Slashgeo

Vector One links and discuss the oil industry and visualization technologies. Very Spatial discussed the geography of oil as main topic for their 38th episode. The Google Earth Blog also provide links to oil and geology related stuff for Google Earth. From the OilOnline article: "Yet, from 4D seismic and the dynamics of visualization rooms to state-of-the art software for drilling operations, technology is dramatically reducing the industry's historic trial-and-error statistics. [...] It's become increasingly evident that small independents having access to virtually the same technology as majors is changing the business landscape."

Numerous blogs links to the World Wind-based Dapple software for geologists and geoscientists. GeoSoft, makers of Dapple, has been offering geophysical software for 20 years and is well knowned in the geology industry. Features from the Dapple page: "Display geoscience data, satellite imagery, remote sensing data, geology maps, geophysical data, and many other data sets of interest to geoscientists. Save your views and share your views with colleagues. Add new Geosoft DAP and WMS servers of interest. View GeoTIFF files."

The WLL/VE blog shows a nice use of MapCruncher and Virtual Earth 3D applied to geological mapping. From the 3D Geology Maps website: "Welcome to the 3D geology maps site. On these pages, you will be able to view geologic maps draped over the topography of the globe--so you can see the interplay between geology and morphology!"

GIS Lounge runs a short article on the OneGeology project aimed at mapping the geology of the planet. From the website: "The project's aim is to create dynamic digital geological map data for the world! The target scale is 1:1 million. But the project will be pragmatic and accept a range of scales and the best available data. The geological map data will be made available as a distributed web service, using the latest web feature mapping approach. Geological Surveys will dynamically 'serve' the data for their territories to a web portal. The plan is to make it available through Google Earth and other dynamic map browsers." It's an international effort, with numerous governments participating, but the main (only?) major player absent is the United States.

Discovered at GeoWeb, "Dapple makes it easy to find and visualize massive quantities of geoscientific data available on the Internet.
* View geoscience data, satellite imagery, remote sensing data, geology maps, geophysical data, and many other earth data sets of interest to geoscientists.
* Save an earth view and share your view with colleagues.
* Add new Geosoft DAP and WMS servers of interest.
* View GeoTIFF files."

Spatial Sustain has a short but interesting entry on the return on investment for geological mapping in Canada: "“For every dollar we invest in geoscience, it attracts five dollars from the private sector in exploration, and over C$125 that are discovered in mineral resources. So I think it is a very, very good investment,” said Lunn."