Hi all,
Can anyone guide me on which software is the best suited for 3D modeling geological structures? ArcGIS, Surpac, or Datamine?
Hi Yousef,
some commercial software applications come into my mind right away: GOCAD, Leapfrog, Petrel, ...
Even though GIS software often offers powerful 3D functionality today (e.g., ArcGIS Pro), geological modeling might be difficult.
Just a note: In case you are using ArcGIS (you mentioned this product in your question), it might be useful to bridge the conceptual gap between geologic modeling software and the GIS world by adding the "52n GeologicToolbox" to ArcGIS, see https://github.com/52north/Geologictoolbox
Kind regards
Benno
If you know how to program with Python GemPy seems an interesting programming library for geological modelling you can use. There are also some geological extensions available for QGIS.
It all depends on whether you have access to commercial mining/exploration software or not. If available, all the software you mentioned can provide block/structural modeling capabilities. To cite an example, CAE DATAMINE, Micromine, Geovia (Gemcom) Surpac, Geovia (Gemcom) GEMS, GEOCAD, Target (an add-in on ArcGIS), and VOLCAN are most widely used. In my opinion, however, Leapfrog Geo is an amazing option for modeling linear structures such as faults (I guess you are going to work on modeling linear structures in a three-dimensional deposit-scale configuration). The software, Leapfrog Geo, is capable to provide a reliable model of geological structural data using implicit modeling (based on RBF) features. The technology is also built into Micromine and VOLCAN, however, it provides more flexibility for the user in Leapfrog.
In my opinion, Arcgis is the best option for the 3D Modelling of geological structure.
Hi dear
Based on my experience in geological and inorganic modeling, RockWorks software, in addition to having numerous and efficient tools, provides more accurate results based on advanced statistical methods.
you can find more information here :
https://www.rockware.com/product/rockworks/
Hi Yusef,
I would use ArcGIS for GIS work- digitizing, conversion of the coordinate systems and some nice looking plans, maps etc.
DataMine has multiple modules. The geological module is Studio RM. It has a Geochemistry function that can give you the opportunity to complete different analyses and produce correlation matrix, tables etc. The implicit modeling is not very advanced. The software is not very user friendly. Surpac does almost the same functionality as Datamine.
Leapfrog is user friendly and offers very intuitive implicit modeling and a good geological modeling. Leapfrog has a module Edge for resource estimation, but it does not include some of the more complicated methods such as multiple indicator kriging.
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