What's new | Summer 2010 | Information Products
Non-coal mining hazards | Product update
The Mining Hazard (not including coal) dataset provides information on where past underground mine workings are a potential hazard.
The dataset covers Great Britain at a scale of 1: 50 000 and evaluates approximately 50 types of mineral commodity that have been worked by underground methods including metals, oil shale, building materials and salt.
It combines the geology, which constrains the distribution of the potential hazard, with records obtained through extensive literature searches for historic locations.
The original version of this data was released February 2009 and the new updated version is due to be released in autumn 2010 with revisions to the methodology for the identification of vein and chalk mining areas and additional building stone locations.
For further information see Mining Hazard (not including coal)
Superficial Deposits Thickness Model | Product update
BGS has released its latest version of the Superficial Deposits Thickness Model (SDTM).
Superficial deposits (historically referred as 'drift') are largely unconsolidated; information about its thickness is important when considering ground conditions, stability and geo-environmental hazards.
The thickness of superficial deposits defines how deeply bedrock is buried beneath our feet and understanding the depth at which the geology changes from superficial deposits to bedrock is critical in a number of areas of work. For example, in the evaluation of groundwater resources and possible water pollution and also in the prediction of surface hazards such as landslides and the collapse of underlying rocks.
Geological Indicators of Flooding | Product update
The new version of the Geological Indicators of Flooding (GIF) is now available with some new updates. This new version not only shows the areas vulnerable to two main types of flooding — inland (river floodplains) and coastal/estuarine — but also tries to take things a bit further and subdivides these two types of flooding areas into two distinctive zones:
- Zone 1 fluvial: the first areas to experience the effects of inland flooding in a river catchment.
- Zone 2 fluvial: areas only to be affected in extreme flooding cases as a result of a prolonged flood event.
- Zone 1 coastal: the first areas to experience the effects of coastal flooding.
- Zone 2 coastal: areas only to be affected in extreme flooding cases as a result of a combination of coastal factors such as very high tides, very high wind speeds, large storm surge.
The map is based on observation of the types of geological deposit present and does not take into account any man-made influences such as house building or flood protection schemes. It also doesn’t take into account low-lying areas where flooding could occur but where there are no materials indicating flooding in the geological past.
DiGMapGB-50k unique identifiers | Product update
Due to popular demand the 2011 release of DiGMapGB 1: 50 000 scale data will contain universal unique identifiers ‘UUIDs’
So what does this mean for you?
Have you ever wanted to tie your own data to a specific geological feature or features and know that the link will remain when you update to newer versions of DiGMapGB-50K? The inclusion of a UUID will allow you to do exactly this, as the UUID will be constant between versions. Therefore the same feature can be easily tracked through updates of the data.
The UUID will also mean that in subsequent releases of DiGMap we will be in a position to provide information about which features have been changed/added or deleted, bringing ‘change-only updates’ a step closer.
Please note that the UUID is not yet available in other scales of data .
For further information on DiGMapGB-50K UUIDs please contact Rhonda Newsham.
Office news
As from April 2010 Matt Harrison became the Head of Information Products. During his time at BGS Matt has worked in the field of spatial information, mainly across the natural hazards and marine areas, leading the GeoSure project and as Baseline Products Team Leader in interoperability between onshore and offshore datasets.
Matt’s predecessor, Jenny Walsby, has moved on to pastures new, living the ‘good life’ in Wales. We all wish her luck!
Carto GIS facility
This year, Information Products have welcomed the CartoGIS service which has moved into the Data Capture and Best Practice Team. The CartoGIS team consists of around 30 cartographers, in Keyworth and Edinburgh, who possess a wide range of skills ranging from digital data capture to cartographic and graphic design.
The cartographers build the BGS's main digital datasets and publish our geological map series. CartoGIS staff also illustrate the Survey's books and reports and are currently developing exciting new ways to deliver our products via our website.
Contact
For further information, or to collaborate on geoscience information products research, contact BGS Enquiries.
