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Establishing Baseline Practices and Identifying User Needs for Electronic Archiving and Web Dissemination of

Geotechnical Data

Loren L. Turner, P.E.Caltrans Senior Transportation Engineer

Geohazards in Transportation in the Appalachian Region3rd Annual Technical ForumAugust 7, 2003

Overview

! Geotechnical data management.! Why use web dissemination technologies?! Pilot Virtual Data Center project! Survey of baseline practices! What next?

Geotechnical Data Management

! Many organizations are paper-based.! Need more efficient information systems.

Motivation

! Need access to existing data within agency.– Reduce drilling expenses.– Expedite project delivery.

! Want access to other’s data within geo-professional community.

! Conduct research to advance the state-of-practice– Availability of larger data sets.– Facilitate data mining.

The Vision...

! Field operations

Electronic field data collection

Interactive boring log development

while onsite

Final report products available

immediately

The Vision...

! Office operations

Electronic field data collection

Data Warehouse

Engineer/Geologist

Drafter

Contract LOTBs

Analysis, Visualization,

& Design

Reporting Tools

! LogPlot, gINT

Visualization Tools

! RockWorks

Access data from multiple providers

Geotech Consultant Engineering Firms

Information Gateway

Web Dissemination Technologies

! Caltrans Cone Penetration Test (CPT) Data

Electronic field data collection

Engineer/Geologist

Drafter

Contract LOTBs

Analysis, Visualization,

& Design3.5” Floppy

Disk

Web Dissemination Technologies

! Caltrans Cone Penetration Test (CPT) Data

Electronic field data collection

Engineer/Geologist

Drafter

Contract LOTBs

Analysis, Visualization,

& DesignWeb Server

Web Dissemination Technologies

Virtual Data Center (VDC) Project

! Sponsored by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Lifelines Program

– Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)– Caltrans– California Energy Commission (CEC)

! Partners– U. S. Geological Survey (USGS)– California Geological Survey (CGS)

Project Team

! Dr. Carl Stepp (PI)Consortium of Organizations for Strong-Motion Observation Systems (COSMOS)

! Dr. Jennifer Swift (Co-PI & Workgroup Leader)University of Southern California

! Prof. Jean Benoit (Workgroup Leader)University of New Hampshire

! Loren Turner (Workgroup Leader)California Dept. of Transportation (Caltrans)

Project Objectives

! Develop a pilot web-based center for dissemination of geotechnical data from multiple linked geotechnical database archives.

! Pilot system will link database archives of:– Caltrans– CGS– PG&E– USGS

! Pilot system will be expansible to additional database archives

Types of Data

! Project description, borehole location, drilling methods, and tools! Logging of soils and rock with depth! Lab test data! In-situ test data! Geophysical test data

Geotechnical Engineering Practice

Environmental Engineering Practice

Research & Specialty Testing

Regional Geologic ApplicationsCOSMOS Standard

Project Scope

Task 1: Define geotechnical data user scenarios for a pilot virtual datacenter system. Conduct an online geotechnical data user survey to assess baseline practices.

Task 2: Develop a data dictionary standard for the pilot system expansible to a larger system that could link multiple databases.

Task 3: Develop pilot system architecture based on user needs. Link CGS, Caltrans, PG&E and USGS geotechnical data sets, using Harvester Architecture.

Task 4: Plan and implement a workshop structured to obtain geotechnical community consensus and deliver a proceedings that will serve asan expanded implementation plan.

Task 1: Approach

! Identify the users.! Develop a survey to establish a baseline of current practice:

" Types of geotechnical data" Lifecycle of data" Patterns of use" Samples of currents products

! Conduct the survey.! Identify the most relevant user scenarios.! Define desired functional requirements of system:

" User interface" Method of access" Availability of data" Type and format of data

Online User Survey

! Developed with ASP, Javascript, and Access.! 98 multiple choice questions.! Organized by topical areas of practice.

Online User Survey

Online User Survey

! Marketing/Advertising– Over 1200 email and mail notices distributed

! Contacts in every state DOT! Contacts in every state GS! USUCGER! USGEOTECH! GeoCouncil

– Published in EERI– Notification within organizations– Personal contacts

Online User Survey

! Final results compiled for responses between July 19, 2002 and February 4, 2003.

! 217 validated responses

Who took the survey?

! Majority of responses came from government agencies (64%) and consultants (24%).

! Large percentage from California (32%)

Who took the survey?

! Geotech design (29%), regional and engineering geology (27%) practices, and EQ engineering (12%) represented the largest groups

Who took the survey?

! Typical respondent:" Has been in practice for 2 to 5 years (72%)." Holds a professional license (60%), (i.e. PE, RG,

CEG, etc.)." Has an advanced graduate degree (68%).

Survey results suggest…

! Systems and data standards development should initially focus on the data types most frequently used:" Geotechnical borehole data (88%)" Lab test data (74%)" In-situ engineering test data (69%)" Geological borehole data (56%)" Geophysical test data (49%)

Survey results suggest…

! System features and output products should be tailored initially for the most common tasks:" Site investigations to develop recommendations

and/or perform geotechnical designs (71%)" Regional scale studies, hazard mapping (35%)" Calibration or validation of constitutive or

predictive models (17%)

Current Geotechnical Data Management Practices

! Organizations currently prepare, report, and archive geotechnical data in an equal mix of paper and electronic formats.

! The most common format of electronic storage is a spreadsheet file (e.g. Microsoft Excel), followed by image files, database files, and rich text files (e.g. Microsoft Word).

! In preparing geotechnical report products, Microsoft Word and Excel are the most widely used applications. ArcView, Microstation, and AutoCAD are also used frequently.

Current Geotechnical Data Management Practices

! Most users find it absolutely necessary, if not important, to store geotechnical data electronically.

! About half of the users consider electronic data collection important to their overall data management process.

! Two out of five organizations currently have a system in place that allows access to that organization’s geotechnical data in an electronic format.

Development of a Virtual Data Center (VDC)

! The majority of users were interested in taking advantage of electronic data management systems, both within their respective organizations as well as on a larger multi-organization system.

! Most expressed a willingness to contribute their data to a larger data management system for use by others.

! Most felt that data should be made available freely to anyone, or at least free to the data contributors.

Development of a Virtual Data Center (VDC)

! Required features of the Virtual Data Center:" Internet-based system using web browser." Location and data type are the two most important search

parameters. " Search results presented in summary tables and short

descriptions." Need function to preview data, text or graphical format" Need efficient download methods and formats (e.g.

common spreadsheet, image file, database, and text file formats).

User Scenario: VDC Mock-up

For Additional Information….

http://geoinfo.usc.edu/gvdc/

Establishing Baseline Practices and Identifying User Needs for Electronic Archiving and Web Dissemination of

Geotechnical Data

Loren L. Turner, P.E.Caltrans Senior Transportation Engineer

Geohazards in Transportation in the Appalachian Region3rd Annual Technical ForumAugust 7, 2003