[Mazurka (OP)]

Although of slightly less interest to our colonial cousins (sorry boys [])

Has anyone else discovered the BGS - "Open Geoscience" resource?

The British Geological Survey has recently opened up its doors and is providing a wealth of geologcial data online.

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/opengeoscience/home.html

Until recently access to this cost a fortune, your grandmother or a body part was required as a deposit and you had to sign the offical secrets act (even if you had provided some of the data!) 

The data is being provided so as to potentially facilitate "mashups" of data or so you can see what underlies your house!  I am over excited about this. []   

[LeeE]

I remember hearing something about this happening but was a bit doubtful as to how much would actually be made available.  It's good to hear that they've made a good start.  The USGS really seems to be the ideal model for this sort of thing, so let's hope that the BGS tries to emulate it.

[Mazurka (OP)]

I was impressed with the live service into mapinfo gis. Sadly I am struggling to think up any interesting things to do with it yet...

The online gis s quite fun tho.

[neilep]

WOW !!..I've been playng around and exploring.....INCREDIBLE !

Could ewe ever imagine such a resource being available at your fingertips just a few yeasr ago  ? Resouces like that are one of the most advantageous benefits of the internet.

Thanks Mazurka

[JimBob]

This is very useful. Just finding a geologic map of Britain published after the reign of Queen Victoria has been impossible.

An who says we "colonials" have no interests? We are providing the average British citizen with over half their natural gas so they will not freeze to death in the winter through our efforts.

Jeez! We get no respect!

[Geezer]

It's shocking. I'm returning my Coronation biscuit tin in protest.

[JimBob]

It's shocking. I'm returning my Coronation biscuit tin in protest.

Wimp

[CreativeEnergy]

Coming from one of the colonists, actually I think it's quite interesting.

The prefix 'Geo' from the Greek means Earth....the entire Earth! Not just my backyard for goodness sake! LOL  []

[JimBob]

The British have this "smug" thing going.

And none of us are serious for very long on this site. It is more fun that way. Just like school when the Australian fellow would beat on the cement floor of the grad student office's with a rock hammer and yelled KOOOO-IIIEEE !

It was time for a beer break before the bars closed. Then we would come back and wok a few more hours. (Back in the 60's bars closed at midnight here in Texas during the week.)
 
(After he passed his his orals and went back down under, they patched his floor. There was a crater in it.)

[Mazurka (OP)]

And why not be smug, James Hutton invented geology whilst you lot were revolting [] Some would argue that was still the case  [:0]

I understand the reason we stopped publishing geological maps after Victoria's  reign, was that we had done the work and given our inherent sense of fair play, we were waiting for the rest of the world to catch up.  It is not like the rocks were changing that rapidly.  I expect that sometime soon, all civilised countries will put their maps online...   

[JimBob]

And why not be smug, James Hutton invented geology whilst you lot were revolting [] Some would argue that was still the case  [:0]

James Hutton was one another of the subjugated people chafing under British rule. He was born and lived in Edinburgh, a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. But the British never admitted him to the Royal Society of London. Aloof people, the Brits.

I understand the reason we stopped publishing geological maps after Victoria's  reign, was that we had done the work and given our inherent sense of fair play, we were waiting for the rest of the world to catch up.  It is not like the rocks were changing that rapidly.  I expect that sometime soon, all civilised countries will put their maps online...  

Well, lets review. William Smith in 1815 First geologic map - ever? I don't think so - the Egyptians in about 1160 BCE made the Turin Papyrus Map, a map of the gold deposits in Wadi Hammamat. A supposedly older map of the Wadi Sikait Emrald mines has been lost.

In the "colonies" we soon outstripped Ye Olde England. IN FACT - WE BEAT YOU TO IT!! The Lewis and Clark expedition of 1803-04 made notes on the economic mineral and sedimentary deposits on their expedition to the Pacific and back. These finding were published in map form.

Soon after.
 
"In the summer of 1820, Stephen Van Rensselaer, president of the Agricultural Society of New York, using funds appropriated by the State Legislature, employed Amos Eaton, who had studied under Silliman at Yale, to make a geological survey of Albany County to aid in the improvement of agriculture. In the following year, Eaton made a geological and agricultural survey of the neighboring Rensselaer County. After two surveys in aid of agriculture, Eaton proposed and obtained approval to make a survey of the district adjoining the Erie Canal, one of a vast number of internal improvements that had been begun to link eastern markets and the newly settled regions beyond the Allegheny Mountains." (http://www-atlas.usgs.gov/articles/government/a_usgs.html#two)
British.

By 1859, all of the United States had been mapped - an example - the two Shumard brothers had mapped most of the southern US and in 1859 published the results of the Texas part - http://www.lib.utexas.edu/books/landscapes/publications/txu-oclc-14212432/fullview.html of their work.

ARE you SURE that the reason was to let others publish was to catch up or was it so you could catch up??

 

There is a relatively new endeavor started in part by the United States Library of Congress - our nations Library. It can be found at http://www.wdl.org/en/

The attitude of the British Library contributors can be seen on the this site. The Library of Congress has maps from all over north America, including Benjamen Franklin's map of the Gulf Stream, which was first described by him. The contributions from Britain? Two maps - Smith's New Map of London and a map of the British Empire, circa 1850-1859.

Still living in the past!    [)]

[Mazurka (OP)]

I would change British to English (or that geezer will start complaining) [:0] but apart from that, its a fair assesment.[:I]

However to say so, would in some way concede the point, something my inherent British aloofness does not allow.

Pah! some egyptian treasure map does not trump William Smiths works, that's like saying Newton didn't invent gravity []   

Whilst its all fine and dandy that a (oak)tree hugger from Lancaster (PA rather than UK (see, could not even be original in place names!)) did a bit of mapping, if it had been any good they would have had their own Wikipedia entry, like Hutton...

Anyway it is all slightly academic from a truly British perspective as this quote from the end of Sellar & Yeatman's seminal work on world history "1066 and all that" sets out:

America was thus clearly Top Nation, and history came to a .

[B)]

Anyway, to bury the hatchet (or is that axe) Thank you, I have not seen that World Digital Library site before now - interesting project might while away a few hours looking at that [^]I cannot belive I have trashed my own thread

[JimBob]

Now now, it is OK, we believe in forgiveness.

Besides I need people to insult. Without you I would be very unhappy

[geo driver]

jimbob have you ever read any a of Huttons work? how far did you get? makes as much sense as the Scottish accent

i find it prudent to mention that with out a colonial border dispute you would never of had the Maison and Dixon line.  good old English surveying

lol if you wan to start a war make a border or build a wall, the brits are good at that. oh and was it hutton that grew up in berwickshire? i believe thats in England.