Data files in the Latin American Archaeology Database are comma-delimited ASCII text files. This format has been chosen because the vast majority of spreadsheet, database, and statistical analysis applications written for any computer platform (Windows, MacIntosh, Linux/Unix, etc.) are able to import ASCII text data files. While the future of computing is notoriously difficult to predict, the ASCII text data file seems likely to be as long-lived a standard as any currently available. Some applications will only recognize and read ASCII text data files correctly if the file is named with the extension .TXT. The files in this Database are all named with the extension .TXT. Some applications enable their users to select "ASCII" or "text" files or files named with the extension .TXT ("*.TXT") as the type of file to read in the usual dialog box produced by selecting File then Open . Others may treat reading ASCII text files as the importation of a foreign format, accomplished by selecting something like File then Import . It may be necessary to specify that the "delimiter" in the text file is a comma. Some programs, especially database managers, may require the user to first create a table with variable names and other other structure to import the ASCII data into. Others are quite good at figuring out what is in a comma-delmited ASCII file and creating a data table with a structure to match it.
In some datasets, maps are provided in the form of AutoCAD .DXF files. These are also ASCII text files, which contain the information necessary to produce an AutoCAD drawing. The .DXF file format is read and imported fairly successfully by virtually all CAD programs for all common computing platforms. It has also become a very commonly used format for transferring spatial data between other kinds of programs for analysis of spatial data, including GIS software such as GRASS, Idrisi, AutoCAD Map, and Arc/View. All the maps in the Latin American Archaeology Database should be easily imported into GIS programs, although it may be necessary to make modifications to the files first with some CAD program, since different GIS software has different expectations concerning just how the spatial structure inherent in a map is encoded in a .DXF file. The .DXF files in the Latin American Archaeology Database are all named with the extension .TXT instead of the usual extension .DXF for this kind of file. This makes the process of downloading correctly with some web browsers easier, since the extension text enables them to recognize that they are dealing with an ASCII text file and treat it correctly. In order for some programs to recognize these as AutoCAD .DXF files and read them correctly, once they have been downloaded and saved, it may be necessary to rename them, replacing the extension .TXT with the extension .DXF. (Users of Windows who have not already done so, may need to open Windows Explorer , select the Tools menu, then Folder Options , then uncheck the Hide extensions for known file types checkbox in order to be able to see, and thus change, file extensions.)