MountainsMap

MountainsMap

MountainsMap 7.0 Graphical user interface (microtopography of an artificial leather texture from a car dashboard)
Developer(s)	Digital Surf
Initial release	September 1996
Stable release	10.0 [1] / June 1, 2023 (2023-06-01)
Operating system	Windows
Platform	PC
Type	Scientific Software
License	Proprietary
Website	www.digitalsurf.com

Mountains is an image analysis and surface metrology software platform published by the company Digital Surf. Its core is "micro-topography", the science of studying surface texture and form in 3D at the microscopic scale. The software is dedicated to profilometers, 3D light microscopes ("MountainsMap"), scanning electron microscopes ("MountainsSEM") and scanning probe microscopes ("MountainsSPIP").

Integration by instrument manufacturers

The main editor's distribution channel is OEM, through the integration of MountainsMap by most profiler and microscope manufacturers, ^{[2] [3]} usually under their respective brands.

Compatibility

• Mountains native file format is the SURF format (.SUR extension).
• Mountains is compatible with most instruments of the market capable of supplying images or topography. ^[4]
• Mountains complies to the ISO 25178 standard on 3D surface texture evaluation and offers the profile and areal filters defined in ISO 16610.
• The metrology reports are generated in proprietary format but can also be exported to PDF and RTF formats.
• Mountains is available in English, Brazilian Portuguese, simplified Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian and Spanish.

Data types ("studiables") accepted

Vocabulary:

• ${\displaystyle x,y,z}$ refer to space coordinates, ${\displaystyle t}$ to the time, and ${\displaystyle i}$ to an intensity. ${\displaystyle A=f(B)}$ means ${\displaystyle A}$ is function of ${\displaystyle B}$, ${\displaystyle B}$ referring usually to space coordinates and ${\displaystyle A}$ to a scalar.
• In Mountains's vocabulary, these data types are referred to as "studiables".

Most studiables have a dynamic (time-series) equivalent, e.g., the surface studiable ${\displaystyle z=f(x,y)}$ used to study topography has an associate studiable Series of Surfaces ${\displaystyle z=f(x,y,t)}$ used to study the evolution of topography (e.g., heat distortion of a surface).

Mountains analyses the following basic data types: ^[5]

Data type	Example Image	Formula	Application	Has a time-dynamic equivalent ("series of ..." )	Instrument
Profile		${\displaystyle z=f(x)}$		Yes	stylus 2D profilometer.
Parametric profile		${\displaystyle (x,z)=f(t)}$	"Contour": Form analysis in 2D	No	Contour instruments
Surface		${\displaystyle z=f(x,y)}$	Surface Topography	Yes	Optical or contact 3D profilometer
Shell			Analysis of Free Form Surfaces	No	Multiple axis profilometers, tomographs
Point clouds			Import of non-meshed shells and surfaces	No	Scanning devices
True color image		${\displaystyle (R,G,B)=f(x,y)}$	True color or gray-level image	Yes	Scanning Electron Microscope, Light microscope, simple camera
Surface-image		${\displaystyle (Z,R,G,B)=f(x,y)}$	Topography and true color image	No	optical profilometer providing the topography with the image
Multi-channel image		${\displaystyle (i1,i2,...,in)=f(x,y)}$		No	Atomic force microscope, spectrum analyzer, correlative imaging using heterogeneous sources
Multi-channel cube		${\displaystyle (i1,i2,...,in)=f(x,y,z)}$		No	FIB-SEM, Confocal-Raman tomography
Force curves				Yes	Atomic force microscopes
Spectrum			${\displaystyle (i)=f(lambda)}$	Yes	Spectrometer
Hyperspectral image			${\displaystyle i=f(x,y,lambda)}$	No	X-Y scanning spectrometer, hyperspectral camera, SEM/EDX, Raman, Cathodoluminescence...

History of versions

• Digital Surf launched their first (2D) surface analysis software package in 1990 for MS-DOS ("DigiProfil 1.0"), then their first 3D surface analysis package in 1991 for Macintosh II ("DigiSurface 1.0").
• Version 1.0 of MountainsMap was launched in September 1996, introducing a change in the name after a move of the editor to Windows from MsDos and Macintosh platforms.
• Version 5.0 introduced the management of multi-layers images. It was a move to Confocal microscopy (analysis of topography+color as a single object as opposed to separate objects in former versions), and to SPM image analysis (analysis of topography+current, topography+phase, topography+force as a single image). ^[6]

Mountains 6 - Makalu 2010 event logo

• Version 6.0 ^[7] completed the specialization of the platform per instrument type. ^[8] For Version 6.0 the company teamed with a group of alpinists to launch the new version at the summit of the Makalu mountain. A special logo was created for this marketing event. The expedition was successful and Alexia Zuberer, a French and Swiss mountaineer was then the first Swiss woman to reach the summit of the Makalu, Sandrine de Choudens, a French PhD in chemistry being the first French woman to succeed ^{[9] [10] [11]}
• Version 7.0 was unveiled in September 2012 at the European Microscopy Congress in Manchester, UK. It expanded the list of instruments supported, in particular with new Scanning electron microscope 3D reconstruction software and hyperspectral data analysis (such as Raman and FT-IR hyperspectral cube analysis). ^[12]
• Version 7.2 (February 2015) introduces near real-time 3D topography reconstruction for scanning electron microscopes
• Version 7.3 (January 2016) adds fast colorization of scanning electron microscope images based on object-oriented image segmentation. ^{[13] [14]}
• Version 7.4 (January 2017) offers 3D reconstruction from a single SEM image, and enhanced 3D printing ^[15]
• Version 8.0 (June 2019) is the successor of both Mountains 7.4 and SPIP 6.7 software packages ("SPIP" standing for "Scanning Probe Image Processor") after the acquisition by Digital Surf of the Danish company Image Metrology A/S, the editor of SPIP. ^[16] Version 8.0 also introduces the analysis of free form surfaces, called "Shells" in the software.
• Version 9.0 (June 2021) completes the "shells" (free form surfaces) with surface texture analysis adapted from the ISO 25178 parameters already calculated on the standard surfaces. It also comes with a new product line, "MountainsSpectral", dedicated to the chemical mapping of elements in both 2D (images of chemical composition) and 3D (multi-channel tomography of chemical composition), with applications such as FIB-SEM EDX (X-Ray analysis coupled with focused ion beam tomography) or confocal Raman (Raman analysis in confocal microscopy) ^[17]
• Version 10.0 (June 2023) completes the list of supported microscopes with Light Microscopes, ^[1] and introduces new features such as CAD-comparison of free-form surfaces ("shells"), aspherics lens analysis. ^[18]

Instruments supported

Version	Instruments supported [19]	Specific functions
MountainsMap Profile	2D Profilometers	ISO 25178 surface texture parameters Roughness, Waviness, Contour analysis
MountainsMap Topography [20]	3D Profilometers based on single point sensors [21] (stylus contact, chromatic non-contact)	ISO 25178 Surface topography parameters 3D surface topography rendering Sensor range expansion by vertical patching
MountainsMap Imaging Topography	White light interferometers [22] Confocal Microscopes [23] Fringe projection profilometers [24]	Management of missing/bad data points Field expansion by stitching 3D true-color management (topography+color)
MountainsSEM	Scanning electron microscopes	3D reconstruction from a stereo pair [25] 3D reconstruction using a 4-quadrant detector semi-automatic colorization [26]
MountainsSPIP	Atomic force microscopes Scanning tunneling microscopes	Multi-Channel SPM image management Force curve analysis
MountainsSpectral	Cathodoluminescence microscopes [27]	Hyperspectral analysis
MountainsLab	All of the previous	Correlative microscopy (colocalization of images from heterogeneous microscope types) [28]

References

1. Software updates on the editor's Web site
2. "Digital Surf Mountains Technology". Wiley Analytical Science. 2009. Retrieved 2025-04-16– via Analytical Science News.
3. Surface analysis data to be sold with instruments in Engineering talk Archived 2008-07-26 at the Wayback Machine
4. List of file formats compatible with Mountains, on the editor's web site
5. List of data types compatibles with Mountains on the editor's web site
6. "New Mountains 5.1 From Digital Surf Available For Free Upgrade on nanowerk.com". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
7. "MountainsMap 6 Available in July 2010 from Digital Surf on Azonano.com". Archived from the original on 2014-02-03. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
8. "MountainsMap 6 - Instrument-oriented Solutions for Surface Texture Analysis on nanowerk.com". Archived from the original on 2014-02-21. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
9. (in French) Makalu summit climbing history
10. (in French) a french and swiss success at the summit of the Makalu mountain
11. Makalu2010 expedition film participates to the mountain film festival of Les Diablerets, Switzerland
12. "Digital Surf Announce New Generation of Mountains 7 Software for Surface Metrology in Azonano.com". Archived from the original on 2014-02-04. Retrieved 2013-06-20.
13. Next Monday, Digital Surf to Launch Revolutionary SEM Image Colorization in Azonmaterials
14. Showing your true colors, 3D and color in electron microscopy in Lab News magazine
15. "Digital Surf - Surface Imaging, Analysis and Metrology Software".
16. The story behind MountainsSPIP, interview of Digital Surf's CEO in Surface Newsletter, Fall 2019, Pages 4-6
17. The Mountains 9 release, what's coming, in the editor's magazine SURFACE Newsletter
18. New Product : Digital Surf Mountains 10 Software, in Quality Magazine
19. "Product Range Description on the editor's Web site". Archived from the original on 2016-03-28. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
20. MountainsMap range description from the Editor's web site
21. Mitutoyo Corporation signs OEM contract with Digital Surf
22. Bruker Nano Surfaces offers Vision64 Map with 3D optical microscope systems in News medical
23. "Carl Zeiss to Provide Surface Imaging Software from Digital Surf with Selected Microscopes in Azonano.com". Archived from the original on 2012-10-07. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
24. 3-D Measurement Software in Photonics.com
25. Digital Surf Releases Mountains 7 Software for Surface Imaging and Metrology in Azomaterials
26. Adding colour to SEM imaging in Electronic Specifier
27. Software brings 3D mapping to nanoscale objects in Electronic Specifier
28. Correlation of AFM/SEM/EDS Images to Discriminate Several Nanoparticle Populations Mixed in Cosmetics in Microscopy Today, Vol 29 issue 3, 21 May 2021

External links

• New 3D parameters and filtration techniques for surface metrology, François Blateyron, Quality Magazine White Paper
• Manufacturer's official Web site
• Makalu 2010 expedition sum up published by one of the Mountaineers, Philippe Bourgine
• Makalu 2010 expedition video