Golden Software, Inc., the leading developer of affordable scientific graphics software, announces the release of Surfer 10, a powerful, user-friendly software package which accurately transforms data into presentation-ready maps.

Introduced in 1984, Surfer has emerged as the industry standard gridding and contour mapping software used by geologists, hydrologists and engineers. Surfer 10 offers twelve different gridding methods, including Kriging with variograms, to convert irregularly spaced XYZ data into a uniform grid. Display a grid or digital elevation model in one of seven fully customizable 2D and 3D map types: contour, image, shaded relief, 1-grid and 2-grid vector, 3D wireframe, and 3D surface maps. Enhance the display by adding post, classed post and base maps. Contour and 3D maps generated with Surfer are known for their clarity, color and accuracy.

One of the most popular new features in Surfer 10 is the eagerly-awaited support for map projections. Users can now mix and match data sets and grids from various coordinate systems and have all the map layers overlay correctly and displayed in a single coordinate system. For example, load data and grid files in UTM or State Plane coordinates, and display the map in Latitude/Longitude coordinates.

In addition to supporting map projections and coordinate systems, users can now harness the power of 64-bit versions of Windows. Users can load large data sets and imagery without running out of memory.

Two other powerful upgrades to Surfer 10 are the property manager and Google Earth export. The property manager allows a user to streamline their workflow by editing all map attributes in an always-open window and see the changes immediately on the map. Users can also export their maps to KML or KMZ files for direct compatibility with Google Earth, providing more flexibility for communicating and transferring data with clients and project teams. Users can display their DEM or bathymetric map created in Surfer directly over a real world aerial photo in Google Earth for easy identification of features and landscape.

Comments from Surfer customers and beta-testers after reviewing Surfer 10:

* “I spent about four hours today testing the new Coordinate System functionality. Wow — it works great and seems to be very solid, and is implemented in an elegant and intuitive manner.” –Brendan Flannery, Senior Geoinformation Systems Manager

* “I really like the shift to Property Manager for creating the maps for editing. …building the maps was much more intuitive. One could see the changes immediately and quickly make small adjustments to spiff up the map. This is a big improvement.” – Steven Schamel, GeoX Consulting

Surfer 10 operates in a Microsoft Windows environment with Windows XP SP2 or higher, Vista, 7, or higher. Surfer 10 is now available for a retail price of $699, with quantity discounts available. Upgrades from previous versions of Surfer are available for only $229. Surfer 10 includes free updates and free technical support.

Visit Golden Software website to download a free Surfer 10 demo and place an order.

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