Files used by SNAP

SNAP uses a number of configuration files defining aspects of its operation such as the coordinate system definitions, adjustment configuration options, data file formats, and scripts used in the snap_manager program. These are held in system and user configuration directories.

By default the user configuration information is in subdirectories of the directory defined by the APPDATA environment variable at %APPDATA%\linz, and the system configuration directory is the /config subdirectory of the application installation directory. Within each of these areas the files are organised into directories as follows:

coordsys The coordsys.def coordinate system definition file, as well as geoid files, deformation files etc.
perl perl scripts and batch files. If perl is available these directories are added to the PATH environment variable in snap_manager.
perl\perllib perl library modules. If perl is available these directories are added the PERL5LIB environment variable in snap_manager.
format Data format definition files (for delimited text formats such as CSV files).
snap SNAP configuration files
snapplot snapplot configuration files (including colour schemes, additional menu commands, etc
snapscript Scripts used by snap_manager. Scripts named *_menu.cfg (where * is any name) are automatically loaded when snap_manager starts.
snaplist snaplist output template files
snapspec snapspec accuracy testing configuration files
package Additional snap manager packages which may themselves contain menu options, configuration items, and perl scripts.
package/name/ABOUT Descriptive information about package name.
package/name/*_menu.cfg Snap manager scripts automatically run when snap manager is loaded. These generally install additional menu items.
package/name/perl Perl scripts used by the package
package/name/perl/perllib Perl library items used by the package
package/name/config Additional configuration files used by the package. This may contain coordsys, format, snap, snapplot, snaplist, and snapspec configuration sections.

Finding configuration files

Generally if a SNAP program is looking for a configuration file it will look in the following locations:

Here the appropriate directory refers to the directory corresponding to the type of configuration file, for example /format for a delimited text format definition file.

Note that when snap_manager starts it adds the /config areas of any packages to the SNAPDIR environment variable to ensure they are included in the search path. These directories are not automatically searched by snap programs that are run outside the snap_manager environment.

File names used by SNAP

The following file names are used by SNAP and related programs.

File name Description
coordsys.def The coordinate system definition file, usually stored in the same directory as the program
geoid.grd A binary file containing a gridded geoid model
*.dtf Format definition files defining the delimited text format observation and station coordinate files use by SNAP.
*.cfg A snap configuration file. Also used for snapspec configuration files.
*.snp or *.cmd A snap command file
*.spc A snapplot configuration file
*.tbf Template files used by snaplist to generate reports
*.crd A station coordinate file
*.stl A station list file defining a list of stations or station criteria used to identify stations for operations such as constraining or rejecting stations.
*.sts A station offset file defining the time series of coordinate offsets that apply at each station due to unmodelled deformation or other events (eq antenna changes at CORS stations)
*.csv A station recode file defining recoding of station codes when reading data files.
*.new A new version station file generated by SNAP or some other programs
*.lst The listing file produced by SNAP
*.err The error file produced by SNAP
*.bin The binary file produced by SNAP. This is used by several programs to analyse the results of the adjustment (eg snapplot, snapspec)
*.csv, *.txt Optional files of CSV (comma separated) or tab delimited files of information about the stations and observations in the adjustment. (see the output_csv command.
*.cvr An optional text format file listing the stations, their coordinates, and the covariances (see the output command.

Spaces in file names

For historical reasons the snap and the other programs cannot handle spaces in file and direcotry names. However there is some limited support for spaces in coordinate file names, data file names, and command and configuration files. To reference filenames with spaces in the snap command file the names must be enclosed in quote marks. For example:

data_file "data files/distance obs.dat"

Note that this support is incomplete. The snap_manager program does not support spaces in file names. Also file names with spaces cannot be referenced in data file classifications (@data_file) used in commands for modifying observations, for example the reweight_observations command.