• use the standard commands and functions of MapInfo® to add new rows of data to the existing tables;

• use the standard commands and functions of MapInfo® to turn raster images into MapInfo® tables, and to georeference them if needed (for example, if the image is to become one of the Previous Fault Compilations);

• use the Database itself to perform the Maintenance (see section 4.5.), a routine that prepares and displays new graphic objects corresponding to the newly added information and updates the necessary software links.

Notice that the level of knowledge of MapInfo® and of its tools that is required to update the Database information varies greatly depending on the type of operation that should be performed. For example, updating a text file requires very limited understanding of MapInfo®, of the structure of the Database and of the operating system of the computer used for the update operation. In contrast, adding new images or new Surface Ruptures to an existing source, adding a new source or adding a new Previous Fault Compilation requires substantial skills, not only to reach satisfactory results but also to avoid corrupting the Database.

This section describes how to add a new seismogenic source to the Database, or to update/modify an existing one. At the end of the procedure described in this section the user must run the Maintenance (see section 4.5.) to allow the Database to create new graphic objects corresponding to the new/updated source. A new source corresponds to a new row of the relevant table and to a new graphic object automatically generated and associated with this new row of data during the Maintenance. Notice that no change in the graphical appearance of the Database will be visible before the Maintenance is correctly performed.

This section assumes that the user already knows all the parameters needed to represent the particular source type within the Database. For the sake of simplicity all our descriptions refer to the case of a new Geologic/Geophysical source being added to the Database. Therefore all the variables mentioned in the following section belong to the table SourceGeol.tab and must be entered directly in this table using standard MapInfo® procedures (e.g., adding a new row of data, filling in the relevant variables, saving the updated table, etc.). Please refer to the scheme shown in § 2.2.3.1. for further details. Sources of different types require a subset of the operations described here, depending on the given source-type structure (§ 2.2.3.).

For a source of the Geologic/Geophysical category with associated surface ruptures the essential information includes:

• geometric and kinematic parameters;

• length, width, minimum and maximum depth from the surface of the rectangle that represents the projection of the source onto the surface;

• coordinates of the rectangle that represents the projection of the source onto the surface;

• coordinates of the northern and southern tips of the intersection between the projection of the fault plane and the surface (for E-W faults the two sets of coordinates are interchangeable). Notice that this condition applies not only to blind faults proper, but also to surface-breaking faults following the assumption that the minimum depth of faulting can never be less than 1 km (this circumstance is further discussed in § 2.2.3.1.);

• map location and references of any associated surface ruptures.

The user is encouraged to take advantage of the Microsoft® Excel code FaultMapper 3.2 [Basili, 2000] for:

• obtaining the full set of coordinates for a source of known geometry and size but for which the location is known only with reference to a single point (for example, only the location of a corner is known);

• testing the impact of different fault parameters, both geometric and spatial.

FaultMapper is available to all users on the same physical medium used to distribute the Database. It can also be downloaded from the Internet site of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (http://www.ingv.it/).

Any new source requires the assignment of an individual, unequivocal SourceName and IDSource for table SourceGeol.tab, SourceHistA.tab, etc. (see detailed characteristics of these variables in § 2.2.3.). SourceName should identify concisely the geographic location of the source and should not generate ambiguities with respect to nearby sources. The code IDSource must be assigned following the conventions described in § 2.2.3.1. through 2.2.3.6. (e.g., in the range 1-200 for sources of the Geologic/Geophysical category), provided that the code has not been already assigned to an existing source.

The four pairs of latitude and longitude coordinates of the rectangle representing the surface projection of the source and the two pairs of coordinates of its intersection with the topographic surface must be entered as latn, lonn (where n varies between 1 and 4) and as latN, lonN, latS, lonS, respectively. Latitudes and longitudes must be expressed in degrees (up to three digits) and thousandths of degree (three digits), separated by a point (e.g., "43.976", "7.289"). The default for all coordinates is "N latitude" and "E longitude". Notice that all these coordinates must be analytically consistent with all the other source parameters.

Length and Width describe the source size in terms of distance between the farthest edges and of down-dip width and must be expressed in km. The product length x width returns the total source area (which is larger than the area of the surface projection of the same source).

Strike, Dip and Rake are standard angles describing the geometry and kinematics of the source. Notice that for sources derived from historical data the field Strike may optionally contain also the uncertainty on its determination.

Min_depth and Max_depth describe the minimum and maximum depth of the plane representing the source from the topographic surface, in km.

Notice that all variables described must contain valid, non-null values. Failure to enter any of the parameters will cause malfunctions during the subsequent Maintenance procedure or ambiguities in the use of the Database. In any case, the graphic representation of each source is governed entirely by the assigned geographic coordinates. The user is hence responsible for checking carefully their correctness and consistency before entering new data.

Quality describes the reliability of the source data and is expressed by one or two parameters. The criteria adopted for rating all source types in the first release of the Database are discussed in § 2.2.3.1. and 2.2.3.2.

Evidence describes in plain words the type of evidence used to identify and characterise the given source. The user is invited to refer to the definitions already used for existing sources to preserve homogeneity.

Compiled_by gives credit to the compiler(s) of all the information gathered for the given source and of all resulting estimates. Please remember that this implies that the compiler(s) share(s) with the editors of the Database full scientific responsibility for the given source.

Finally, the field Preferred is used during the Maintenance to decide whether the new source should or should not be included in the Integrated Source Dataset (§ 2.2.3.7.). Leaving this field empty defaults to "F" (False), which means that the source will not be included in the Integrated Source Dataset.

The user may want to represent in the cartographic interface one or more surface ruptures (§ 2.2.3.9.) that are thought to slip in conjunction with one or more sources of the Geologic/Geophysical category. Notice that the procedure described below requires mastering most of the fundamental functions of MapInfo® and is not recommended to inexperienced users.

To enter new surface ruptures you must first run the Database and locate the surface ruptures using the Digital Elevation Model, the drainage data, information contained in the Additional Geophysical/Seismological Data, or a raster image prepared and georeferenced expressly for this purpose (e.g., the scanned version of a field map, a figure from a paper, a figure from the Database itself, etc.). You must then:

1) close the Database and go back to the standard MapInfo® tools;

2) click on the Layer Control button and turn the Cosmetic Layer to "editable";

3) open the table FaultScarps.tab;

4) draw a single uninterrupted surface rupture using the Polyline tool;

5) use the menu sequence Map > Save Cosmetic Objects to transfer the newly drawn surface rupture to FaultScarps.tab;

6) if you have more than one surface rupture to draw, or if the surface rupture must be represented by two separate fragments, go to (3) and cycle the steps (4) through (5) until needed (however, it is strongly recommended that you work on a limited number of fragments at a time);

7) click on one of the existing surface ruptures, select the "Style" button and take note of the standard style and colour used by the Database to represent them. The standard style is a continuous line with barbs marking the downthrown side of the rupture;

8) apply the same style and colour to the new surface ruptures. In doing so please notice that the style selected will cause the barbs to be on one side or on the other;

9) browse the table FaultScarps.tab and complete the information needed to identify each single strand of surface rupture:

• the IDSource of the source that is thought to be connected with the given surface rupture;

• a progressive IDScarp, valid only for the subset of surface ruptures connected to a single source;

• the name of the relevant source (optional);

• the name of the given fragment of surface rupture, possibly following the common usage found in the scientific literature concerning the given region (optional);

• the reference of the paper where the given fragment was first described/established. The reference must appear among the references associated with the relevant source. Leaving this field blank indicates that the surface rupture was established by the compiler(s) of the relevant source.

10) Save FaultScarps.tab (this will overwrite the existing table; you must create a backup copy of it beforehand if you want to retain the original information) and run the Maintenance procedure.

Notice again that this procedure generates graphic objects unequivocally identified by their logic (but supposedly also physical!) link with an existing source. The Database stores the geographic location of all surface ruptures in its own internal format. The coordinates of a given fragment can hence be retrieved only using the MapInfo® standard tools.

This section describes:

• how to prepare the textual information that accompanies each source and how to name the text files correctly;

• where to put the new files and filenames.

In addition to the quantitative parameters, each source is described by two text files:

The Summaries of the Main Studies on the Source and Comments and Open Questions files for non Geologic/Geophysical sources (i.e., all intensity-based sources) normally includes only a reference to the historical seismicity catalogue from which the given source was derived. The only exceptions are represented by the sources of the two categories Historical - Well Constrained with Geological Background and Historical - Poorly Constrained with Geological Background (§ 2.2.3.2. and 2.2.3.4.), for which a full literature background is supplied.

The two files containing the Summaries of the Main Studies on the Source and Comments and Open Questions should be written as plain text files with line breaks using Word or any simple text editor and according to the following format specifications:

No specific font or style (e.g., italic) can be used because plain text files do not retain the font information. Use the font that is most convenient for preparing the texts and then let the editor choose its pre-set one when the file is saved.

where "S" and "Q" indicate that the file contains a "Summaries of the Main Studies on the Source" or "Comments and Open Questions" text for the given source, "ITA" stands for the country the source is in (Italy, in this case), "007" is the conventional three-digit Id of the given source.

The S-ITA*.txt file must be placed in the Previous_Studies subfolder of the Source_Literature folder, while the Q-ITA*.txt file must be placed in the Open_Questions subfolder of the Source_Literature folder.

Finally, the names of the new files must be manually entered as new rows of the Assign_Studies.tab (for the S-ITA* file) and Assign_Questions.tab (for the Q-ITA* file). For both tables the information to be entered is the following:

Notice that these tables do not need to be sorted after appending new rows and that no Maintenance is required after having entered new text files.

Notice that entering new pictures in a new release of the Database to be published requires permission by the copyright holder, if the picture is covered by copyright. Specific permission was obtained for all of the pictures contained in the first version of the Database that were shown to be covered by copyright.

To generate appropriate picture files you need a graphic software to manipulate the raster ("bitmap") images to be entered in the Database, and MapInfo® to create the new tables associated with the pictures.

Scanned images should be first saved in any of the common graphic formats (.tif format recommended) with a resolution in the range 200-400 dpi depending on the size of the picture, on the size of the smallest characters or symbols in it, and on its general appearance. Since MapInfo® displays only raster images, any original images available in vectorial format must be first converted into raster.

The saved graphic file must then be opened to create additional blank space for the caption, either at the bottom of the figure or on its right-hand side. The amount of space varies depending on the size of the caption, but is normally in the order of about 2 cm for horizontal captions below the picture and 5-6 cm for vertical captions next to the picture. The space should be enough to contain 254 characters written in Helvetica 14. The extended image must then be saved as a .jpg file with a compression factor in the range 70-100%, depending on the size of the figure and on the complexity of its information content. If no additional space is prepared MapInfo® will place the caption over the image. This is generally undesirable, but in some instances it could be done on purpose (e.g. when the image is big but the graphic information in it is not very dense).

All the names of picture files have the same structure. Use the following example to understand how to name files:

The picture name can be composed using the name of the author(s), the year of publication, a significant characteristic of the picture, or any combination of all these elements (for example: Pantosti_etal_1993, Subsurf_geology, Montello_section). The maximum number of characters for a picture file name is 31, of which 4 are reserved for the suffix "_CAP" used for the caption corresponding to each picture and 4 for the suffix ".tab". Special characters like "." (dot) and "/" (slash) are not allowed by MapInfo®.

Once your picture is properly formatted and named, you can turn it into a MapInfo® table ready to be entered in the Database. To do this please follow these steps:

The last step of this procedure is to open the relevant folder and verify that the file has been correctly placed and named. For a picture called

MapInfo® will have created a table called

If the picture file name has the correct MapInfo® icon but does not contain the extension ".tab" (this may depend on the computer you are using), you must add it manually to match the conventional file name established through the Assign_Pictures.tab (§ 4.1.3.5.).

Captions are created using a text editor or using MapInfo® directly. The caption must describe very briefly the content of the picture, or the portions of the picture that are relevant to the specific seismic source, and must give appropriate credit to its author(s). The caption must be succinct also because MapInfo® allows a maximum of 254 characters to be displayed all at once. Use the text editor to count the characters of your caption, or proceed by trial-and-error. The reference to the author(s) must be made in one of the following ways: ...(from Black and White [2000]), ...(from Black et al. [1999]), ...(from Black et al. [1999], modified), ...(photo courtesy of John Smith). If no credit is given it is assumed that the figure was entirely prepared, or the photographs taken, by the compiler.

When the caption is ready in your text editor make a copy of it in the clipboard and then:

The caption is now ready and stored in the Cosmetic Layer. To save in a disk file go to Map menu and activate the command Save Cosmetic Objects. Press SAVE in the dialog box that will appear and enter the name of the caption file in the appropriate space. This name must be formed combining the full name of the picture with the suffix "_CAP", followed by ".tab". For example, the picture

will be contained in a MapInfo® table named

and will have its caption in a MapInfo® table named

To conclude the operation, close the new table by clicking Close All from the menu File. Then open the relevant folder and verify that the file has been correctly placed and named. By now MapInfo® should have created and placed in the same folder four different files:

In case of mistake, the caption file names can be changed only from inside MapInfo® (menu Table > Maintenance > Rename table). Please keep in mind that changing MapInfo® file names manually ruins them permanently.

Each picture is identified by a title that appears in the Pictures dialog box (from the menu Source Info >). The title has a maximum length of 50 characters and must be informative without redundancy. The same title cannot be assigned to more than one picture because the Database uses the titles as an identifier to retrieve the picture files. Notice that the title of the picture and the name of the picture file have quite different scopes. While the former informs the user on the content of the picture, the latter is mainly used by the system.

The last step of this procedure is to enter the information concerning the new pictures into the table Assign_Pictures.tab. This is done manually by creating new rows and entering the picture information:

Notice that these tables do not need to be sorted after appending new rows and that no Maintenance is required after having entered new pictures.

Any new picture concerning an existing source must be placed in the F* sub-subfolder of the Pictures subfolder of the Source_Literature folder. If the source has not been already established, the user must create a new empty folder named F*, where * is the IDSource to be assigned to the new source (§ 4.1.1.1.). Six new files must appear in the selected folder at the end of this procedure: two for the picture itself and four for the caption. For the usual picture called F1_Pezza_scarp.jpg, we will find:

New references for existing or new sources or lineaments can be manually entered in the Database as new rows of the Assign_References.tab. See § 2.2.4.4. for the structure of this table and see existing references for details about the format (for example, the convention adopted to list the authors of a given article, map, book or manuscript).

In consideration of the large number of references that may be handled by the Database, it is strongly recommended that the Assign_References.tab table is not updated directly but rather through a twin-file prepared with Microsoft® Excel, Microsoft® Word or any editor that may exchange files with MapInfo®. Notice that any new reference must be uniquely identified with the Code_ReferenceID, which is the code assigned to the given article, map, book or manuscript within the physical database of printed papers available at Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia in Rome. Resorting to a Microsoft® Excel copy of the references table allows an easier check of the existing codes and a safer assignment of a new one. At any rate, Assign_References.tab does not need to be sorted after entering new references and no Maintenance is required at the end of this procedure.

New or updated Previous Fault Compilations can be easily entered in the Database as soon as they become available. The procedure for entering a new Previous Fault Compilation involves adding a new row to the Compilations.tab table and filling-in the various fields comprising the table. See § 2.2.5.2.3. for the structure of this table and see existing references for details about the format (for example, the convention adopted to list the authors of the given Previous Fault Compilation).

The preparation of the actual graphic file containing the Previous Fault Compilation to be entered in the Database follows a procedure that is largely similar to that already described for the preparation of new pictures (§ 4.1.3.2.). Also in this case you must first generate appropriate picture files using a graphic software to manipulate the raster ("bitmap") images to be entered in the Database, and MapInfo® to create the new tables associated with the pictures. The main difference here is that the Previous Fault Compilations must also be accurately georeferenced using standard MapInfo® procedures. Please see sub-section "Composing the picture" in § 4.1.3.2. for all details concerning the image resolution and format.

There is no specific scheme form naming a new Previous Fault Compilation. The user may follow the general rules already discussed in the section on Preparing a new Picture - Naming the Picture File (§ 4.1.3.2.), except that no prefix is needed such as the "F*" used to identify all pictures related to the * source. Nevertheless it is recommended that the title begins with a geographic reference such that the compilations will appear listed in some geographically ordered fashion (refer to the existing table for further details).

New or updated layers of Additional Geophysical/Seismological Data can always be added to the Database at the user’s convenience. Similarly to the case of the Previous Fault Compilations, the procedure for entering one of these layers involves adding a new row to the Additional_Data.tab table and filling-in the various fields comprising the table. See § 2.2.5.2.4. for the structure of this table and see existing references for details about the format (for example, the convention adopted to list the authors of the given layer of Additional Geophysical/Seismological Data).

The preparation of the file containing the new layer of Additional Geophysical/Seismological Data to be entered in the Database varies depending on whether the information is supplied as a vector file or as a raster image.

For vector-type information no special preparation is required, and the user is entirely in charge of deciding the style of representation (symbol type, symbol size, line thickness, colours, etc.) that best suits the Database. In deciding a style of representation, however, the user will have in mind the graphical contrast needed for representing the newly entered information over the existing Database tables such as Digital Elevation Model.

For raster information the procedure is similar to that already described for the preparation of Previous Fault Compilations (see section 4.2.).

The name of a new table of Additional Geophysical/Seismological Data is not governed by any convention such as the "F*" used to identify all pictures related to the * source. The name will simply describe at its best the content of the table or its authors.

A new vector-type table of Additional Geophysical/Seismological Data can be accompanied by as much information as it is available to the user. Once it is open, a table of this category follows the standard rules of MapInfo®. In particular, the information associated with the graphic objects can be retrieved through the Object Info tool from within the Database. More standard MapInfo® tools (e.g., statistics, find/query, etc.) become available when the Database is closed and control is fully returned to MapInfo®.

Notice that a Tectonic Lineament can be associated with specific references following the same procedure as that seen for seismogenic sources of all types (§ 2.2.4.4. and 4.1.4.).