Formed in 2018, Dig to Share is a collaborative project between Atkins the British Geological Survey and Morgan Sindall that was set up with the aim to drive a culture change within the construction industry and get more people working together to share digital ground investigation data. The project was pitched by Sophie Payne (Atkins) and Holger Kessler (BGS) at an i3P Spark event in 2018, in which we won £50k of funding.
The pitch highlighted the question - how much more value the infrastructure construction sector could add for its mostly taxpayer-funded clients if all ground investigation data were stored on the British Geological Survey’s database and made available free to use for the common good. What if clients, contractors, consultants and supply chains could overcome their natural commercial and legal inhibitions to upload predominantly ground investigation data as it emerges from freshly drilled boreholes, but also the millions of bits of useful data from past investigations?
The initial project aims.
- Unlock Ground Investigation Data.
- Create a fully digital sustainable workflow accessible to the whole industry utilizing existing BGS systems.
- Identify blockers and facilitate solutions across the supply chain.
- Develop a “Super User” community around open data and create a self-perpetuating model for data sharing
- Target of releasing over 10,000 borehole records as open AGS data.
Since 2018 the project has grown and the support from across the industry has been incredible.
Achievements so far:
- Following interview with key industry stakeholders we have identified some of the blockers within the supply chain and developed solutions to help make it easier to share ground investigation data.
- We have developed a fully digital workflow accessible to the whole industry utilising existing BGS systems.
- We have also developed a Super User Network of over 50 people.
- We have developed a self-perpetuating model for data sharing.
- We have provided suggested wording for contracts and set up a number of Data Sharing Agreements.
- We have now released over 40,000 borehole records as open and digital data.
- We have attended and presented at a number of conferences including BDA, BGA, Brownfield and GE Magazine Conferences.
Accolades:
- Highly Commended at the Bentley-Keynetix Data Management Awards 2019 for Data Collaboration
- Finalist at the 2020 Ground Engineering Awards in the Team of the Year category.
- Winner of the Industry Excellence Award at British Drilling Association Awards 2020.
In October 2020 D2S and the BGS launched the Big Borehole Dig a community science initiative to help digitise thousands of historical BGS boreholes to help improve the availability and accessibility of borehole data for all. So far there have been 3200 digitised including over 1000 in East Anglian region thanks to Super Users across the UK. For more information: Join our Big Borehole Dig - British Geological Survey (bgs.ac.uk).
If you want to get involved and help out Dig To Share then you can sign up as a Super User at the following link, where you can get access to a Welcome Pack, Newsletters and Webinars on uploading ground investigation data.
Become a Super User (google.com)
Keep up to Date on Twitter @DigToShare or LinkedIn #DigToShare
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