Explanation of the BGS subsurface viewer

The Subsurface Viewer is a package developed by INSIGHT Geologische Softwaresysteme GmbH for the visualisation and analysis of digital geoscientific spatial models. The viewer has been developed following the popularity of INSIGHT’s Geological Surveying and Investigation in 3D (GSI3D) software tool that is in use extensively inside the British Geological Survey (BGS) for the construction of systematic near surface models (Kessler and Mathers 2004; Kessler et al. 2005; Kessler et al. 2009). These notes describe and display the use of the interface windows to the software. A Geological Model is embedded within the Viewer as a means of publication and distribution to the wider world. In this way the constructed model can be examined and analysed to produce:  models displaying the geology or other pre-selected applied themes (e.g. hydrogeological properties)  geological maps (at surface and uncovered)  user defined synthetic borehole logs  user defined horizontal slices and vertical sections  visualisation of the geometry of single and combined units The model supplied with the Subsurface Viewer is encrypted and cannot be altered, nor can users add additional data as the viewer is a standalone package. The model and the necessary Java software and extensions are all included in the package. The model described herein (West Thurrock) is freely downloadable from the BGS website at: http://www.bgs.ac.uk/science/thamesgateway/3dModels.html