ASEG-GDF: The ASEG standard for digital transfer of geophysical data

Abstract

The ASEG has developed an application-independent standard for the transfer of geophysical data between different computers. This Standard has been termed ASEC-CDF which is an abbreviation for the ASEG General Data Format. An important feature of ASEC-GDF is that is conforms to both the Standards Association of Australia (SAA) and International Standards Organisation (ISO) standards for the transfer of data via magnetic tape. The most significant aspect of this Standard is its ability to define the contents of magnetic tape in a manner which is not constrained by any particular geophysical application. Thus it is possible for different State and Federal Governments to impose their various reporting requirements, on which tapes can still be read by the same computer program. As part of the development of this Standard, the ASEG has developed a FORTRAN-77 implementation for reading and writing magnetic tapes in ASEG-GDF format.