PIONEERING WEB AND MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES AS PART OF AN OPEN DATA STRATEGY

The information world is on the move. Rapidly developing web and communications technologies are making geospatial data much more accessible to a new generation of environmentally-aware users. Smartphones, tablets, GPS technologies and innovative web services are combining to enable providers of geospatial data, like the British Geological Survey (BGS), to deliver user-centric, relevant and current data wherever and whenever users need them.

Since 2009, OpenGeoscience has offered free online access to a portfolio of BGS apps, maps, web services and data for research, education and business innovation. This open access web service provides information in flexible and interoperable formats that users can combine in their own systems with their own information. Developing these ‘mashups’ helps to free BGS’ data, making vast data assets available, usable and relevant to a whole new audience of users.

BGS has pioneered a variety of platforms to provide data on, including web-based map viewers, mobile apps for smartphones and web mapping services (WMS). These data delivery methods have focussed on providing two dimensional representations of data to our users. However, the greatest opportunities lie in the use of augmented reality techniques to transform complex three-dimensional information into an easily digestible form for the user. Recognising this, BGS has developed iGeology 3D, which allows the user to look through their smartphone and see the real geology ‘painted’ onto the landscape around them.

Releasing geospatial data to the public is vital, but through modern technologies we are now able to engage our users in a two-way sharing of information. By developing intuitive tools BGS have empowered users to get involved in citizen science on a range of environmental topics, from soil science (mySoil) to volcanic hazards (myVolcano). Smartphone apps like these offer a convenient, familiar and powerful way to visualise and capture valuable information that would be impractical to collect any other way. Through collaboration with research organisations like the Met Office, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program, BGS has been able to utilise its skills and experience to co-develop intuitive and novel mobile applications to help answer real-world questions.