One of the largest barriers to migration to a new dive log program is that most dive log programs do not understand each other's logging format. In most cases, to enjoy the features of new logging software, you must manually enter each dive log entry into the new program.

SurfaceInterval solves this problem by allowing you to import dive entries from several other dive log programs, preventing the need for manual entry. Its important to understand, that there is seldom a 1:1 relationship to the various entry elements from program to program. However, there are also a lot of similarities. Elements such as dive time, maximum depth, location, etc., are all but universal.

SurfaceInterval does a very good job of interpreting these similarities. The result is that dives imported from other dive logs are quite usable and usually require only minor editing once they've been imported. If you're like me, the only reason you have a PC, is that up until now, there has not been a worthy dive log program available for Macintosh. Switching from a PC based dive log to SurfaceInterval couldn't be easier. Here are the details for importing dive entries from the various dive log formats that SurfaceInterval understands:

DataTrak for Windows
Perhaps the trickiest part of switching to SurfaceInterval is getting your log file from your PC to the Mac. You can email it to yourself, use networking or even burn it to a CD. However you manage to get the log file to the Mac's hard drive, you should end up with a file called something like "mydives.log". This is where the fun begins.

To import your log, simply select Import... from the Log menu. In the ensuing file dialog, navigate to your local (or even networked) copy of "mydives.log" and hit the Open button. Depending on the size of your source log, you may or may not see the spinning pizza. Don't panic; this may take a while for particularly large source files. Once the import is complete, your dive list will fill up with the imported dive entries. You can navigate through each one and make any changes you feel are important. Along with the dive entry information, any dive profile data is also imported and will be viewable with the graph function. When finished, don't forget to save your updated SurfaceInterval log file. The source file will not be harmed in any way, so you might want to hang on to it for backup or sentimental reasons.

There is no need to start with a fresh log. SurfaceInterval will simply import the dive entries into the currently open dive log and will handle any conflicts according to the rules you've set up in your Duplicate handling preferences.

Sensus Manager
SurfaceInterval can also import dive entries from ReefNet's Sensus Manager. Sensus Manager saves each dive entry to a separate log file. The file name will usually look something like "0033220259.dat". Again, simply select Import... from the Log menu, navigate to the source log file and hit the Open button. A single log entry will be imported along with its profile graph data.

Paladin
Paladin is a dive log program popular on PalmOS devices. Since no HotSync conduit is provided for the Macintosh, it will be necessary to do a little digging to locate the files which SurfaceInterval can import. Lets say you've just returned from a dive trip, where you have saved several dives using Paladin on a Palm PDA. The first thing you should do is do a complete backup of your PalmOS device. This will effectively download the Paladin log file to your Macintosh. Now we just have to find it. As usual, select Import... from the Log menu. This time you will need to navigate to
"/Users/{your user name}/Documents/Palm/{your Palm name}/Backups/".
You should find a file that looks something like "AladinDir-Kuro.pdb". Note; this is the naming convention that Paladin uses to save files containing dives which were downloaded from an Aladin dive computer. If the dive originated from a different dive computer, the name would reflect that manufacturer instead. Now just hit the Open button. If the selected file represents entries for more than one user, SurfaceInterval will present a dialog allowing you to select the user for whom you are downloading dive entries. SurfaceInterval will then import the entries into your current dive log.

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Don't forget that SurfaceInterval's dive list is always sorted chronologically. If you are importing dives into a populated dive log, the imported entries will not show up at the end of the list if the current dive log already contains later entries.