Digital geoscience spatial model project final report

When developing a 3-D view of the subsurface, a geologist has to collect, validate and integrate a wide range of data. The resulting understanding of the concealed geology can then be brought together as a 3D model. All of this data and understanding should be accessible as the model is viewed, rather like a digital 3D geological map with descriptions, keys and links to the observational data. The term digital geoscience spatial model (DGSM) was coined by Vic Loudon for this concept, which he describes in the first section of this report. The DGSM has seen the concept turned into a working system. In this report we summarise the objectives and achievements of the DGSM and describe the strands that have been woven together to bring the programme to completion. Our intention here is to provide an outline of the system so that BGS collegues, other environmental scientists and our clients can use it to further the understanding of the complex Earth on which we depend. In order to put the idea into practice, the BGS carried out a scoping study and won funding from the NERC to carry out a five-year project which started in 2000. We designed the programme to have two main parts: the 'framework' of information technology developments and the 'population projects' where the framework could be tested.