An integrated multi-software approach to the creation of a coal resources GIS

Conference · Tue Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:525966

Timberlake, K J; Fedorko, N; Oldham, A V; Blake, B M ^[1]

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1. West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey, Morgantown, WV (United States)

The West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey is currently involved in generating coal resource layers for a statewide Mineral Lands Mapping Program, the first step in a statewide Geographical Information System (GIS). The products to be generated from this project include GIS layers of coal bed thicknesses, elevation, outcrops, and mined-out areas for each minable coal. Traditional methods of strip-logging, correlation, data extraction, map compilation, and digitizing were inadequate to meet the time-sensitive project requirements. Various PC and UNIX workstation software tools were selected to most efficiently perform specific tasks within the project. For example, one PC-based software allows rapid on-screen correlation of stratigraphic data. Structure maps are produced from a different PC software that simultaneously maps multiple coals using isochores, ensuring that structure lines do not cross. This is vital since some areas of West Virginia contain 14 or more stratigraphically close minable coal beds, and the data for each bed has differing densities and distributions. Database management and isopach map generation are performed on UNIX workstations. A combination of PC and UNIX-based GISs are used for compiling mined area maps for each coal bed. The final integration and analysis are performed in a GIS on a 64-bit workstation with sufficient power and addressing capability for statewide GIS coverages. One of the most challenging aspects of this project is the creation of seamless interfaces between the various software and hardware platforms.

• OSTI ID: 525966
• Report Number(s): CONF-960664--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
COAL
COAL DEPOSITS
DATA BASE MANAGEMENT
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
INTERFACES
MAPPING
STRATIGRAPHY