GeoSciML version 3.0 (http://www.geosciml.org), released in late 2011, is the latest version of the CGI-IUGS* Interoperability Working Group geoscience data interchange standard. The new version is a significant upgrade and refactoring of GeoSciML v2 which was released in 2008. GeoSciML v3 has already been adopted by several major international interoperability initiatives, including OneGeology, the EU INSPIRE program, and the US Geoscience Information Network, as their standard data exchange format for geoscience data. GeoSciML v3 makes use of recently upgraded versions of several Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and ISO data transfer standards, including GML v3.2, SWE Common v2.0, and Observations and Measurements v2 (ISO 19156). The GeoSciML v3 data model has been refactored from a single large application schema with many packages, into a number of smaller, but related, application schema modules with individual namespaces. This refactoring allows the use and future development of modules of GeoSciML (eg; GeologicUnit, GeologicStructure, GeologicAge, Borehole) in smaller, more manageable units. As a result of this refactoring and the integration with new OGC and ISO standards, GeoSciML v3 is not backwardly compatible with previous GeoSciML versions. The scope of GeoSciML has been extended in version 3.0 to include new models for geomorphological data (a Geomorphology application schema), and for geological specimens, geochronological interpretations, and metadata for geochemical and geochronological analyses (a LaboratoryAnalysis-Specimen application schema). In addition, there is better support for borehole data, and the PhysicalProperties model now supports a wider range of petrophysical measurements. The previously used CGI_Value data type has been superseded in favour of externally governed data types provided by OGC's SWE Common v2 and GML v3.2 data standards. The GeoSciML v3 release includes worked examples of best practice in delivering geochemical analytical data using the Observations and Measurements (ISO19156) and SWE Common v2 models. The GeoSciML v3 data model does not include vocabularies to support the data model. However, it does provide a standard pattern to reference controlled vocabulary concepts using HTTP-URIs. The international GeoSciML community has developed distributed RDF-based geoscience vocabularies that can be accessed by GeoSciML web services using the standard pattern recommended in GeoSciML v3. GeoSciML v3 is the first version of GeoSciML that will be accompanied by web service validation tools using Schematron rules. For example, these validation tools may check for compliance of a web service to a particular profile of GeoSciML, or for logical consistency of data content that cannot be enforced by the application schemas. This validation process will support accreditation of GeoSciML services and a higher degree of semantic interoperability. * International Union of Geological Sciences Commission for Management and Application of Geoscience Information (CGI-IUGS)

Approximately 75% of Australia is covered by public-domain, airborne gamma-ray spectrometric surveys. However, all the older surveys are in units of c/s and their data values depend on the survey instrumentation and acquisition parameters. Also, many of the newer surveys were inadequately calibrated with the result that data values on adjacent surveys are not necessarily comparable. This limits the usefulness of these data Geoscience Australia and State Geological Surveys are working towards establishing a national baseline database of Australian gamma-ray spectrometric data that is consistent with the global radioelement baseline. This will be achieved by: (a) ensuring consistency in the calibration and processing of new gamma-ray spectrometric data through the use of standard processing procedures and calibration facilities that are tied to the global datum, and; (b) adjusting older surveys to the global datum through back-calibration and automatic grid merging. Surveys that are registered to the same datum are easily merged into regional compilations which facilitate the recognition and interpretation of broad-scale regional features, and allow lessons learnt in one area to be more easily applied to other areas.

part page item. This article discusses the International Stratigraphic Guidelines and Australian practices relating to stratigraphic unit names, when there is a change to the name of the geographic feature that the unit is named after. Australian examples demonstrate both the advice of the Stratigraphic Guidelines not to change the unit name, and a particular case where it was more appropriate to change the unit name for local reasons.

single page item on stratigraphy issues relevant to Australian geologists. This column discusses international discussions on the global stratotype section and point (GSSP) concept, new developments in stratigrphic classification and upcoming opportunities to showcase Australian examples in 2012. Journal ISSN 0312 4711

We propose an automated capture system that follows the fundamental scientific methodology. It starts with the instrument that captures the data, uses web services to make standardised data reduction programs more widely accessible, and finally uses internationally agreed data transfer standards to make geochemical data seamlessly accessible online from a series of internationally distributed certified repositories. The Australian National Data Service (http://www.ands.org.au/) is funding a range of data capture solutions to ensure that the data creation and data capture phases of research are fully integrated to enable effective ingestion into research data and metadata stores at the institution or elsewhere. They are developing a national discovery service that enables access to data in institutional stores with rich context. No data is stored in this system, only metadata with pointers back to the original data. This enables researchers to keep their own data but also enables access to many repositories at once. Such a system will require standardisation at all phases of the process of analytical geochemistry. The geochemistry community needs to work together to develop standards for attributes as the data are collected from the instrument, to develop more standardised processing of the raw data and to agree on what is required for publishing. An online-collaborative workspace such as this would be ideal for geochemical data and the provision of standardised, open source software would greatly enhance the persistence of individual geochemistry data collections and facilitate reuse and repurposing. This conforms to the guidelines from Geoinformatics for Geochemistry (http://www.geoinfogeochem.org/) which requires metadata on how the samples were analysed.

In this age of state-of-the-art devices producing analytical results with little input from analytical specialists, how do we know that the results produced are correct? When reporting the result of a measurement of a physical quantity, it is obligatory that some quantitative indication of the quality of the result be given so that those who use it can assess its reliability. Without such an indication, measurement results cannot be compared, either among themselves or with reference values given in a specification or standard. It is therefore necessary that there be a readily implemented, easily understood, and generally accepted procedure for characterising the quality of a result of a measurement, that is, for evaluating and expressing its 'uncertainty'. The concept of 'uncertainty' as quantifiable attribute is relatively new in the history of measurement, although error and error analysis have long been part of the practice of measurement science or 'metrology'. It is now widely recognised that, when all of the known or suspected components of error have been evaluated and the appropriate corrections have been applied, there still remains an uncertainty about the correctness of the stated result, that is, a doubt about how well the result of the measurement represents the value of the quantity being measured. This presentation will discuss the latest practices for the production of 'reliable' geochemical data that are associated with small measurement uncertainties, and will provide an overview of current understanding of metrological traceability and the proper use of reference materials. Correct use of reference materials will be discussed, as well as the role of measurement uncertainty and how it is affected by such issues as sample preparation, sample heterogeneity and data acquisition.

The Australian Stratigraphic Units Database (ASUD) is the lexicon of Australian stratigraphy, maintained by Geoscience Australia on behalf of the Australian Stratigraphy Commission (ASC). Initiated in 1949 as the Australian Central Register of Stratigraphic Names, the ASUD became a digital database in 1979, and is now accessible through the Geoscience Australia website (http://www.ga.gov.au/products-services/data-applications/reference-databases/stratigraphic-units.html) with search capabilities on attributes such as name, rank, age, state, and geological province. The ASC includes representatives from all Australian states and territories (generally government geologists) who work together to maintain the consistency, accuracy and currency of information in the database. This includes resolving stratigraphic differences across political borders and between researchers to maintain it as a truly authoritative national resource. The database is continually updated with information collated from all publications that describe Australian stratigraphic units, including journal articles and Geological Survey maps and publications. Where possible, data quality within the ASUD is enforced by codelists (eg, rank, lithology, age, age determination method, relationship types). Information includes unit definitions, currency, rank, location, age, lithologies, composition, and environment of formation. It also includes relationships with other units (eg, overlying, intruding, correlated units), hierarchy (constituent and parent units), previous names, related geological provinces (eg, basin, craton), and links to all publications that reference a stratigraphic unit. The ASUD is a central cog in Australia's national digital geological datasets. It is the repository of all unit descriptions in the national digital geological map datasets, and is linked to the national mineral deposits, geological provinces, and geological samples databases.

The Alkaline Rocks of Australia OZCHEM database subset is comprised of 927 wholerock analyses derived from AGSO field work and the literature. AGSO's complete OZCHEM database contains approximately 50000 analyses, mainly from Australia but some are also from Papua New Guinea, Antarctica, Solomon Islands and New Zealand. Approximately 32000 analyses of Australian rocks of all ages and some New Zealand Tertiary volcanics are available for sale. The location is stored with each analysis along with geological descriptions, including the host stratigraphic unit and lithology. Most samples have been collected by AGSO field parties.OZCHEM is stored in an ORACLE relational database and is available in Oracle export, comma-delimited relational ASCII, and Microsoft Access formats.

This handbook was first released as BMR Record 1991/29 (Pain et al. 1991). One of the objectives of CRC LEME has been to produce a glossary and classification of regolith terminology, and a second edition of this handbook. The glossary of regolith terminology has already been released in draft form (Eggleton 2000), and this is the second edition of the mapping handbook. We have updated the attribute lists and other details to take account of changes to the RTMAP database structure. We have also changed some definitions to be consistent with the glossary. Otherwise, very little change has been made to the text. The archival RTMAP database resides in the AGSO Corporate Database, in the Oracle Database Management System (see Hazell et al, 1995 for details). Some details, including authority tables, can also be found on the AGSO World Wide Web site, at http://www.agso.gov.au, under Services. There is currently work under way to enable users to enter data from remote locations via the World Wide Web. This facility will be advertised on both the CRC LEME and AGSO web pages when it is available.

NOTE: removed on request: 25 May 2016 by Sundaram Baskaran GWATER is a corporate database designed to accommodate a number of existing project groundwater and surface water data sets in AGSO. One of the aims in developing the database as a corporate repository is to enable sharing between AGSO projects allowing re-use of data sets derived from various sources such as the State and Territory water authorities. The database would also facilitate an easier exchange of data between AGSO and these authorities. This document presents an overview of the current structure of the database, and describes the present data entry and retrieval forms in some detail. Definitions of all tables and data fields contained within them are listed in an appendix. The database structure will not remain static. Future developments, such as the integration of data directly out of the database into geographic information systems, are expected to lead to modifications in the database structure with possible addition of new tables or fields. Use of GWATER by a range of project areas will undoubtedly lead to different needs in accessing the data, resulting in the request for further development of the data access tools.