The International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP) has released version 1.1 of its P6/11 Seismic bin grid data exchange format (IOGP Report Number: 483-6).
 

The P6/11 Format Description was originally released in 2012 (version 1.0), alongside similar documents for its companion formats, the P1/11 and P2/11 (version 1.0). These replaced legacy formats P1/90, P2/94 and P6/98.
 

The P1/11 and P2/11 were subsequently revised to version 1.1 in April 2015 (more information about P1/11 and P2/11 version 1.1 can be seen at http://www.iogp.org/blog/2015/05/20/iogp-releases-version-1-1-of-geophysical-position-data-exchange-formats-2). The P6/11 has now been also revised to version 1.1 in response to the changes in the P1 and P2/11 formats, with which it shares common elements.
 

The revision of P6/11 has been used as an opportunity to introduce enhancements to the format and improvements to the documentation that have been incorporated as a result of feedback from industry. The main changes to the format and to the documentation are summarised below.
 

Changes to the format:

• Changes as required to align with version 1.1 of P1/11
• Some records previously mandatory re-classified as optional
• New H6,3,0,0 header record for Bin Grid Attributes and associated parameter BINGRIDATTREF, mandatory for format-defined attributes 1-6 (introduced mainly to relate axis names to field acquisition unambiguously)
• All B6 bin node position records must have both bin grid and map grid coordinates (not just first record)

Changes to the documentation:

• Clarification of the definition of a bin grid (transformation parameters are an inherent part of the definition)
• Escape sequence described for the degree symbol (°) as used in EPSG operation method codes for right- & left-handed bin grid definitions (° falls outside allowed ASCII character range)
• Handling of coordinate conversions between base & derived CRSs explained
• P6-specific format examples introduced
• Recommendation to include base CRS in name if bin grid
• Recommendation on use of example points for a bin grid
• Recommendation to produce a bin centres file if bin grid becomes non-rectilinear or irregular after re-projection
• New Appendix (C) with example of bin grid history – step-by-step explanation and complete P6/11 file
• Appendix D (minimum requirements) adjusted to the changed requirements

The IOGP Geomatics Committee is currently completing a P6/11 User Guide which will be issued later in 2017. The User Guide will support the Format Description document.
 

All IOGP ‘P Formats’ Reports are publicly available via IOGP Bookstore.