Method for computing it (e-mail from Ned, 11/30/10):
Kevin,
The Aki Richards convention is described at:
http://www.opensha.org/glossary-strikeDipRake
All data in the database should already conform to this.
As for implementation, I see aveDipDir computed as:
firstLoc = faultTrace.get(0);
lastLoc = faultTrace.get(faultTrace.getNumLocations() - 1);;
LocationVector? aveDir = LocationUtils?.vector(firstLoc, lastLoc);
aveDipDirection = ( aveDir.getAzimuth() + 90 );
in both StirlingGriddedSurface? & SimpleListricGriddedSurface?.
We should document this implementation carefully.
Cheers,
Ned