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Geoinformatics_05-2009
article the analysis tools available in geosoft s geochemistry for arcgis extension help uncover geochemical relationships. shown here are a number of these interactive tools linked with a map of dem contours, surface geology and sample results. scientists are becoming more comfortable weaving geospatial technology into their workday. the real breakthrough, however, has been adding and improving exploration workflow support for geologists and specialists working with large and multidisciplinary exploration datasets. i think one of the most critical aspects in the recent uptake is direct workflow support, says geoff wade, esri s natural resource industries manager. but to support the most complex of specialist workflows, gis really needs to be in the hands of a specialist solution builder. our global partnership with geosoft has been essential to fulfilling the specific needs of explorers working within arcgis. in collaboration with esri, geosoft has been building next generation gis solutions for exploration industries and the geosciences sector. we identified several explorer challenges, from basic format incompatibility issues, to a lack of advanced tools for visualizing and interpreting earth datasets (geology, geochemistry, and geophysics) inside gis systems, said louis racic, geosoft s director of desktop applications. and we set out to create a whole solution for explorers that would bridge these gaps. from an interoperability standpoint, geosoft has made it a development priority to support all of the leading gis data formats, and other common data formats, says racic. there is nothing more frustrating than spending time fiddling with incompatible data formats. our goal is to eliminate the need to convert data formats entirely, and free up time for the exploration team to collaborate in an integrated environment. geosoft chose to extend their exploration workflows to the esri arcgis environment to meet customer demand for simpler and more seamless solutions that met their exploration project needs. esri technology easily scales to the growing data and spatial challenges that exploration organizations are facing, said racic. and we ve also seen strong adoption of arcgis within global, government geological surveys and the academic geoscience sector. one result has been strong market demand for geosoft arcgis exploration workflow solutions. our target for arcgis extension software was our highest growth product last year, and we were taking orders for the new geochemistry for arcgis before its release to market, said racic. we re seeing strong interest in the geochemistry extension from the government sector as well as the exploration industry. geosoft has progressed its exploration strategy in gis with the recent release of a geochemistry for arcgis extension that extends the explorer s toolkit by providing the ability to analyse geochemical data within the arcgis environment, according to racic. and it provides a powerful exploration workflow solution that s not currently available in the market. geochemical investigations require the ability to process and analyze all components of geochemical sampling in context with the geology and geophysics. with the tools available within geochemistry for arcgis, explorers can effectively extract knowledge from their data by examining multivariate relationships, uncovering underlying structures, identifying outliers and anomalies and present results by easily creating informative, visually impactful maps. using geochemistry for arcgis, explorers can simplify their geochemistry quality control process and maintain data in an esri file geodatabase using a data model optimized for geochemical data. they can select and subset data interactively from maps based on lithology and regions to enhance data display; create advanced geochemical maps within the esri arcgis desktop environment; and analyse multi-element geochemistry using a variety of tools including: interactive multiple histogram plots, pearson s correlation reports, scatter plots, probability plots, ternary plots and box plots, to identify outliers and define populations. wade recommends a gradual adoption of gis by the exploration department, but one that is incorporated by every member of the interdisciplinary team. we find it particularly effective if several members of the project team embrace the technology at the same time, thereby supporting each other in the education process and gaining extra benefit from data sharing, improved workflow support and an improved communication capability, he says.in addition to workflow support, effective integration of gis within your exploration organization is also an important consideration. technology aside, if you start with a good understanding of your people s data requirements and project workflows, than you are more likely to achieve the results you need, says racic. there is no doubt that explorers today, both junior and major, are operating in a rapidly changing exploration environment that is increasingly reliant on data and applications available through the internet. there s more digital data to makes sense of, greater integration and interpretation challenges and larger drilling projects to manage. for many, the choice is clear: retool to deal with the new complexities of exploration and take advantage of all the rich, digital data and applications coming online, or risk being left behind, and missing out on future opportunities. carmela burns is a writer and the editor of earth explorer, www.earthexplorer.com, geosoft's magazine and online news site covering the earth sciences and exploration. her articles have been published in leading mining industry and geoscience magazines. scatterplot and histogram geochemical analysis are incorporated within this map of fort hope lake sediments geochemistry. 30 july/august 2009
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