GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NAMIBIA - STEPS TOWARD MODERN DATA MANAGEMENT

Geological research in Namibia (formerly South-West Africa) dates back to the early 1900s, when the first government-appointed geologist set up office in the capital Windhoek, both to investigate the young colony's geological potential and to oversee mining and exploration activities, and during the last century a wealth of data has accumulated. Since the advent of digital map production in the 1990s some 50% of the country has been captured at a scale of 1:50 000 or less, using state-of-the-art GIS software. In addition to regional mapping, the Geological Survey of Namibia is conducting a high-resolution airborne geophysical program, which to date has achieved 75% coverage of the country (aeromagnetics & radiometrics), as well as a regional geochemical survey, which is currently at the sampling and sample preparation stage. Original research in a variety of fields (e.g. stratigraphic correlation, palaeontology, sedimentology) is carried out in cooperation with a number of foreign research institutions.

The bulk of geological, geochemical and geophysical data, as well as economic geological information from over fifty years of mineral exploration, is stored and managed by several data bases, which complement each other. Of these Earth Data Namibia is the most comprehensive, encompassing the entire range of digital data products. Apart from data generated by the Geological Survey's six divisions, it also contains satellite imagery and topographic maps at various scales, as well as scanned maps and documents relating to mineral exploration and other subjects, while original remote sensing data are handled by the Data Retrieval System. Both data base systems were developed in conjunction with foreign consultants.