Call for help with data formats

Gwyddion currently supports only a limited set of data file formats. Mostly only those we have personal experience with. But there are many data formats used in the field of Scanning Probe Microsopy.

While a determined individual can import almost anything with the Rawfile module, we would like to support more data formats in a more pleasant way. Please help us by sending us information about them, even if you don't have full specifications for the format.

Full specifications, public/Open Source
Fragmentary specifications, public/Open Source
Don't know, public/Open Source
Full specifications, closed source
Fragmentary specifications, closed source

Full specifications, public/Open Source

If you have specifications of a currently unsupported data format used in microscopy, or are even creator of such a format, and either can (and are willing to) legally publish it openly or are allowed to base a Free Software/Open Source implelemtation on it, then please contact us.

In this case we can support it fully, fast, and direcly as a Gwyddion module, thus allowing the best integration while retaining software freedom. Or, even better, you can implement yourself with our help.

For example, Gwyddion native format, and JPK and Molecular Imaging formats have this level of support.

Fragmentary specifications, public/Open Source

If you know how to read a currently unsupported format, albeit not with all details or not very reliably, or have a reason to expect it is relatively easy to reverse-engineer, please contact us too.

We will need sample data files, ideally accompanied with some information what they should look like when read correctly, to test the implementation (well, testing data files come useful in any case). As reverse-engineering of data formats for the sake of compatbility is legal in the civilized world, we can implement the data format directly as a Gwyddion module in this case too.

For example, Veeco SPMlab, Hitachi AFM, and Unisoku formats have currently this level of support.

Don't know, public/Open Source

You have the data files, would like Gwyddion to support them, but know nothing particular about their format and have no idea how hard it may be to implement the support. Well, we can only find out that, if we try it. So most of the previous section applies here too, only it may eventually turn out to be too hard here.

Full specifications, closed source

If you are a measuring equipment manufacturer who is the proprietor of format specifications, but want neither to publish them nor allow any Open Source implementation, Gwyddion can still support your format.

There are some inconveniences related to it, however. The format has to be implemented in a plug-in distributed as an opaque executable that users have to download separately. This means worse integration and availability for only a subset of the platforms Gwyddion runs on. For us there is the great obstacle we lose the possibility to do any open source implementation once we have access to the proprietary full specifications. We thus encourage you to reconsider the possibility of an open implementation, maybe without “disclosing too much”.

No format is currently in this category. Veeco SPMlab format used to be here, but the closed plug-in is now deprecated and superseded by a simple reverse-engineered module.

Fragmentary specifications, closed source

Frankly speaking, this is not a posibility. If we are to reverse-engineer the format anyway, there is little motive to become legally “tainted” with some NDA (non-disclosure agreement) in addition.

So this reduces to the Don't know, Open Source case, if anyone can send us sample data files.