This contains the survey data of the Tolminski Migovec cave system, as well as minor caves in the same area, collected by the JSPDT and ICCC from 1974 to 2019.
From 1974-2018 the the survey data was collected in the Survex format but we are now using Therion and are in the process of migrating the old data.
- Migovec Resurvey Project
- View
- Downloads
- Prerequisites
- Therion Glossary
- Repository and File Structure
- How to export data
- Adding data
- Converting old data
- Additional steps
- How to contribute?
- Final considerations
- Tips
- How do I show the centerline of undrawn maps?
- How Do I Make a Pillar (solid rock within a passage)?
- How Do I Control Which Passage Appears On Top of Another?
- How do I create a skeleton th2 file for a survey?
- How do I see the EE in aven or loch?
- Therion Error: Map is too large for PDF format. Try smaller scale!
You can view any of the 3D models or PDF maps in your browser here.
As data is added some artifacts are automatically generated. These can be found on the releases page.
Also for convenience here is a list of the artifacts and the links to the latest versions:
System Migovec
The full system:
- 3D Model
3D | LOX - Plan View (WIP)
SLO PDF | ENG PDF | SLO SVG | ENG SVG - Extended Elevation (WIP)
SLO PDF | ENG PDF | SLO SVG | ENG SVG
Primadona
Primadona (in full Primadona/Monatip/Ubend) is a cave system mostly contained in the Western side of Migovec. It was connected to the main system in 2015. It is accessed from impressive entrances midway across the western cliffs of the Migovec plateau.
- 3D Model
3D | LOX - Plan View (WIP)
SLO PDF | ENG PDF | SLO SVG | ENG SVG - Extended Elevation (WIP)
SLO PDF | ENG PDF | SLO SVG | ENG SVG
Vrtnarija
Connected to the main system in 2012, Vrtnarija comprises roughly a third of the passage in the sytem. It is accessed from entrances on the Eastern side of the Migovec plateau.
- 3D Model
3D | LOX - Plan View (WIP)
SLO PDF | ENG PDF | SLO SVG | ENG SVG - Extended Elevation (WIP)
SLO PDF | ENG PDF | SLO SVG | ENG SVG
M18 / M16 / M2
Collectively known as 'the old system' or sometimes 'sysmig', these entrances were originally explored by the JSDPT from the 70s. Joined by ICCC in 1994, exploration was continued until roughly 2001. M2/M8 and M16/M18 connections were made early on in 1996.
- 3D Model
3D | LOX - Plan View (WIP)
SLO PDF | ENG PDF | SLO SVG | ENG SVG - Extended Elevation (WIP)
SLO PDF | ENG PDF | SLO SVG | ENG SVG
To compile the data and draw surveys you will need some software installed.
For compiling and exporting:
For drawing we are using Inkscape and the Therion Inkscape extensions because we think its nicer than using the Therion editor:
- Inkscape - Vector drawing program
- Inkscape Therion Extensions - The extensions that allow you to draw Therion scraps in Inkscape.
(Optional) For editing the text files:
Therion has a complex vocabulary of its own so here is a basic translation.
- survey : main data structure, which can be nested ad nauseam to represent karst areas, caves or passages. Each survey has an object id, which must be unique within the scope of the higher level survey. Likewise, any object within a survey has unique id (from stations, to maps, scraps)
- centreline: survey data specification., with syntex mostly derived from Survex,
- Scrap - The most basic drawing element, a piece of 2D map. It will consist of the walls and stations of the passage as well as lots of extra information (should you choose to draw it!) like boulders, pits, passage gradients etc. A single set of survey data (a single passage) can have many scraps associated with it. It is often good to split the drawing over many scraps as this allows Therion to do clever things (like depth colouring). Scraps cannot overlap themselves.
- Map - The higher level drawing element. A map can be made of scraps, or it can be a map of maps. Maps are how you collect individual drawn passages into larger blocks. For example a passage like Aqueduct will have its scraps collected in a map called
m-all-p(). A bigger map might be calledm-below_klic_globin-pand contain maps from Aqueduct and many other passages (e.g. m-all-p@aqueduct, m-all-p@klic_globin, etc...). Them-below_klic_globinwill be collected into an Primadona mapm-all-p@Primadonawith all the other maps in Primadona and finally that will collected with the maps from Vrntarija and the old system into a full System Migovec map. The advantage of this heirarchical structure is that you can export these maps at any level, whether you want an overview of the full system or a higher resolution look at the pushing front.
Scope can be roughly understood as the level of the survey we are working in. If we are for instance equating stations between two different passages of a cave (say M16), then we are within the M16 scope. As mentioned previously, all objects in Therion have an id, whether is a survey, a map, a scrap, a line or a point. Due to the hierarchical nature of the data structure and the fact that each id must be unique within each level of survey, which is why we have uniquely named stations in each passage, and uniquely named passages in each cave, and so forth.
Therion can export to a number of formats.
- Map - A 2D representation of the survey data. Usually a
.pdfor.svg. - Atlas - A 2D representation of the survey data split into pages for convenient printing.
- Model - A 3D representation of the survey data. Usually a
.3dor.loxfile viewed in aven or loch. - Database - Survey data dumped to a database for whatever reason. Usually a
.sqlfile.
- equate - An equate lets Therion know that two stations are the same (that they are joined). This is how basically all the export formats are constructed.
- join - A join lets Therion know that two scraps, or lines should be joined. It does its best to match up any walls that are nearby each other to create a seamless passage when exporting maps and atlases.
It can be hard to know where to start in a repository of this size so here is an overview of how things are organised and what various files and folders are for.
The raw data, usually created in the cave, or shortly after. These are within the data\{cave}\{year}\{passage} directories.
These will likely represent single pushing trips.
.thfiles contain the survey data (betweencentreline/endcentrelineflags).th2files contain the scraps (drawings beginning withscrap {scrap-id}/endscrapflags)
The .th will probably also enclose any scraps (in the .th2) within the passage as a named map. This will have been autogenerated by Topodroid in many cases.
In the data\{cave} folders you will find .th files that define how these individual passages are connected.
{name}.thwill be used to defined equates in the survey and join scraps between passages{name}.thmwill be used to combine individual passage maps into larger maps.
In the {name}.th file, passages are arranged by year of discovery.
In the {name}.thmfile, passage map definitions are ordered by cave sub-region, and these subregions are themselves ordered into a map definition for the cave (a high level m-all-p, within the scope of the cave).
With the data thus organised you can export maps in pdf and svg files and models in .3d and lox files. This is done through a further two types of file.
In the configs folder there are .thconfig files. These are more similar to a shell script if you are familiar with those. They contain commands to produce output files like pdfs etc. They combine the named maps and layouts to make the output.
In the layouts folders there are layout files (.thl) these are complicated but they basically just define which symbols should be on the
map and how they should be like. i.e. should you show mineral symbols, how thick should pit lines be, what colour are waterfalls.
So how do you export the data to a map or model?
The easy way is to find yourself the config file that already does what you want. In the configs/overview directory you'll find a number of useful configs. For example vrtnarija.thconfig will export pdfs, svgs, and 3d files that show Vrtnarija. You just need to run it with Therion.
therion configs/overview/vrtnarija.thconfig
And you should find the it places the files in the outputs/maps and outputs/models directories.
None of the configs export exactly what you want? Make your own!
A config file will look like this:
encoding utf-8
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
# select a source data file.
source "../../data/primadona_ubend_monatip.th"
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
# input the layout files
input "../../layouts/base-p.thl"
input "../../layouts/base-e.thl"
input "../../layouts/mods.thl"
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
# select the relevant map definitions, and levels within those maps
select mprima_ubend_monatip-p@system_migovec -map-level 1
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
# export a PLAN view and specify the layout
layout plan
copy base-p
copy colour-by-new
endlayout
language sl
export map -projection plan -o ../../outputs/map/primadona_ubend_monatip_plan_SLO.pdf -layout plan
language en
export map -projection plan -o ../../outputs/map/primadona_ubend_monatip_plan_ENG.pdf -layout plan
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
# export a .3d model, which can be opened in AVEN and LOCH
export model -o ../../outputs/model/primadona_ubend_monatip.3d -fmt survex
You have a some .th files from topodroid or from an svx conversion. Here's what to do with them.
We have used a pyramidal hierarchy,
survey plateau
survey system_migovec
survey primadona_ubend_monatip
survey primadona
YEAR N
survey {passage1}
endsurvey
...
survey {passage2}
endsurvey
YEAR N+1
survey {passage3}
endsurvey
...
endsurvey
survey {other_main_entrance}
endsurvey
...
endsurvey
survey {other_system}
endsurvey
...
endsurvey
survey {other_cave}
endsurvey
...
surface # a DEM of the plateau (WIP)
endsurface
endsurvey
With a system,cave, passage structure. Save the {my_new_passage}.th file into a new folder with lower case name (as far as possible, the same as the survex survey name).
Find the {cave}.thfile in the {cave} folder. This file contains a series of input ./year/passage/passage.th commands to tell the therion compiler to include the relevant survey data. Adding the command input ./year/passage/my_new_passage.th to this file in the correct year folder is necessary, but we now need to connect the new data to an existing point in the survey, i.e. equate.
Below the input blocks, you will find a series of equate commands, this is where you can tie in your new cave passage to the existing centrelines.
The main {cave}.th file will therefore look similar to this:
survey {cave} -title "The name of the cave"
#ignore the 'map' blocks for now.
map m-all-<p/e> -projection <plan/extended>
mYear1-<p/e>
mYear2-<p/e>
...
endmap
#______Year1______
input ./{year1/passage_1/passage_1.th
input ./year1/passage_2/passage_2.th
input ./year1/passage_3/passage_3.th
...
equate stationX@passage_1 stationY@passage_2 #the main equate commands between passages.
equate stationZ@passage_2 stationW@passage_3 #the main equate commands between passages.
...
join scrapX@passage_1 scrapY@passage_b #some join commands between survey maps
...
#______Year2______
input ./year2/passage_4/passage_4.th
input ./year2/passage_5/passage_5.th
...
equate stationN@passage_4 stationM@passage_3 #equates to current and previous years.
#The scope here is the cave, so we need to indicate the passage id
endsurvey
Commit your changes!
This assumes you have drawn the passage already using the Xtherion editor or Inkscape or Topodroid.
my_new_passage_plan.th2 resides in the my_passage folder. In my_new_passage.th, you need to add the command input my_new_passage_plan.th2 below the survey MySurvey flag. Below the .th2 input command, you should write a map mMySurvey-p -projection <plan/extended> and endmap command pair.
Inside the map command block, you will include maps or scraps (you can't use a mix of the two). If using a typical Topodroid export, then the 'map' section of the .th file will look like the example below.
survey {passage} -title "The name you gave to the cave passage"
input {passage}_p.th2 # including the plan view drawing from xtherion or Inkscape
input {passage}_e.th2 # including the extended elevation view from xtherion or Inkscape
map m-all-<p/e> -projection <plan/extended> # this is a map of maps
m1<p/e> #this is a map
m2<p/e>
...
endmap
map m1<p/e> -projection <plan/extended> #this is a map
MySurvey-p1 #this is a scrap
endmap
map m2<p/e> -projection <plan/extended>
MySurvey-p2
endmap
join MySurvey-p1 MySurvey-p2 # specify a join so the passages are morphed to join together (semi automatic)
join LineId1:O LineId2:end #this is a manual join of two lines.
#No need to specify scrap, as the scope of this environment is the entire
#survey.
centreline
team "Surveyor1Name Surname" role
team "Surveyor2Name Surname" role
date YYYY.MM.DD
data
1 2 ... ... ...
2 3 ... ... ...
...
endcentreline
endsurvey
All the old Survex survey data has already been converted into Therion format, ready for drawing. These instructions remain for posterity.
The scripts/svx_to_th.py was used to convert the bulk of our data and could probably be used in future.
The aim is to convert the .svx file to .th format. The shot data formats are identical, but the survey flags and block commands are a bit different.
First, we need to translate the survex data into therion format.
- Open a child (i.e. single day survey) .svx file in a text editor
- replace
*begin MySurvey*end MySurveypairs withsurvey MySurveyandendsurvey. - replace
;comments with#comments. - copy-paste the actual data between new flags
centrelineandendcentreline. - equating works as the reverse as survex, with added spice. E.g.:
cave.branch.passage.nbecomesn@passage.branch.cave. *equatebecomesequate.- Fill in the metadata within the centreline flags as follows:
team "SurveyorName Surname" roleexplo-team "ExplorerName Surname"date YYYY.MM.DD
All of Primadona, and Monatip as far as Monatip4 have been transferred already.
The really minimal version of a .th file will look something like:
survey MySurvey -title "The name you gave to the cave passage"
centreline
team "Surveyor1Name Surname" role
team "Surveyor2Name Surname" role
explo-team "Explorer1Name Surname"
explo-team "Explorer2Name Surname"
date YYYY.MM.DD
units length meters
units compass clino degrees
data normal from to length compass clino #this specifies in which order the numbers come!
1 2 ... ... ...
2 3 ... ... ...
...
endcentreline
endsurvey
You need to have installed Inkscape and the Inkscape Therion extensions.
This assumes you have a {passage}.th file (see above for conversion from .svx) in the correct {cave}/{year}/{passage} directory.
Create the template
If there is no {passage}-p.th2 then run the scripts/initialise_map.py script in the passage folder.
python3 scripts/initialise_map.py
This will create you a scrap file ({passage}-p.th2) that contains the stations and the centreline.
Open in inkscape
Open the {passage}-p.th2 file in Inkscape. You should see a centreline of the passage you're editing with some station objects at each node.
Have a look at the layers panel, there should be four:
- {passage}-1p - This contains the stations and is where you should draw things like walls.
- DELETE-ME-survey-legs - Shows the survery legs to help you draw. This should be deleted or not saved after the passage is drawn.
- Symbol legend - Displays all the possible Therion objects you can place. The intention is that you can copy and paste them from here into the {passage}-1p layer.
- Background images - Somewhere to import images to help drawing (old surveys).
Start drawing
Open an existing reference survey for the passage you are drawing. This will likely be the surveys from 2018, but in fact older surveys can be useful too especiallys ones produced just after the passage was found.
- Drawing walls
Use the pen tool to draw the walls around the stations. Make sure the nodes are all connected in one long polygon, except where passages will join in from other sides. In order to set the type of lines as walls or pits or anything else you fancy, select for instance all the lines that you wish to 'set', navigate to Extensions>Therion>Set Line Type>... choose from the dropdown menu and click 'Apply' and let it run. This usually changes the styling of the line, depending on what you've chosen. Wall lines do not change too much, but pits are now barbed, chimneys are steepled lines, rock-borders are slightly thinner etc... - Drawing points
You can choose them from the 'Symbol Legends' layer, and copy paste them wherever they are needed. I tend to use: 'narrow-end' (=) or 'continuation' (?) often. You can reset the type to anything you want using Extensions>Therion>Set Point Type and change the storming lead to a boulder choke and so forth. Much power. - Add labels
I usually just draw a rectangle (does not matter the size or the styling), select the rectangle, navigate to object properties and write the label there
Syntax: point label -scale <xs/s/m/l/xl> -align <br/r/t/b/tl/tr/bl> -text [mylabel] Choose the scale of the point label carefully. The current set up is: - scale xs for labels only to be included in a very detailed view of the passage- scale s for labels to be shown on a cave but not full system map (eg. primadona_ubend_monatip, but not: sysem_migovec). Essentially these labels would clutter the general map appearing above or below passages. -scale m, l or xl for passage names that appear on the very general system_migovec map, like cave entrance names, or passages that somehow extend away from the main tangle of passages and thus have plenty of white space for a label.
Also don't draw everything in one scrap (layer). If the passage branches or goes up or down a lot, create a new layer {passage}-2p. It is important that you move any survey stations that that you want to drawn around into the new scrap as well.
Add the scraps to a map
The passage is drawn and you're happy with how it looks.... for now. Leave Inkscape open, there's always some tweaking!
Go to the .th file and you should see a
map m-{all}-p -projection plan
{passage}-1p
endmap.
This block is a container for our scraps {passage}-1p to {passage}-{n}p. If you added new scraps in the drawing, also add them in here.
Then go to the {cave}.thm file and include (where it belongs) m{passage}-p@passage in one of the submaps.
Uncomment the relevant equates and inputs in {cave}.th, and compile {cave}.thconfig
You should get an output with your new drawing in.
You will find that additionally, you need to specify cave connections.
These are taken into account in the MySystem.th file.
This will look like:
survey MySystem -title "The actual System name"
map mMySystem-<p/e> -projection <plan/extended> # The system map contains each cave map.
mMyCave1-<p/e> #the cavemaps contain the specific year maps, which themselves contain passage maps. The latter contain scraps.
mMyCave2-<p/e>
endmap
input MyCave.th
input MyCave2.th
equate stationX@MySurveyX.MyCave1 stationY@MySurveyY.MyCave2 #There is no 'year' layer in the survey hierarchy.
join LineId1@MySurveyX.MyCave1:0 LineId2@MySurveyY.MyCave2:end #a tedious manual join between two points of lines within surveys of different caves.
endsurvey
- Add new data each year
- Redraw the old survey data in Therion format
- Find poorly drawn areas of the survey and improve them
This survey data was collected between the year 1974-2019 by Imperial College Caving Club (ICCC) and Jamarska Sekcija Planinskega Drustva Tolmin (JSPDT).
Therion by default shows only drawn maps, even when you have told it to disaply centerlines and stations (which obviously exist for undrawn passages). To show these undrawn centerlines you must include the survey name in a map and then select that map. For example my config might look like this:
# Input the data and layouts as normal
source "../../data/vrtnarija.th"
input "../../layouts/base-p.thl"
input "../../layouts/mods.thl"
# Create a source block to define a special map
source
# This map includes the full vrtnarija map (m-all-p) as well as the survey
# itself (vrtnarija)
map include-centerline -projection plan
vrtnarija
m-all-p@vrtnarija
endmap
endsource
# Select the new map
select include-centerline
# Setup the layout with the show-centerline mod
layout plan
copy show-centreline
map-header 0 0 off
scale 1 2000
endlayout
# And export as normal
language en
export map -projection plan -o ../outputs/plan_ENG.pdf -layout plan
Firstly draw the wall clockwise, the opposite way to exterior walls, so that
the blue and yellow ticks point outwards into the passage. Then set an option
on the wall -outline in. In Inkscape this is done in Object Properties pane
in the title text box. In the th2 file you can add this option on the line
defintion line wall -outline in.
Therion decides this based on the passage order in the map definition. The higher in the map definition, the higher z-index it is given and the higher it appears on the survey.
Sometimes this is a bit buggy (for example two scraps defined in a map) and it
is necessary to seperate the scraps with a break command:
map m-all-p -projection plan
wonderland-1p # this one will be rendered on top
break
wonderland-2p # this one underneath
endmap
Run the create_2d.py script:
python3 scripts/create_2d.py.py data/system_migovec.th <survey_selector> --projection <projection>
Replace <survey_selector> with the selector for the survey you want to compile i.e. firstdraft@vrtnarija.vrtnarija_vilinska.system_migovec. Also replace <projection> with either plan or extended.
The selector is relative to the survey file you set. We have set data/system_migovec.th so we need a full selector firstdraft@vrtnarija.vrtnarija_vilinska.system_migovec. If you were to set data/vrtnarija/vrtnarija.th then you would only need to select firstdraft. (In fact just firstdraft will work even when using data/system_migovec.th because the script can work out if there's only one firstdraft in the whole system).
For the EE it is important to always generate from the highest level survey (data/system_migovec.th) because of how the extends are defined and how they cascade. For the plan this does not matter so you could just do python3 scripts/create_2d.py.py data/vrtnarija/2015/firstdraft/firstdraft-p.th2 firstdraft --projection plan.
This is a bit of a hack but the create_2d.py can be used to generate a .plt file that will open in aven and loch.
python3 scripts/create_2d.py.py data/system_migovec.th <survey_selector> --projection extended --format plt --out <name>.plt
Then just open the .plt in aven or loch.
This error often happens if you have an empty scrap, i.e. a scrap with no stations in it. If you have been making a new map with multiple scraps ensure you have copied the relevent stations across into the new layers.
Alternatively this might acutally be the scale so you can try changing the scale in your layout:
layout plan
...
scale 1 2000
...
endlayout