Data exchange file formats
Over the last three decades or so industry bodies have published a series of data exchange file formats that enable seismic navigation data to the exchanged between vendors, clients, government agencies etc. in a fashion that protects the integrity of the data by careful presentation of the metadata data within the file headers that correctly describe the data contained within the file data block.
The navigation data is broadly divided into two principle categories, namely:
- Raw data files (also known as pre-stack files)
- Processed data files (also known as post-stack files)
There were two main industry bodies that created the file formats, namely:
- United Kingdom Offshore Operations Association (UKOOA)
- Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG)
(Currently both the UKOOA and SEG formats are maintained and published by OGP – Oil and Gas Producers (www.ogp.org.uk))
UKOOA like SEG have published file formats to exchange both raw navigation data and processed navigation data:
Raw navigation files
UKOOA: P2/86, P2/91 and P2/94
SEG: SEG-P2
Processed navigation files
UKOOA: P1/84 and P1/90
SEG: SEG-P1
Other common exchange formats have been developed and one common format recognized by Geo Suite is the SPS format.