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What is SVG?

What is SVG?

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is the new language being developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) as the Web standard for presentation of vector graphics images.

In this article we introduce some of the tools and methods to help you get a start creating wireline log graphics using the SVG language. You will see that it is remarkably easy to create sophisticated composite log displays.

Most graphics on the web today are in raster (bitmap) formats (e.g. JPEG, GIF, and PNG). These graphics formats contain information about every pixel in the image.  Vector graphics, on the other hand, describe an image in terms of shapes, lines and text.  Raster graphics files tend to be large and the image quality deteriorates quickly when you try to enlarge or shrink the images.  SVG vector files are compact and the images can be viewed at any scale without loss of clarity.

SVG images are ideal for presenting wireline log data because;

  • The screen images are always crisp and they can be scaled without loss of detail,
  • SVG files are, on average, smaller than other Web-graphic formats such as JPEG and GIF and they are quick to download from the Web,
  • SVG files can be printed at the resolution of your printer.
  • SVG files are composed of plain text, so they are “human readable” and they can be easily edited and,
  • The tools to create and view SVG files are either free or universally available. You can view SVG graphics using either Netscape or Internet Explorer browsers with the free Adobe SVG plug-in. SVG graphics files can be created using any text editor. You can create the coding for wireline log traces using very simple algorithms in any Spreadsheet. The free Visual Basic for Applications scripting language provided with Windows Office software is ideal for writing macros to create sophisticated SVG composite log displays.

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