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Technical Program
Session I Intro
Session I Papers
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Management of Data and Information that Underpins Geological Maps--Is it a Technical or Cultural Problem?
by Jeremy R.A. Giles, British Geological Survey, Nottingham, UK
The British Geological Survey (BGS) has entered the third century in which it will be managing the national geological data collections that underpin geological maps. During 2001 BGS will complete Version One of the 1:50,000 scale digital geological map database of Great Britain. This database is itself dependant upon by numerous other databases that contain the information necessary to:
- validate the interpretation;
- add additional information themes;
- produce higher resolution maps; and
- deliver 2nd and subsequent versions of the geological map database of Great Britain.
However, before these underpinning databases can be integrated with the geological map database, and each other, a whole range of issues have to be addressed. These include:
- standards;
- intrusion;
- corporate data policy;
- not interrupting the supply of existing products and services;
- data ownership;
- data management;
- data discovery;
- data quality; and
- software systems issues.
Whilst many of these issues appear superficially to be technical, and as such may appear to be deceptively simple to address, they are in reality largely cultural issues. Many geoscientists, as individuals and team members, have made a large personal investment in "their" data. This needs to be recognised, but can pose problems that must be addressed.
The BGS has recently completed a three year project, the BGS-geoIDS project, which has tackled many of these issues. The aim of this paper is to discuss the issues and share the lessons BGS has learned.
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