Developing digital fieldwork technologies at the British Geological Survey

Abstract

AbstractGeological Surveys are faced with budget constraints and calls for efficiency gains; the effective application of digital techniques is often seen as a route to meeting these demands while increasing the value of outcrop studies and reducing the inherent subsurface uncertainty. The British Geological Survey may be the oldest national Survey in the world (established in 1835); however, developing and implementing new, innovative and efficient technologies for fieldwork is a high priority. Efficient tools for capturing, integrating, manipulating and disseminating outcrop data and information are imperative to enable geoscientists to increase their understanding of geological processes and therefore to reduce subsurface uncertainty and risk. Systems for capturing structured digital field data and for visualizing and interacting with large datasets are increasingly being utilized by geoscientists in the UK and internationally. Augmented reality and unmanned aerial vehicles are amongst the developing technologies being explored for future operational implementation. This paper describes the digital field mapping (BGS·SIGMAmobile) and visualization (GeoVisionary) systems and refers to a case study outlining their contribution to reducing uncertainty and risk in hydrocarbon exploration.