Data Documents are disk-based files, which can contain a variety of data types, including images, object and field measurements and statistics. The Data Document format provides a convenient mechanism for collecting many different data types associated with a project and storing them together in a convenient format. Such files may be used for archival purposes or for easily transferring data between workstations or colleagues. Data stored in a Data Document can be manipulated to create further visual and analytical displays after the data has been acquired, such as Image Montages, or customized graphs and spreadsheets.
The Data Document window consists of the SideBar, the Data View and the Status Bar. These three components are not unique to the data document, in fact, they are part of all of the documents in HCImage. What is important, is the integral part that the SideBar and Data View play in providing a organized structure, allowing for dynamic interaction with images and measured data that can easily be displayed in a variety of graphical formats or exported to other file types. The SideBar and Data View will be explained in detail in the following section.