OneGeology
In March 2007, over 80 scientists from 43 countries gathered in Brighton, UK, to discuss the proposition of creating an online geological map of the world for the benefit of students, teachers, researchers, professionals and other users anywhere in the world. The discussion was continued in another meeting held in Utrecht, Netherlands, in May 2007. The result was ‘OneGeology’, with the following mission statement: ‘Making web-accessible the best available geologic map data worldwide at a scale of 1:1 million, as a geological survey contribution to the International Year of Planet Earth (2008)’. The initiative is supported by a dozen international organisations including UNESCO and the International Union of Geological Sciences, as well as the geological surveys of 117 countries. The web portal was launched in August 2008 during the 33rd International Geological Congress in Oslo, Norway.
OneGeology portal. For more information visit http://onegeology.comOneGeology covers more than 100 million square kilometres or about 70% of the Earth’s land surface. The website is hosted by the British Geological Survey and uses the GeoScience Markup Language (GeoSCiML) as schema for data exchange over the internet. OneGeology is planning to provide a more sophisticated query system as well as making applied geological data on 3D visual features.
OpenGeosci
OpenGeosci is a new initiative from GeoScience World (GSW), a collaborative internet resource for research in geoscience. GSW, a nonprofit organisation registered in Alexandria, Virginia, Digital information technology has taken the world, including geoscience and the petroleum industry, to new horizons of research and data sharing. OneGeology and OpenGeosci are two online sources of immense help to the geoscience community was established in 2000 with the vision to ‘make earth science research information easily and economically available via internet.’ GSW’s founding organisations are the American
GeoScience World’s OpenGeosci. For more information visit http://www.opengeosci.org/Association of Petroleum Geoscientists, American Geoscience Institute, Geological Society of America, Geological Society of London, Mineralogical Society of America, Society for Sedimentary Geology and Society for Exploration Geophysicists. Tapping into its resource of 45 journals published by various geoscience societies, in 2013 GSW launched a new service: a cyber-infrastructure and map-based discovery platform called OpenGeosci which provides users with maps, graphs and data tables. The portal includes ‘Search’ (for keywords), ‘Journal’ (from AAPG Bulletin to Vadose Zone Journal), ‘Category’ (from applied geophysics to vertebrate palaeontology), ‘Area’ (scales from <1,000 to >100,000,000 hectares) and ‘Data Range’ (from 2000 to present). OpenGeosci currently includes more than 300,000 maps, cross-sections, figures, charts and tables, and is expected to grow at a rapidly increasing rate. There is also a link option for subscribers to read the original articles.
GSW to Offer eBooks
Starting this year, Geoscience World will be providing an eBook platform in geoscience to its subscribers. The platform will include ‘map-based and faceted searching, mobile access, related-content recommendations, and social sharing tools.’ GSW is offering this service in collaboration with HighWire.
