[postgis-users] postgis, postgresql and geological data

Wed Dec 17 10:22:01 PST 2003

On Wednesday 17 December 2003 12:22 pm, Thomas, Cord wrote:
> Dennis,
>
> i am a little hazzy on your goal.  i believe you want to see a plan view
> showing your well points on a 'map' of geologic features, correct? 

Yes, correct. The thought is two different maps, one showing roads, rail 
lines, etc and another geared towards overlaying well data with some geologic 
map that shows glacial deposits and the like. On many occasions my 
brother-in-law will look at a paper map of Ohio that shows the glacial and 
aquafirs (can't think what that map is called and don't have it in front of 
me) so he can have a rough guess at possible well depth and what the final 
underburden would be at that depth.

> is the 
> idea that you want to be able to select a single well, have the map locate
> that well and show geologic/hydrogeologic features near that well - or to
> show a map of all drilled wells, characteristics of each well (date
> drilled, depth to bottom) and then use the bore hole findings to map stati
> (show depth to clay on all maps to get the elevation of clay in a region -
> to compare against USGS findings)?  also, the question is, what 'features'
> do you want to see?
>

Yes except for the comparing with USGS findings (I think). Had not really 
considered bouncing "local data" with them.

So the features seen would depend on what the driller wanted to look at. 

> The question of which class of data to use, DLG, DEM, etc. depends both on
> what you want to see in the 'map' and what software you have to look at the
> data.  All these data sets have geographic coordinates, and would be used
> as a 'base map' showing regional information surrounding each well.
>

And that's my quandary. Need to nail down what it is I want to see.  

> DEMs would be used to show elevation information, but you need modeling
> software to see the actual relief, DOQQ would be used to show pretty
> pictures based on dated aerial flights - nice, but don't really add 'data'
>

I would like the well data like depth and the different layers, eg clay, sand, 
gravel, etc to be reflected in the map. I wish I had some pictures, it would 
help a lot. 

I prefer the whole kit-and-kaboddle be open source.

>
> On Wednesday 17 December 2003 10:12 am, Doug_Newcomb at fws.gov wrote:
> > Dennis,
> >       You might check with your local USGS-WRD office,
> > http://water.usgs.gov/admin/wrd-dir/OH.html#HDR0 ,  to see about local
> > geological GIS data layers  and their existing well database  ( I believe
> > it's called NWIS) .
>
> Thanks for the link, I will check that out.
>
> > You will probably not be able to get the detailed
> > information  that it sounds like you want for each well from a
> > generalized geological GIS data layer.  From what I understand, drillers
> > keep logs on how deep they go and what kind of substrate they encounter
> > as they drill ( x feet of sand, x feet of clay  ,etc. ) .  If your
> > brother-in-law has such information for each well, you can attach it to
> > the geographic points.
>
> Yes, I know (or assumed) the detail information probably is not available.
> Though I did find a web site I could input a well log report (for Ohio) and
> get some general info about it, but not what I was looking for.
>
> Yes I have the detailed well information from my brother-in-law he submits
> to the state so it's just a matter of creating the appropriate tables and
> importing that data. A good portion of the well data he has already put
> into the cheesy database I made so he could look up customer/well info.
>
> So the actual well data is a minor concern, it's finding the approriate
> data set (?) to use so when a well is selected, it's lat/long is placed
> correctly over the map.
>
> Another confusing aspect is which do I use? There's DLG's, DEM's, DOQQ's
> just to name a few.
>
> My biggest problem is wrapping my brain around this. After monitoring this
> mail list for a good while some of the issues I have seen dealing with
> geometry, datasets, etc are more or less exactly beyond me. Not that will
> stop me trying, this will either be a success or a colossal waste of my
> time. :)
>
> > Some background about what I want to do and hopefully someone can point
> > me in
> > the right direction. My brother-in-law drills water wells and some time
> > ago I
> > created a customer database so he could look up information about the
> > well he
> > drilled. The idea I have is to create a database of geological data for
> > water
> > well drillers and merge/link it to a database of their customers. The
> > state
> >
> > of Ohio now requires the well driller to include the latitude and
> > longitude
> >
> > of the new well when he submits his report to the state agency.
> >
> > Other information they provide on that state report are the underburden
> > layers
> > they drill through, such as, dirt, clay, sand, gravel, clay/sand,
> > gravel/sand, etc.
> >
> > He has well records going back to when his father was in the same
> > business (about 50 years worth). So in general the goal is to take a
> > wells longitude/latitude and overlay that with a map of what was drilled
> > through to
> > create the well.
> >
> > My confusion is where to find existing geological data that I can use as
> > a basis, can such data be imported (easily) into Postgis/Postgresql and
> > well,
> >
> > there are a number of other things but I don't want to make this post to
> > long.
> >
> > Any thoughts, pointers or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
> > --
> > Registered Linux user 193414
> > http://counter.li.org
> >
> > "Trying"? My contribution was much closer to a "feeble wave in the
> > general direction of something that might lead you one step closer to a
> > solution if you squint really hard and do all of the work."
> >
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> >
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> >
> >
> >
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-- 
Registered Linux user 193414
http://counter.li.org

"Trying"? My contribution was much closer to a "feeble wave in the general 
direction of something that might lead you one step closer to a solution 
if you squint really hard and do all of the work."