coordinate system. Also, ESRI Grid files do not contain metadata, so any command requiring metadata will not function properly with this format.

Depending on the selected file type, one or more dialog boxes may be displayed to complete the process.

• If you selected a non-georeferenced file, and it does not have a corresponding registration file (.rxl, .wld, etc.), you will be asked to select the coordinate system of the data. This setting can be changed later if needed using the Coordinate Reference System property. See Open a Non-Georeferenced File for more information.

• If you selected an S-57 ENC dataset or a VPF file, additional information is required. See Open an S-57 File or Open a VPF File for information on these formats.

• If you selected an .iff file, you may want to change the Portrayal setting and define the IFF Configuration setting in Tools > Options. The IFF Configuration identifies the pool and profile files that make up the feature object dictionary specific to the IFF format.

The selected file is opened. If multiple files were selected, they will automatically be added to the Layers window under a new group. The group will be named with the time and date that the files were opened.