diff --git a/troggle/expo/fileAbstraction.py b/troggle/expo/fileAbstraction.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..deb1a4a68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/troggle/expo/fileAbstraction.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+import troggle.settings as settings
+import os
+
+def urljoin(x, y): return x + "/" + y
+
+def listdir(*path):
+    try:
+        l = ""
+        root = os.path.join(settings.FILES, *path)
+        for p in os.listdir(root):
+            if os.path.isdir(os.path.join(root, p)):
+                l += p + "/\n"
+            elif os.path.isfile(os.path.join(root, p)):
+                l += p + "\n"
+            #Ignore non-files and non-directories
+        return l
+    except:
+        return urllib.urlopen(settings.FILES + "listdir/" + reduce(urljoin, path))
+
+def readFile(*path):
+    try:
+        f = open(os.path.join(settings.FILES, *path))
+    except:
+        f = urllib.urlopen(settings.FILES + "download/" + reduce(urljoin, path))
+    return f.read()
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/troggle/expo/view_surveys.py b/troggle/expo/view_surveys.py
index cd3210b0b..2c5b5a108 100644
--- a/troggle/expo/view_surveys.py
+++ b/troggle/expo/view_surveys.py
@@ -1,38 +1,22 @@
-import troggle.settings as settings
+import fileAbstraction
 from django.http import HttpResponse, Http404
-import os
+
 
 def listdir(request, path):
-    try:
-        l = []
-        print settings.FILES, "t", path, "t"
-        root = os.path.join(settings.FILES, path)
-        print root
-        for p in os.listdir(root):
-            if os.path.isdir(os.path.join(root, p)):
-                l.append(p + "/")
-            elif os.path.isfile(os.path.join(root, p)):
-                l.append(p)
-            #Ignore non-files and non-directories
-        return HttpResponse(str(l), mimetype = "text/plain")
-    except:
-        try:
-            return HttpResponse(urllib.urlopen(settings.FILES + "listdir/" + name), mimetype = "text/plain")
-        except:
-            raise Http404
+    #try:
+        return HttpResponse(fileAbstraction.listdir(path), mimetype = "text/plain")
+    #except:
+    #    raise Http404
 
 def upload(request, path):
     pass
 
 def download(request, path):
-    try:
-        f = open(os.path.join(settings.FILES, path))
-    except:
-        try:
-            f = urllib.urlopen(settings.FILES + "download/" + path)
-        except:
-            raise Http404
-    return HttpResponse(f.read(), mimetype=getMimeType(path.split(".")[-1]))
+    #try:
+        return HttpResponse(fileAbstraction.readFile(path), mimetype=getMimeType(path.split(".")[-1]))
+    #except:
+    #    raise Http404
+
 
 def getMimeType(extension):
     try:
diff --git a/troggle/parsers/surveys.py b/troggle/parsers/surveys.py
index 86d7dc6e0..1fc5edb65 100644
--- a/troggle/parsers/surveys.py
+++ b/troggle/parsers/surveys.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ from troggle import *
 os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE']='troggle.settings'
 import troggle.settings as settings
 import troggle.expo.models as models
+import fileAbstraction
 
 #import settings
 #import expo.models as models
@@ -16,9 +17,9 @@ import datetime
 
 def openFileOrWeb(name):
     try:
-        f = open(os.path.join(settings.SURVEYS, name))
+        f = open(os.path.join(settings.FILES, name))
     except:
-        f = urllib.urlopen(settings.SURVEYS + name)
+        f = urllib.urlopen(settings.FILES + "download/" + name)
     return f.readlines()
 
 surveytab = openFileOrWeb("Surveys.csv")
@@ -57,12 +58,12 @@ for survey in surveyreader:
 
 # add survey scans
 def parseSurveyScans(year):
-    yearPath=os.path.join(settings.SURVEYS, year.year)
-    yearFileList=os.listdir(yearPath)
-    for surveyFolder in yearFileList:
+    yearDirList = [d for d in fileAbstraction.listdir(year.year).split("\n") if d[-1] == "/"]
+    for surveyFolder in yearDirList:
+        print surveyFolder
         try:
             surveyNumber=re.match(r'\d\d\d\d#0*(\d+)',surveyFolder).groups()
-            scanList=os.listdir(os.path.join(yearPath,surveyFolder))
+            scanList=fileAbstraction.listdir(yearPath, surveyFolder).split("\n")
         except AttributeError:
             print surveyFolder + " ignored"
             continue