ABSTRACT
Following the considerable growth in geographical information systems to meet 2D mapping needs, attention is turning to the design and construction of 3D geoscientific mapping and modelling systems in a range of application areas. This chapter presents some design principles for such a development: the approach is highly data dependent, reflecting the common qualitative constraints on geoscience data, and concentrates on the selection of the appropriate spatial identity of a geo-object to be displayed by the visualisation software. The data model for a stratum believed to exist in the subsurface may be defined by lithological and structural parameters in a specific combination. The three dimensional spatial identity of the geo-object is then established by searching the population of selected characteristics for the boundaries of the defining conditions and recording the X,Y,Z coordinates. The process of visualising and analysing the geo-object of interest will become increasingly dominated by a need to choose an appropriate form of three dimensional spatial structuring.
