Increasingly powerful tools for geoscientific mapping, 3D visualization, and analysis respond to geoscientists’ rising need for greater power, precision and productivity in accessing, integrating, and understanding large volumes of diverse data. Louis Racic, industry product manager, Geosoft, describes some of the practical implications for the minerals and other industries. Twenty years ago, earth exploration and computers were often thought of as mutually exclusive. Today, they are inseparable, and software is a critical enabler of timely and informed geoscience decision-making. Industry’s need to efficiently access, integrate, and visualize larger volumes and diversity of available data have given rise to more powerful productivity tools for geoscientific data access, analytics, mapping, and 3D visualization. Desktop applications are routinely used to collect and view sample data for quick site assessment in the field, while robust mapping systems in the office provide sophisticated visualizations and construction of complex 3D earth models to guide subsurface exploration. In this article, we look at some of the factors driving demand for more power, precision, and productivity and provide industry examples that illustrate the effectiveness of enabling technology in solving current data and workflow efficiency challenges in the geosciences. Industry data needs Earth science projects are growing in complexity and scope. As the generation and availability of digital, geoscientific data grows, geoscientists are increasingly pressed to deliver and account for results. They must meet the challenge of accessing, integrating, and strategically using this rising volume of data within compressed project timeframes in order to support business decision-making within all industries and across all disciplines. Easy access, frequent updating, and continual manipulation of data, in real time, are in demand throughout the lifecycle of a geoscience project – from data analysis in the field, to collaborative interpretation in team meetings, to the presentation of results in the corporate boardroom. Within mineral exploration, the need for more integrated, advanced and subtle methods is partially driven by the fact that companies are trying to find ore bodies in complex environments.. In many cases, geoscientists are working with larger volumes of geological, geophysical, and geochemical data. Exploration project data can include 500 or more drill holes, some of which are 1000 m deep or more - in combination with satellite imagery, GIS data, and surface and subsurface geology data. Geoscientists in a variety of fields now require software tools capable of efficiently processing, analyzing for statistical variation, relationships and other factors, interpreting and clearly presenting large volumes of data from multiple data sources and in diverse data formats. They must do so within a single or transparently-linked interactive environment that allows for frequent data update, modification, and enhancement.