The Survey and Control markers DLG attribute information includes multiple files. There is a DBF file (dBASE version III - dlgsv.dbf) and a Word file (dlgsvupd.doc) both with attribute information concerning survey and control marker features.

The DBF file was derived from several text files, as was the Word file; where information is duplicated in both files it will be identical. The MS Word file, however, contains more information than DBF file. This is due mostly to the nature of the data and a database. The DLG data when imported has major and minor codes, all classified as numerals. The text documentation had a mixture of text and numerals in the attribute code columns. This did not translate perfectly into a database format that could be used as a lookup table.

The original files documenting this data came from the U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS), as text files. There were two sets of files; the original documentation, and an updated version from 1995. The more recent documents are available on this site as well, in a zipped version. The files includes here are a combination of the new and old files. The DBF file contains ONLY the current (new) codes. The MS Word file contains the current data as well as notations on the older codes. BE AWARE that DLG data on the WWW may be new or old vintage, and may have old as well as new coding. With these two files you should be able to resolve conflicts over unclear codes.

In some cases the text description could be transformed into numerals; where this was fairly easy to do, such as the major code (feet, meters, etc) for hydrography, water surface elevation, numerals were inserted into the DBF file. In all other cases, a 999 (for major codes) or 9999 (for minor codes) has been inserted into the location in the file where the text values were. The original values have been moved to the BEGINNING of the description field, and placed in parens (). This should does occur in the Survey and Control Marker file.

For the survey and control marker data, the dlgsv.dbf file fields are labeled major1, minor1, description, and sdtsdlg. The first three are the fields in the DLG data where the actual attributes are found. The third is the SDTS dlg code equivalent (actually a combination of major1 and minor1).

The assumption has been made with these files that if you are importing the DLG data into ArcView you will import the survey and control markers information as a point file. The information displayed in the attribute files WILL be different (basically missing!) if you import them differently. No attributes were found if the data was imported as line or polygon data. Testing is continuing.