What’s New in Site Recorder 4

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Larger Projects - Site Recorder 4 has been designed to manage information from large projects allowing thousands of objects to be handled with ease.  The displays and toolbars have been simplified and a new Navigation Bar added.

New Objects – A number of new object types have been added to extend the range of information that can be recorded:

• Site Recorder 4 now includes Image objects used for pictures, drawings and video clips. 

  • Formats supported include BMP, JPEG, GIF, PNG , TIFF, MNG , ICO, PCX, TGA, WMF, WBMP, JBG and J2K.

• Image basemaps have been added to display aerial photographs, multibeam images and sonar traces on the chart

• Wreck objects have been added to record information about known wrecks and reported wrecks. 

• Source objects are used to record information about documents, references and other sources of information. 

• Events are used to record things that have happened on site such as survey work, excavation or monitoring. 

• Sector objects define areas on the site such as trenches and artefact groups.

• Tasks can be added to a Task List so you can keep track of work that needs to be done

• A Logbook has been added to record notes and thoughts in text form

• Search areas have been added to help guide tracked divers and ROVs.

Associations – One of the more significant new features is the ability to associate or link objects with one another.  Artefacts can be associated with other Artefacts, Features and Sectors.  A number of Image objects and Source objects can be associated with Artefacts, Samples, Dive Logs, Wrecks and Targets.  The associations between objects can be shown in their property pages or in a new Association display.

Import Wizard – The task of importing data has been made simpler by adding a new Import Wizard.  This Wizard helps you through the steps involved in importing data from each file type and offers options for different data formats.

As well as importing CSV , DXF and Web files the Wizard includes support for XML, TXT , GPX , MapGen, XYZ files along with extended CSV format options.

Export Wizard – Exporting information is now done using the Export Wizard.  The Wizard includes support for XML, DXF, CSV GPX and TXT files

Merge Wizard – Information from other Site files can be merged into your file using the Merge Wizard.  The Wizard allows you to import single Layers or whole Projects with ease.

Shared sites – For sites that have common information it is now possible to share that information in a shared Site file.  The common information is put in a separate Site file that can be linked to other Site files.  Objects and drawings in the shared file appear in the Sites that share it but are locked and cannot be modified.  Updating the information in the shared file updates it in all the other Site files that use it.

Package Tool – The ability to associate and link objects such as picture and text files has meant that publishing and archiving becomes more complicated.  This process has been simplified using the Package tool as this tool can wrap up a Site file and all of its associated files in a way that is easy to archive and publish.  Site files can now be locked so the information contained cannot be copied or extracted making it safe for publication using the free Site Reader program.

Charts - The chart has been redesigned so it is much faster than in previous versions.  Panning and zooming can be done quickly using the roller wheel on the mouse.  Options have also been included to help capture images for PowerPoint presentations and publications.

Lists - Along with a new chart display, Site Recorder 4 has a new list display designed to manage thousands of objects.  The new list display can be sorted on any column, filtered by selection and now includes support for printing.

Property pages - The property pages for all objects have had buttons added to allow jumping to the next and previous objects of the same type.  The pages are now resizable, remember the last page shown and now include support for printing.

Shape Editor – A background image can now be shown in the Shape Editor Tool allowing Artefacts and drawing frame sheets to be scanned and traced.

Word list – Word lists are now saved to an XML file so you can create your own favourite wordlists or separate wordlists for different site types.

Convert Tool – Drawing objects can now be converted into Artefacts, Features or Sectors; useful when migrating old site plans into Site Recorder.

Dive Logs – Dive and ROV logs are no longer shown on chart but Fix Points can now be associated with each dive to mark dive positions