CANADIAN SURFICIAL GEOLOGY MAPS – WEB-BASED ACCESS VIA A COMMON SCIENCE LANGUAGE

Communicating geological concepts amongst geologists as well as from geologists to the general public requires that a well established and documented science language be available. This task is tackled from all angles by groups that have an interest in making geological data available to a broad community. The Geological Survey of Canada has been involved with NADM to put together a common science language for geological maps. This poster will focus on the science language needed to adequately represent geological concepts portrayed on surficial geology maps in Canada. Words necessary to describe glacial and ice-contact deposits, environments, landforms, etc., have been extracted from map legends. They have been organized hierarchically under high-level concepts such as earth materials, physical characteristics and genesis, based on the schema developed with NADM. Then, surficial geology map legends will be parsed by geologists according to the science language provided. The science language is an evolving tool, therefore if words and/or concepts are missing, they will be submitted to a stewardship committee for action. Additions, modifications or deletions from the science language will be reviewed and approved by the committee and a revised version will be made available to the users. Archival data will be treated similarly and tagged accordingly. The surficial geology map information will be available thru the Internet for any user. Queries will be constructed using a user friendly query tool, with the science language providing a normalized terminology as a starting point. An on-line glossary will be available to facilitate the use of the tools (parsing and querying). It is likely that major modifications will be necessary after initial release of the science language, but as users (geologists and the general public) work with it, it will iterate to a strong, usable, and useful product.