Using GIS as a Data Access and Integration Platform

Abstract

Abstract Oil and gas companies around the world are looking for ways to improve efficiency in all aspects of their business. To realize efficiencies, they need to be able to make better decisions faster and cheaper by analyzing all of the relevant data available to them in a systematic fashion. Good decision making starts with quick and easy access to clear and accurate data; no analytical solution, no matter how sophisticated, can compensate for incomplete or inaccurate data. Unfortunately, the data that is needed is very rarely stored in a common format or location and is rarely accessible through integrated, workflow-based, analytical solutions. Instead, users spend a large amount of time tracking down the data they need and loading it into the applications that they use before combining the results to make a final decision. In the early 1990s, it was believed that monolithic database models and centralized repositories would solve application interoperability concerns. In spite of huge investments and the dedication of leading industry experts, this approach failed. The resulting data models were too complex, and the data conversion costs were too high. Consequently, the petroleum industry data management vision underwent a major transformation during the mid 1990s. A data centric focus was adopted with a resulting shift from the data model to the data itself and the use of meta-data catalogs and middleware to integrate data and applications. To date this approach has yielded some success, but the proprietary nature of the middleware formats and the cost of development of the associated conversion tools makes the resulting solutions expensive and complex to implement and manage. Over recent years, evolutionary technological advances have presented a more powerful and flexible option for multi-source data access and integration. Data can be managed in its native format and location but is referenced and represented through a de-facto industry standard spatial file structure using the SDE technology from ESRI. This establishes a common data access format that then provides a platform for the integration of information from multiple sources that can be displayed, analyzed, and exported through commercial and customized Web-based or desktop map interfaces.