One-Stop Shop for Earth Scientists

Banner image: Image credit: Dr Caroline Eakin, ANU / AuScope

The Geoscience Data-enhanced Virtual Laboratory (GeoDeVL) is a collaborative and innovative initiative, co-funded by the Australian Research Data Commons, that provides researchers with seamless access to data, tools, compute resources and related services via a single portal.

The GeoDeVL is an online repository of diverse and previously incompatible data collected by different national groups. It provides open access to geological, geochemical and geophysical data for users from different backgrounds and varied skill sets. It expands the range of data and tools available via AuScope Virtual Research Environment (AVRE) to support future research.

The AVRE is the home of Australia’s geoscience data and tools and facilitates data, software and workflows to be added to trusted repositories. It provides access to these as services either via Virtual Laboratories (for less technical users) or by user-created Python notebooks to give greater flexibility and foster more innovation and creativity.

Researchers now have a means of storing and making data accessible that is generated by magnetotellurics (MT) and passive seismic instruments from future geophysical experiments. They also have access to an online network that integrates geochemical and geochronological data collected using multiple techniques from multiple Australian institutional laboratories—through the globally unique identifiers service (IGSN).

AuScope CEO Dr Tim Rawling says the GeoDeVL initiative will enable a new capability for data discovery and computational analysis that underpins the next stage of innovation and scientific discovery.

“For a long time, we have been making data downloadable from a network of geological data stores, but to be able to bring together datasets from all over Australia into a single integrated Big Data platform, and transform the data to be ready for new tools, software and analysis methods is a huge step forward,” Dr Tim Rawling said.

The Australian Research Data Commons in collaboration with AuScope, NCI, CSIRO, The University of Adelaide, Geological Survey of South Australia, RSES and Curtin University have helped lay the foundations for a modern data platform for Earth Scientists. Through this data platform, Australian researchers have a great competitive advantage.

Check out the range of applications that can help you access, process and analyse data.