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Software Updates
By Betty Gibbs
Data is a very broad term meaning a collection of facts and information. In any mining operation, we are continually collecting data from all segments and using whatever additional information we can to keep operations efficient and productive. In today’s world, the capacity to generate huge amounts of data also generates a giant headache about how to keep track of it all, analyze it and make enough sense out of it to help us build a profitable project. The software and information sources listed are a few options for data sources that can potentially help build and maintain successful projects.
MineFinders Info is a GIS exploration database for the state of Nevada. It contains over 55 fully georeferenced layers of public and proprietary geographic, geopolitical, geological, and geophysical data. It is the largest commercially available, single source compilation of geological data for the State of Nevada.
A sampling of layers include: shaded topography, geology, soil geochemistry, NURE stream sediment data, faults, mineral occurrences, gravity, aeromagnetics, land ownership, land grids, metal production, and much more. For more information contact
mmontoya26@comcast.net.
National Mine Map Repository
The project of scanning and saving historical mine maps was originally intended to be a resource for identifying where mining has been done in the past and to avoid situations where mining into old workings could cause flooding or unstable ground conditions. The Repository is maintained at the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) in Pittsburgh, PA. The Repository presently contains scans of maps from all over the U.S. Some engineering and property reports are also included.
The project started by collecting maps from the Pennsylvania coal fields and expanded to western states when maps from the former U.S. Bureau of Mines offices in Seattle and Denver closed. The scans are presented as jpg files (a standard image format). Some of the maps are cataloged in Excel spreadsheets.
The Repository contains approximately 132,000 maps for both coal and non-coal mines. Most of the maps are from east of the Mississippi, but the group is working to increase the number of maps from the western states. Coverage is for abandoned mines only; no active operations. Non-coal mine maps in the repository include: gold; silver; uranium; molybdenum; iron; feldspar; lead; zinc; tin; and salt mines. 108,000 have been scanned into a digital format.
Some of the information that can be found in the repository includes: Mine and Company names; Mine plans including mains, rooms and pillars, man-ways, shafts, and mine surface openings; Geological information including: bed name, thickness, and depth, drill-hole data, cross-sections, elevation contours, structures, coal quality data, outcrops, and mineral assays; Property ownership; Adjacent mines; Geographical data ; Gas well and drill-hole locations; and Defense Minerals Administration Reports.
For more information contact National Mine Map Repository, Office of Surface Mining, 3 Parkway Center, Pittsburgh, PA. 15220. Web-site: mmr.osmre.gov. Paul R. Coyle is the Team Leader/Geologist and can be reached at phone: 412-937-2833 and by E-mail: pcoyle@osmre.gov
GeoCommunity
A great Internet resource for anyone looking for GIS data is the Geocommunity Web site -
www.geocomm.com. The GISDataDepot has many selections that are free to download and some of the data is fee-based. Data can be ordered and written to CD. A selection of data available includes:
· USGS SDTS format Digital elevation model (DEM) data as well as USGS DRGs. This data is no longer available for download from the USGS.
· USGS DOQQs Orthoimagery. The GeoCommunity has one of the largest online collections of orthoimagery available in the world with nearly complete US coverage of 1m USGS DOQQs and DOQQ county mosaics; extensive coverage of USDA National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP)imagery 1m and/or 2m county mosaics; and nearly complete worldwide coverage of 14.5m, year 2000 Landsat imagery.
· FEMA Flood Data
· NWI USFWS - National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) Data
· Gazetteer World place name database - more than 5,000,000 features
· Census/TIGER data
RockWare - Data Resource
RockWare offers GIS data from WhiteStar which provides high quality cartographic data: PLSS, DED, DOQQ, well headers, culture data and more. Data products include:
· Public Land Survey (PLSS) with nationwide coverage with Digital Land Grid or Digitized Section, Township, and Range Information at both the 1:100,000 scale and the 1:24,000 (USGS 7.5' map) resolution.
· Texas Land Survey data for Complete State of Texas Coverage. Digital land survey files are based on Texas Railroad Commission data.
· Enhanced County Cultures - Adds numerous map features to your products, including roads and water features. Each county file is a compilation of multiple data sources including the 1996 Census Bureau TIGER files. Each file contains hydrology, airports, city boundaries, above ground power lines, geographic names, geodetic survey benchmarks, highway symbols, "double lines + centerlines" for roads and highways, and much more.
· Digital Elevation Data Contours are available throughout the United States and around the world at various scales.
· DOQQ and EDOQQ (digital Orthophoto)
For more information visit www.rockware.com. |
