Certain unexploded ordnance (UXO) designs use transects sampling. Actual transect location data is collected electronically and represents the location of the detection equipment at (usually) uniform time intervals. A de-facto standard format has been established for storing the transect data called Course-Over-Ground or COG files.
COG files have the following format:
/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/ Comments
/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/
/X,Y,GPS_Time
//Date 2001/01/01
Other comments
10811.4600, 9404.4100, 10000
10811.8300, 9408.3700, 10002
10812.3800, 9413.2900, 10004
10813.0400, 9418.4200, 10006
10814.3400, 9423.7000, 10008
The file typically contains initial comments lines. Comment lines often begin with the character: / . They can also begin with a letter or they may be completely blank. Regardless of the format of the comment line, VSP ignores them (with the exception of defining breaks described below).
A data line contains at least two numbers. The first number is the x coordinate of the point, and the second number is the y coordinate of the point. The line can contain an optional third number that represents a time stamp (in seconds) for the point. The numbers are typically separated by commas, but VSP also recognizes spaces and tab characters.
VSP connects two consecutive points to create a transect segment. VSP does not create a transect segment for two consecutive points that are separated by blank or comment lines. The width of the transect segments is not contained in the file, but is specified by the user.
Note that VSP does not create transect segments outside of defined Sample Areas.