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Digital Mapping Techniques '02 -- Workshop Proceedings
U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 02-370

Introduction

By David R. Soller

U.S. Geological Survey
908 National Center
Reston, VA 20192
Telephone: (703) 648-6907
Fax: (703) 648-6937
e-mail: drsoller@usgs.gov

The Digital Mapping Techniques '02 (DMT'02) workshop was attended by 101 technical experts from 43 agencies, universities, and private companies, including representatives from 25 state geological surveys (see Appendix A). This workshop was similar in nature to the previous five meetings, held in Lawrence, Kansas (Soller, 1997), in Champaign, Illinois (Soller, 1998a), in Madison, Wisconsin (Soller, 1999), in Lexington, Kentucky (Soller, 2000), and in Tuscaloosa, Alabama (Soller, 2001). This year's meeting was hosted by the Utah Geological Survey, from May 19 to 22, 2002, on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City. As in the previous meetings, the objective was to foster informal discussion and exchange of technical information. When an attendee adopts or modifies a newly learned technique on the basis of discussions at the workshop, the workshop clearly has met that objective. Evidence of learning and cooperation among participating agencies continued to be a highlight of the DMT workshops (see example in Soller, 1998b, and various papers in this volume).

All the DMT workshops have been coordinated by the Association of American State Geologists (AASG) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Data Capture Working Group, which was formed in August 1996 to support the AASG and the USGS in their effort to build a National Geologic Map Database (see Soller and Berg, this volume, and http://ncgmp.usgs.gov/ngmdbproject/standards/datacapt/). The Working Group was formed because increased production efficiencies, standardization, and quality of digital map products were needed for the database--and the State and Federal geological surveys--to provide more high-quality digital maps to the public.

At the 2002 meeting, oral and poster presentations and special discussion sessions emphasized (1) methods for creating and publishing map products (here, "publishing" includes Web-based release); (2) techniques for scanning already published maps and managing and delivering them on the Web; (3) continued development of the National Geologic Map Database; and (4) progress toward building a standard geologic map data model. In addition, special presentations were provided on building a statewide GIS council, incorporating geology as a NSDI Framework layer, and resolving the roles of surveyors and GIS professionals.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank the Utah Geological Survey (UGS) and their Director and State Geologist, Rick Allis, for hosting this meeting. In the tradition of past DMT meetings, it was quite productive and enjoyable. I especially thank Grant Willis and Kent Brown (UGS), who coordinated the meeting, provided excellent support for the attendees, offered an entertaining range of technical and social activities (e.g., a pre-meeting field demonstration of GPS-GIS tools), and managed the meeting's Web site (see Appendix B). Thanks also to Cheryl Ostlund, Jo Lynn Campbell, and Mike Wright (UGS), Jan McEwan, Roni Whittle, and Ryan Halstenrud (Huntsman Cancer Institute), Lesle Wells (The Point Restaurant), and Wes Christianson (University of Utah), for helping with the meeting planning, logistics, audiovisual presentation, vehicles, and meals. For the impressive tour of the Kennecott Mine, I thank Geoff Bedell, Stan Nelson, and Tracy Smith (Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation).

I also with gratitude acknowledge Tom Berg (Chair, AASG Digital Geologic Mapping Committee) for his friendship and his help in conducting the meeting and for his continued support of AASG/USGS efforts to collaborate on the National Geologic Map Database. Thanks also are extended to the members of the Data Capture Working Group (Warren Anderson, Kentucky Geological Survey; Rick Berquist and Elizabeth Campbell, Virginia Division of Mines and Geology; Rob Krumm and Barb Stiff, Illinois State Geological Survey; Scott McColloch, West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey; Gina Ross, Kansas Geological Survey; George Saucedo, California Geological Survey; and Tom Whitfield, Pennsylvania Geological Survey) for advice in planning the workshop's content.

I warmly thank Merrianne Hackathorn (Ohio Geological Survey) and Mindy C. James (Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey) for their technical editing of each manuscript and their support through the production process, and Lisa Van Doren (Ohio Geological Survey) for electronic layout of the Proceedings. Finally, I thank all attendees for their participation; their enthusiasm and expertise were the primary reasons for the meeting's success.

PRESENTATIONS

The workshop included 25 oral presentations. Nearly all are supported by a short paper contained in these Proceedings. Some presentations were coordinated with discussion sessions, described below. The papers represent approaches that currently meet some or all needs for digital mapping at the respective agency. There is not, of course, a single "solution" or approach to digital mapping that will work for each agency or for each program or group within an agency; personnel and funding levels and the schedule, data format, and manner in which we must deliver our information to the public require that each agency design their own approach. However, the value of this workshop and other forums like it is through their roles in helping to design or refine these agency-specific approaches to digital mapping and to find applicable approaches used by other agencies. In other words, communication helps us to avoid "reinventing the wheel."

The papers are generally organized by topic. Information about the software and hardware referred to in these Proceedings is provided in Appendix C.

POSTERS

More than 20 posters were exhibited throughout the workshop. These posters provided an excellent focus for technical discussions and support for oral presentations. Many are documented with a paper in these Proceedings, following those for the oral presentations; the other posters generally provided material in support of oral presentations and so are not documented here.

DISCUSSION SESSIONS

To provide the opportunity to consider a topic in some detail, special discussion sessions are held at the DMT workshops. This year there were three sessions: (1) scanning, delivery, and archiving of existing maps, (2) archiving of digital field notes, and (3) information delivery. Session 1 included numerous oral presentations and open discussions. Sessions 2 and 3 were held on the final day of the meeting and produced several ideas and recommendations that will be discussed by the Data Capture Working Group and likely implemented at DMT'03. These sessions highlight an important aspect of the DMT workshop series--it provides a unique venue for sharing technical information and experience for those in the geologic and GIS disciplines.

THE NEXT DMT WORKSHOP

The seventh annual DMT meeting will be held in late spring 2003 in Pennsylvania. Please consult the Web site http://ncgmp.usgs.gov/ngmdbproject/standards/datacapt/ for updated information. While planning for that event, the Data Capture Working Group will carefully consider the recommendations offered by DMT'02 attendees.

REFERENCES

Soller, D.R., editor, 1997, Proceedings of a workshop on digital mapping techniques: Methods for geologic map data capture, management, and publication: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 97-269, 120 p., http://ncgmp.usgs.gov/pubs/of97-269/.

Soller, D.R., editor, 1998a, Digital Mapping Techniques '98 -- Workshop Proceedings: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 98-487, 134 p., https://pubs.usgs.gov/openfile/ of98-487/.

Soller, D.R., 1998b, Introduction, in: D.R. Soller, ed., Digital Mapping Techniques '98 -- Workshop Proceedings: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 98-487, p. 1-3, https://pubs.usgs.gov/openfile/of98-487/intro.html.

Soller, D.R., editor, 1999, Digital Mapping Techniques '99 -- Workshop Proceedings: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 99-386, 216 p., https://pubs.usgs.gov/openfile/ of99-386/.

Soller, D.R., editor, 2000, Digital Mapping Techniques '00 -- Workshop Proceedings: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 00-325, 209 p., https://pubs.usgs.gov/openfile/ of00-325/.

Soller, D.R., ed., 2001, Digital Mapping Techniques '01 -- Workshop Proceedings: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 01-223, 248 p., https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2001/of01-223/.

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