Improvements to borehole delivery
BGS releases improvements to its borehole layer on the GeoIndex, which makes access faster and improves quality.
25/04/2023
BGS holds records of 1.5 million boreholes. They are a national asset and are relied upon by various types of users. User improvement is key to enable BGS to deliver the data needed by anyone using subsurface data. Improving the level of information delivered plus improvements in the speed and method of delivery are both crucial for ensuring everyone has access to this valuable dataset.
Why have we made these improvements?
Reviewing the enquiries received to BGS, a common theme preventing easy download of borehole data was the size of the scan. A new API (application programming interface) has been developed to deliver scans by generating multi-page PDFs to provide the data in a more efficient way.
Instead of an ‘image unavailable’ screen, users will have access to all the open borehole data held by the BGS, with no limitation on size.
A borehole log. BGS © UKRI.
Old error message informing the user the image was too large to download. The image now downloads with no errors. BGS © UKRI.
SOBI borehole scan example. BGS © UKRI.
A zoomed-in section of the example SOBI borehole scan. BGS © UKRI.
As well as improving access to scanned and other image format borehole data, improvements have been made to the graphic log created for AGS files. These amendments have been made in line with discussions with stakeholders, including Yorkshire Water, who wanted to see more information on the graphic log produced from the AGS file.
New features
New features in this release include:
- a new, multi-page PDF version to improve the delivery of scanned borehole records.
- an improved version of the graphical log derived from AGS data
- fields added to the ‘Borehole records’ layer to allow the user to see:
- the precision at which the location is known
- if there is a known scan-quality issue
We are hoping that these improvements will help people to access the data better. The next step is to provide better access to the AGS data and further improvements to the API will help accomplish that.
Release date
This release showcases improvements in the delivery of borehole data via the BGS GeoIndex. Changes to the ‘Borehole records’ and ‘AGS boreholes’ layers will go live in the week commencing 24 April 2023, to coincide with the AGS Annual Conference taking place on 27 April 2023.
About the author
Alison Steven
Data Accession Pipeline Manager