THE MAP PORTAL PROJECT AT THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ISRAEL

The Geological Survey of Israel is mandated to prepare official geological maps of Israel at different scales. When, by the end of the 80’s, GIS systems became more popular and a realistic option for us, we started the development of a methodology and system that led to the completion of a new geological map of Israel at 1:200,000 in 1998. This resulted in a huge impetus for the preparation of the Geological Map of Israel at 1:50,000 in 79 separate sheets. In addition, using the above GIS system, other maps were prepared; outcomes of various projects - in hydrogeology, geological hazards and economic geology. All these constitute a very valuable GIS-based database that has been available for years now.

About a year and a half ago the Geological Survey decided to move on to the next stage: the development of a “map portal” that would make it possible to share our maps and geographic databases in a much more open and dynamic way. During this time, we developed a working methodology that begins with a first contact between the GIS officer and the researcher, and ends with a detailed specification of the steps to be accomplished and the functionality of the map on the portal. We also started sharing the first maps on the portal system and through the portal, to the digital world.

In this report we illustrate the first three maps (WebApps, according to ESRI portal jargon) that we uploaded into our portal system: the Geological Map of Israel at 1: 200,000 (1998 version), the Active Faults Map of Israel (2013 version) and a partial version of the Boreholes Database Map. In each case we illustrate the capabilities of the WebApps and some of its functionality.