The IGME 5000: A Means to Pan-European Geological Standards (Or just another local and transient convention?)

A major geological GIS project: the 1:5 Million International Geological Map of Europe and Adjacent Areas (IGME 5000) is being managed and implemented by the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR). The aims of the project are to develop for the whole of Europe a GIS underpinned by a geological database, a printed map depicting up-to-date and consistent geological information and a CD-ROM with a subset of the GIS. However, consistent geological information in digital form requires standards and guidance far more stringent and extensive than those for the production of a paper map and it became apparent that few, if any, such standards existed (recent research across European geological survey organisations has now confirmed this definitively). Thus the geological standards and protocols that are an essential pre-requisite for the project to achieve the integration of the knowledge from the many countries had to be constructed pragmatically. The issues and problems faced and tackled by the IGME 5000 project are likely to be very similar to those facing any initiative which seeks to establish standards in the geological map domain. These issues included designing and implementing a common data structure, researching and establishing common term dictionaries, identifying a standard spatial reference system (in the IGME's case a common topographic base map), deciding on cartographic display standards (colours, line styles, ornaments etc). And last but not least consulting on and documenting all these items and providing ongoing guidance and support in their use in order that (as far as possible) consistent data could be received for compilation. The project now involves almost 50 European and adjacent countries, each submitting to BGR a draft map and an accompanying datafile of their country's onshore and offshore geology based on the in advance specifically developed standards and protocols. The final GIS will hold significantly more information than could a mere printed map and it will also offer versatility, e.g. to retrieve and present for the whole of Europe, information on age, petrography and structural and metamorphic features. None of this could be achieved without a consistent approach. This paper will describe the IGME 5000 project and its progress to date but will specifically focus on the issues and problems above. 1. The IGME 5000 project This paper introduces the GIS and map project of the IGME 5000, which aims to provide up-to-date and consistent information on Europe's geology. The IGME 5000 (1:5 Million International Geological Map of Europe and Adjacent Areas) will hold geological data on age, lithology, metamorphism and as well information about regional nomenclature and tectonic and genetic aspects. It will enable, via the internet, access to and the flexible retrieval of spatial geological information. It will also deliver a conventional geological map on paper and CD ROM. The IGME 5000 is a multidisciplinary project as it crosses three main domains: geology, Information Technology (Geographic Information Systems) and cartography. Within geology it embraces the subdisciplines of stratigraphy, petrography, European regional and historical geology and marine geology. The project started in December 1994 and is being managed within the BGR (Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe/Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources,