Format
ESRI ArcInfo DAT File (External)
Summary
- Name
- ESRI ArcInfo DAT File (External)
- Identifiers
- PUID: fmt/1594
- Format type
- Text (Structured)
- Description
- Files which comprise part of an ArcInfo Coverage, which is a data model whose purpose is to store georelational data such as spatial location and descriptive data. Each ArcInfo Coverage resides in an ArcInfo workspace, a directory which contains two or more folders. These packages are generated using ArcGIS software, produced by Esri (https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/about-arcgis/overview.) An ArcInfo coverage dataset typically has two types of .dat file: internal, which store the actual data table, and external, which contains a relative path to the data table. External .dat files follow a unique naming pattern: arcXXXX.dat, where XXXX is incrementally increasing number starting from 0000, e.g. arc0000.dat, arc0001.dat. The .dat files always come in pair with a NIT file and are both stored in an INFO directory at the root.
- Note
- https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/fdd/fdd000284.shtml
- File extensions
-
dat - Submitted by
- National Library of Australia / National Library of Australia
Relationships
- Equivalent to
- Has priority over
Internal signatures
ESRI ArcInfo .dat File (external)
- Description
- BOF, offset 0, magic bytes: ../ EOF, offset 0-100, magic bytes,: .adf
Byte sequences
- Min Frag Length
- Absolute from BOF
- Offset
- 0
- Max offset
- 0
- Byte Sequence
2E2E2F- Endianness
- None
- Min Frag Length
- Absolute from EOF
- Offset
- 0
- Max offset
- 60
- Byte Sequence
2E616466- Endianness
- None
Changelog
-
V101
- Release date
- 15 February 2022
-
Added format
ESRI ArcInfo .dat File (External): Full entry added. Submitted by The National Library of Australia.
-
Added signature
ESRI ArcInfo .dat File (External): Signature researched and samples provided by The National Library of Australia.