6. Attribute Conventions¶

6.1. Attribute Category Example¶

For many functions of AthosGEO View and the derived software AthosGEO Blend it is makes things much easier if there is some clarity about the meaning of different attributes. This is done by assigning a specific category to each one of the attributes of a block model or sampling set. Instead of lengthy explanations, an example will be given in Table 6.1.

Table 6.1 Summarizing attributes of block model blocks¶
BlockId	KTons	SiO2	Al2O3	Fe2O3	CaO	LS	Geol
1	2.5	6.1	3.1	1.1	48.1	224.2	Limestone
2	3.0	4.2	2.5	1.8	52.3	329.3	Limestone
3	3.0	21.5	18.1	9.3	7.2	8.2	Marl
Total	8.5	10.9	8.2	4.2	35.1	82.1

Referring to Table 6.1, different columns all need to be handled differently during summarizing, with the results shown in the last row:

KTons

Tonnages in terms of kilotons (1000 tons) are simply added:

\(KTons_{total}=\sum_n KTons_n\)

SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, CaO

Chemical compounds are summerized as tonnage weighted means:

\(CaO_{total}=\frac{\sum_n KTons_n CaO_n}{KTons_{total}}\)

LS (lime saturation)

This is a cement specific modulus that is calculated from chemical compounts:

\(LS=\frac{100 CaO}{2.8 SiO_2 + 1.18 Al_2O_3 + 0.65 Fe_2O_3}\)

For the summary row, it is recalculated from the tonnage weighted means.

Geol, BlockId

These attributes cannot be summarized and will not appear in the summary attribute set

How is is possible that AthosGEO View always “knows” the correct category for each attribute? This is achieved by strictly standardizing the names of the attributes. How attribute categories are related to summarizing operations is explained in more detail in Display Table (and other) Data in Summary Tables.

6.2. Attribute Categories¶

Direct

These are proportions or percentages, like well known chemical compounds, cost per ton or other values that are related to tonnage.

For summarizing, tonnage weighted means will be calculated. In AthosGEO Blend, these attributes can be used in optimization targets (product constraints).

Any attribute that is not explicitly assigned to another attribute type, by filter rule or by containing string values, will be treated as being of this type, so it is the default attribute type.

Derived

Predefined cement specific derived attributes. They are calculated from chemical compounds (if available) with a special filter. They are also treated properly during summarization and can be used in constraints in AthosGEO Blend.

Tonnage

For summarizing, tonnages will be simply added. They can also be chosen as the tonnage attribute for the tonnage weighted mean calculation of Direct attributes.

Weight

Some filters can be applied to only some fraction (percentage) of a block, which can be specified with a Weight attribute.

Example: Zone. This attribute would specify how many percent of the block are inside a specific zone.

Category

This is slightly confusing: There is indeed an attribute category named Category. They are used to classify materials, so during summary calculation Category attributes will be dropped.

Category attributes can be either numeric or strings.

Note that in the Summary View it is possible to choose a Category attribute and then “scroll” from one value to the next.

Example: A Category attribute that corresponds to geological units can be either numeric codes (which is better for some filters) or strings (which is more human readable for example in a legend). With a Summary View it is then possible to scroll through the geological units, i.e. display them one by one.

Others

Some other categories are specified for different purposes within AthosGEO View or AthosGEO Blend:

Coordinate

Angle

Dimension

Index

Period

Range

SpecTonnage

Note

In order to quickly check the types or categories of the different attributes within a model, the Show AttributeTypes iconshowattributetypes filter will display this information in a table.

6.3. Attributes during Import¶

If block models or sampling sets with attributes are read from CSV files, naming of the attributes is less strict than later on within the models. This is a convenience feature for the user.

Note that once all patterns are checked on importing an attribute name, any remaining attribute will remain unchanged and become category Direct.

Note

Attribute names must not contain spaces or other special characters. Accented characters may work, but there is no guarantee.

6.3.1. Case Conversion¶

Standardized names of attributes are case sensitive within the model, but not on import from CSV files. During the import, the names will be converted accordingly, like cao would be converted into CaO.

6.3.2. Alternative Attribute Names¶

During import, some alternative names are recognized and automatically renamed.

Example: The name Tonnage would also be recognized as meaning kilotons and would be renamed as KTons accordingly.

6.3.3. Attribute Name Patterns¶

In some cases, only part of the name needs to be standardized, while the user can attach some descriptive part related to a project.

Example: The attribute name Zone_<..> could become Zone_LeaseA or Zone_Reserve etc. and still be recognized as an attribute of category Weight.

6.3.4. Multi-Component Attributes¶

It is a special feature of ParaView that it allows attributes to have multiple components, the most typical being coordinates with X, Y and Z component. CSV or other table data formats do not support such a feature, so these attributes would be split into several component attributes with names like Coord:X, Coord:Y, Coord:Z, or else Coord:0, Coord:1, Coord:2. These two forms are equivalent in this case. Important is the colon (:) separator between attribute name and component.

6.3.5. Table of Categories and Attributes¶

Table 6.2 Categories and Attributes¶
Category	Attribute	Alternatives	Unit	Description
Direct	LOI		%	Loss on ignition
Direct	SiO2		%
Direct	Al2O3		%
Direct	Fe2O3		%
Direct	CaO		%
Direct	MgO		%
Direct	SO3		%
Direct	K2O		%
Direct	Na2O		%
Direct	TiO2		%
Direct	Mn2O3		%
Direct	P2O5		%
Direct	Cr2O3		%
Direct	Cl		%
Direct	F		%
Direct	Hg		%
Direct	TOC		%	Total organic carbon
Direct	OfferedPerc		%	Offered percentage of a block
Direct	OfferedPerc_<product>		%	Offered percent of a block for a product
Direct	TakenPerc		%	Taken percentage of a block
Direct	TakenPerc_<product>		%	Taken percentage of a block for a product
Direct	WastedPerc		%	Wasted percentage of a block
Direct	WasteRatio		%	Waste ratio for block: wasted tonnage for this block related to taken tonnage
Direct	VolFactor	volumefactor, fillingdeg*	%	Volume fraction of the block that is not air
Direct	<any other>
Derived	LS			Lime saturation
Derived	SR			Silica ratio
Derived	AR			Alumina ratio
Derived	ASR			Alkali sulfur ratio
Derived	NaEq		%	Sodium equivalent
Tonnage	KTons	tonnage	kt	kilotons = 1000 tons
Tonnage	Tons		tons
Tonnage	Tons_<product>		t/kt^*
Tonnage	Offered		t/kt^*
Tonnage	Offered_<product>		t/kt^*
Tonnage	Taken		t/kt^*
Tonnage	Taken_<product>		t/kt^*
Tonnage	WastedForBlock		t/kt^*	Wasted tonnage for extracted tonnage in this block
Tonnage	Wasted	waste, stripping	t/kt^*
Weight	Pit		%	Percentage of block inside of pit
Weight	Pit_<..>		%	Percentage of block inside of named pit
Weight	Zone		%	Percentage of block inside of zone (delimited by a closed boundary line)
Weight	Zone_<..>		%	Percentage of block inside of named zone
Category	Code			Categorizing by numeric or named code
Category	Code_<..>			Dto. with additional name
Category	Geology	geol<..>		Geological unit
Category	Class			Like Code
Category	Class_<..>			Dto. with additional name
Category	Product			Product name
Category	Level			Block level
Category	Level_<quarry>			Block level in specific quarry
Category	Column			Block column
Category	Column_<quarry>			Block column in specific quarry
Category	Row			Block row
Category	Row_<quarry>			Block row in specific quarry
Category	Line			Like Row
Category	I			Like Column
Category	J			Like Row
Category	K			Like Level
Category	Cat			Like Code
Category	Name			Classification name
Category	Start	begin, open, first		In AthosGEO Blend for specification of blocks where to start the scheduling
Category	Force			In AthosGEO Blend for specification of blocks blocks to be taken in any case for one of the products during optimization or scheduling
Category	HoleType	hole_type, sondmeth, methsond		Classification attribute for drillholes or sampling sets
Category	HolePath	hole_path		Type of drillhole path - so far ignored and always handled like “linear”
Category	N_<..>			On reading from CSV files, all columns with strings that are not otherwise classified are getting a N_ prepended to their name and with this they are classified as Category attributes
Angle	Angle	ang, rot	°	Orientation of block model, counting N-E-S-W
Angle	Azimuth		°	Orientation of inclined drillhole
Angle	Dip		°	Dip angle of inclined drillhole, 90° for vertically downwards
Coordinate	Center:X	center:0, center_0, centx, worldx, xworld, x, east		Block center X coordinate
Coordinate	Center:Y	center:1, center_1, centy, worldy, y*world, y, north		Block center Y coordinate
Coordinate	Center:Z	center:2, center_2, centz, worldz, z*world, z, alt		Block center Z coordinate
Coordinate	Collar:X	collar:0, collar_0, collarx, sondagex		Drillhole collar X coordinate
Coordinate	Collar:Y	collar:1, collar_1, collary, sondagey		Drillhole collar Y coordinate
Coordinate	Collar:Z	collar:2, collar_2, collarz, sondagez		Drillhole collar Z coordinate
Date	Date			ISO-Format: YYYY-MM-DD
Dimension	Size:X	size:0, size_0, sizex, dx, width		Block size in X direction
Dimension	Size:Y	size:1, size_1, sizey, dy, length		Block size in Y direction
Dimension	Size:Z	size:2, size_2, sizez, dz, height		Block size in Z direction
Dimension	Slope:XNeg	slope:0, slope_0, slope:xneg, slopexneg		Mining slope angle in negative X axis direction^**
Dimension	Slope:XPos	slope:1, slope_1, slope:xpos, slopexpos		Mining slope angle in positive X axis direction^**
Dimension	Slope:YNeg	slope:2, slope_2, slope:yneg, slopeyneg		Mining slope angle in negative Y axis direction^**
Dimension	Slope:YPos	slope:3, slope_3, slope:ypos, slopeypos		Mining slope angle in positive Y axis direction^**
Dimension	Pref:XNeg	pref:0, pref_0, pref:xneg, prefxneg		Mining preference in negative X axis direction^**
Dimension	Pref:XPos	pref:1, pref_1, pref:xpos, prefxpos		Mining preference in positive X axis direction^**
Dimension	Pref:YNeg	pref:2, pref_2, pref:yneg, prefyneg		Mining preference in negative Y axis direction^**
Dimension	Pref:YPos	pref:3, pref_3, pref:ypos, prefypos		Mining preference in positive Y axis direction^**
Dimension	Pref:ZNeg	pref:4, pref_4, pref:zneg, prefzneg		Mining preference in negative Z axis direction
Dimension	NumItems	numitems		In summary tables the number of summarized items (blocks etc.)
Dimension	MaxDepth	depth, max_depth		Maximum length of a drillhole
Dimension	Volume	vol, volume		Block volume that is not air
Index	BlockId
Index	Nb:XNeg	nb:0, nb_0, nb:xneg, nbxneg		Neighbor block ID in negative X axis direction^**
Index	Nb:XPos	nb:1, nb_1, nb:xpos, nbxpos		Neighbor block ID in positive X axis direction^**
Index	Nb:YNeg	nb:2, nb_2, nb:yneg, nbyneg		Neighbor block ID in negative Y axis direction^**
Index	Nb:YPos	nb:3, nb_3, nb:ypos, nbypos		Neighbor block ID in positive Y axis direction^**
Index	Nb:ZNeg	nb:4, nb_4, nb:zneg, nbzneg		Neighbor block ID in negative Z axis direction
Index	Nb:ZPos	nb:5, nb_5, nb:zpos, nbzpos		Neighbor block ID in positive Z axis direction
Name	Material	material, corr*		Material or corrective name
Name	RowType	rowtype		Row type in summary table
Name	HoleId	holeid, hole_id, dhid, dhnr, namehole, sondname, namesond		Unique ID of a drillhole
Name	SampleId	sampleid, sampid, probname, nameprob		Unique ID of a sample
Period	Period	miningperiod
Period	FirstPeriod			First period of taking tonnage from a block
Period	WastePeriod			Period where wasted tonnage was taken
Range	Depth:From	depth:0, depth_0, depthfrom, schichtvon		Depth range begin of sample within a drillhole
Range	Depth:To	depth:1, depth_1, depthto, schichtbis		Depth range end of sample within a drillhole
SpecTonnage	Density	dens, sg, spec		Density or specific gravity of material

^* t/kt stands for either tons or ktons (1000 tons).

^** direction: negative or positive X or Y direction refers to a model with Angle of 0°. Otherwise, everything is rotated accordingly.