Geographic Information Systems: A Justification for Their Use in Geothermal Developments

Abstract

Very large amounts of information are generated in almost all aspects of geothermal development and advancements in information technology can now provide additional options for the preparation of documentation and the manupulation and assessment of data and other information. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) could be used to develop the process of referencing relevant information. This could include organizing available data, locating specific information, executing computations, illustrating important features and performing analyses. GIS offers the advantage that it can process quantities of data far beyond the capacities of manual systems. Data in GIS are stored in a uniform, structured manner, as opposed to manual systems in which the data are usually stored in various archives and files, on various maps or in long reports.