Abstract
From a cautious start in the use of computers in the early 1970s, the Geological Survey of Greenland has developed complex and varied uses of modern computer facilities for both scientific and administrative tasks. GGU's first computer installation, a noisy TTY connected to the Computing Centre of Copenhagen University by a 110 baud telephone modem, was a selfservice facility which was not easy to use. Over the years, first with use of a PDP-10 with just one Tektronix 4014 graphic terminal and later a succession of increasingly powerful PDP-11s with many terminals, GGU's in-house facilities just kept ahead of the ever increasing demand for computer services. At the same time a number of programs for special tasks were developed on external facilities, because they required larger computers or special facilities. In the 1980s the demands on the computer facilitiesrequiring many different types of programs, including word processing, had grown so large that GGU's in-house system could no longer handle them satisfactorily. A major reorganisation was required, and consequently activities were divided between personal computers (PCs; mainly administrative) and a new central computer (mainly scientific). This development took place in late 1986 with the purchase of 17 new personal computers and a new central computer with accessory peripheral equipment. This has allowed an increasing integration of computer methods into GGU's activities. A brief summary is given below.
Highlights
GGU inspected the mineral exploration activities of concessionaires at Disko-Nugssuaq, Ivigtut, Narsaq, Kangerdluarssuk and Nanortalik in West and South Greenland, and at Kangerdlugssuaq and Jameson Land in East Greenland, as well as followed the activities at the Sorte Engel mine at Mårmorilik
Assistance was provided to the Mineral Resources Administration in negotiations with applicants for concessions and in the evaluation of concessionaires' reports
The 'Nordolie' programme funded by the Danish Ministry of Energy since 1984 was completed by the end of the year
Summary
From a cautious start in the use of computers in the early 1970s, the Geological Survey of Greenland has developed complex and varied uses of modern computer facilities for both scientific and administrative tasks. A major reorganisation was required, and activities were divided between personal computers (PCs; mainly administrative) and a new central computer (mainly scientific) This development took place in late 1986 with the purchase of 17 new personal computers and a new central computer with accessory peripheral equipment. About 20 personal computers (IBM PCIXT and Rainbow 100+) are connected to the VAX computer and ean be used on their own or as VT220 or VT100 compatibie terminals They are used for word processing, minor data bases and other local tasks. A considerable amount of processing is still done on external computers, notably on two mainframes in Copenhagen belonging to UNI-C (Danish Computing Center for Research and Education) and on smaller installations, e.g. IDIMS at the Technical University of Denmark used for image processing Except for the latter, communication takes place through the public data net (DATAPAK, X25). Examples are processing of large amounts of airborne geophysical data at UNI-C using GGU programs, or seismic processing done by contraetors on specialized computers abroad
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