Data surface

Wintrack provides storage space for 5 data surfaces, temporary internal data structures that you use while processing the statements of a custom variable definition file in order to analyze case documents. Each cell of a data surface represents a rectangular tile inside the arena. The arrangement of the cells in rows and columns represents the horizontal and vertical arrangement of the rectangular tiles in space. Data surfaces representing case documents with more than one trial have multiple trial planes, one for each trial in the case. Depending on the analysis in course, a data surface may hold values such as the time spent within each tile or the average speed while traveling across each tile. Data surfaces are computed from the active data matrix using the Surface statement, whereby cell values of the matrix are mapped to cells of the data surface using their x- and y-position coordinates. Data surfaces serve as data source for creating surface variables using the Tabulate statement, or for generating data arrays using the Collect statement. See Managing custom variable definition files to learn more on custom data analysis in Wintrack.