GENERATING SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS AND BENEFITS FROM GEOSCIENCE DATA AND MODELS
Equipped with both the data and the expertise the geological surveys and agencies are ideally equipped to respond, but how successfully have they seized the opportunities? Some have responded by producing 2D derived spatial data-sets capable of communicating complex science to non-specialists. Others have gone a step further in engaging economists to quantify the economic contributions and impacts of these approaches. However, some have yet to recognise the benefits they can provide to their user communities through derived data-sets and the ability to deliver them in ever ‘smarter’ ways in the era of the world-wide web. There remain great opportunities for surveys to demonstrate societal relevance via this route.
Across the geological ‘supply’ community the trend is clearly towards modelling the subsurface in three dimensions. Understanding natural processes through time within the framework of a 3D geological model, and quantifying the uncertainties inherent in those process models, is the route to 4D and 5D models. The need for tightly-constrained 3D litho-tectonic models to underpin natural resource exploitation is obvious. However, the broader societal impacts that 3D, 4D and 5D models can create are only beginning to become clear, and at the heart of this issue is the challenge of communicating increasingly complex science to the lay-user. An exploration of these issues presents some important indicators for the future strategic direction of the geological supply community.