Geological society launches "googlerock" service

The site will provide geological data online

The British Geological Survey (BGS) has published a series of interactive geological maps onto OpenGeoscience, an online portal that has been unofficially dubbed "googlerock."

The maps will be available to the public free of charge.

This is the first time free maps containing such a level of detail have been published online.

Dr Keith Westhead, head of information delivery, BGS said: "OpenGeoscience provides the public with a wealth of geological information including maps, photos and digital data. Users can combine this with other environmental information to help them understand their environment."

The map has an interface similar to Google maps, where users can drill down into geological information in a particular area.

It also includes the free provision of offshore maps, earthquake location information and samples of ground stability hazard maps.

Dr Steve Drury, senior lecturer in remote sensing at the Open University said: "It is a world first and, in my opinion, a development of major public interest by literally putting geosciences 'on the map'. It will become a kind of 'googlerock' for a great many people."

And the portal provides software downloads to help geological mapping, free educational resources and access to a wealth of digital geological information and reports held by the BGS.

Also available for download are up to 50,000 images, including photographs of recent floods in Britain, erupting volcanoes overseas and cave exploration in Yorkshire in the 1930s.

Professor Paul Smith, head of geography, earth and environmental sciences at Birmingham University, said: "The amount of online material provided for educational purposes by BGS has increased considerably over a short time-scale, and has the capacity to transform the way in which geosciences are taught in universities."

The Ordnance Survey also recently agreed to put much of its mapping information online next year.