[ENVIRONMENT] Open Geoscience Data Models

Geological Survey Organisations (GSOs) are generally the principal repository of geoscience data in their respective countries and this is potentially an extremely valuable resource for economic development. However, it is also common that this resource is underutilised because of the way the data holdings are organised and because of difficulties in accessing them. These problems are most common in the GSOs of developing countries.

A well managed and readily available geoscience information resource is a key component of a poverty alleviation strategy in a developing nation. This is because such information can contribute to development in the following ways:
- Clean water supplies from unpolluted groundwater resources improve health and release the economic potential of women who no longer spend their days carrying water to meet their domestic needs;
- Identifies primary mineral resources which can be exploited as part of a wealth generation strategy, by providing raw materials for export or indigenous production; and
- Identification of natural hazards such as earthquakes, landslides, flooding or naturally occurring toxic substances.

The British Geological Survey (BGS) has been designing and building geosciences databases for several decades. We now have a wealth of mature and well documented designs. We have a reputation for excellence in this area and are contacted by other GSOs and industry for copies of our designs. However, this is presently an ad hoc process which requires an awareness of BGS' skills and knowledge that we do share our designs at no cost.

It is our aim to provide an initial resource of open, ready to use database designs that will be available to all on a public website. We will also build a self sustaining community which will develop these designs and add additional designs to meet the needs of the wider environmental community.

In order to achieve our goals we proposed a two year project to carry out the following activities:
1. Create a web based resource hosted by the BGS which contains downloadable Database Design Packages.
2. Build a community of interested parties to maximise the uptake of the downloadable Database Design Packages and exchange ideas on good data management practices within geoscience.
3. Develop a strategy to ensure community sustainability and ensure that a web based resource is maintained long after the project ends.

It is anticipated that the primary application of the data model packages would be by GSOs creating new databases to hold geoscientific data or used as templates to compare their current designs against.

The data model packages would all conform to NERC Standards, so by adopting elements of the data models end users would inherently be aligning themselves with the same high standards. The adoption of common internationally accredited standards promotes good data management practice and could facilitate future data sharing and system integration opportunities.

We expect the project to produce the following benefits:
- More GSOs will have access to huigh quality geoscience database designs, which should lead to greater use of such designs
- Greater opportunity for environmental modelling because improved data infrastructure
- Greater opportunity to re-purpose data or create commercially valuable derived data products
- Increasing the usefulness of data through centralised descriptions of the meaning and inter-relationships of the information
- Increase the time spent on adding value to and interpreting data by making it easier and quicker to find and access data
- New long lasting multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional partnerships will be formed which should lead to future collaborative research & funding opportunities