Spatial Data Models for Managing Subsurface Data

Abstract

Most geographic information system (GIS) software encodes topological relationships between spatial objects, such as neighborhood and inclusion, in node‐line‐polygon tables. However, some applications require semantic relationships that have been difficult to represent in tables. Both the data‐base and GIS communities have documented that data‐base management systems should better support the requirements of spatial data analysis so that engineering applications can extend beyond the planning and management paradigms. Some GISs are incorporating feature‐based characteristics by implementing extensible or object‐oriented data management to meet new needs. Feature‐based systems attempt to add more meaning to data bases that contain natural resource or geographic data. This paper presents the current georelational representation of a system that manages subsurface boring log data for hydrological, geotechnical, and environmental applications. The paper includes an overview of feature‐based GIS and describes the construction of a feature‐based system using object‐oriented data modeling. The paper then explores the development of the boring log management system following a feature‐based approach.