The present article proposes a method to significantly improve the construction and updating of 3D geological models used for oil and gas exploration. We present a prototype of a “geological pilot” which enables monitoring the automatic building of a 3D model topologically and geologically consistent, on which geological links between objects can easily be visualized. This model can automatically be revised in case of changes in the geometric data or in the interpretation.

1.
Floater
,
M.
,
Halbwachs
,
Y.
,
Hjelle
,
O.
, and
Reimers
,
M.
, 1998, “
OMEGA: A CAD-Based Approach to Geological Modelling
,”
Modelling 98 Conference
, Nancy, France.
2.
3.
The Earth Vision web site, http://www.dgi.comhttp://www.dgi.com
4.
Mallet
,
J.-L.
, 1992, “
GOCAD: A Computer-Aided Design Program for Geological Applications
,”
Three-Dimensional-Modeling with Geoscientific Information Systems
, edited by
A. K.
Turner
,
Kluwer Academic Publishers
, Dordrecht, NATO-ASI
354
, pp.
123
142
.
5.
Mallet
,
J.-L.
, 1989, “
Discrete Smooth Interpolation in Geometric Modeling
,”
ACM Trans. Graphics
0730-0301,
8
(
2
), pp.
121
144
.
6.
Mallet
,
J.-L.
, 2002,
Geomodeling
,
Oxford University Press
, NY.
9.
Perrin
,
M.
, 1998, “
Geological Consistency: an Opportunity for Safe Surface Assembly and Quick Model Exploration
,”
3D Modeling of Natural Objects, A Challenge for the 2000’s
, Nancy, France,
3
(4-5).
10.
Perrin
,
M.
,
Zhu
,
B.
,
Schneider
,
S.
, and
Rainaud
,
J.-F.
, 2003, “
Ontology - Driven Applications for Geological Modeling
,”
International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI 03)
, Acapulco,
Proceeding of the 2nd Workshop: Intelligent Computing in the Petroleum Industry
, pp.
76
81
.
11.
Hobbs
,
B. E.
,
Means
,
W. D.
, and
Williams
,
P. F.
, 1976,
An Outline of Structural Geology
,
John Wiley
, NY.
12.
Lienhardt
,
P.
, 1989, “
Subdivision of N-Dimensional Spaces and N-Dimensional Generalized Maps
,”
5th ACM Symposium on Computational Geometry
, Saarbrücken, Germany, pp.
228
236
.
13.
Lienhardt
,
P.
, 1994, “
N-dimensional Generalized Combinatorial Maps and Cellular Quasi-Manifolds
,”
J. Comput. Geometry and Applications
,
4
(
3
), pp.
275
324
.
14.
Valiente
,
G.
, 2002,
Algorithms on Trees and Graphs
,
Springer-Verlag
, Berlin, Germany.
15.
Zighed
,
D.-A.
, and
Rakotomalala
,
R.
, 2000,
Graphes d’Induction, Apprentissage et Data Mining
,
Hermes Science Publications
, Paris, France.
16.
Brandel
,
S.
,
Perrin
,
M.
,
Rainaud
,
J.-F.
, and
Schneider
,
S.
, 2001, “
Geological Interpretation Makes Earth Models Easier to Build
,”
EAGE 63rd Conference
, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Extended Abstracts
1
(
F-28
).
17.
Dufourd
,
J.-F.
, 1991, “
Formal Specifications of Topological Subdivisions Using Hypermaps
,”
Comput.-Aided Des.
0010-4485,
23
(
2
), pp.
99
116
.
18.
Halbwachs
,
Y.
, and
Hjelle
,
O.
, 2000, “
Generalized Maps in Geological Modeling: Object-Oriented Design of Topological Kemels
,”
Advances in Software Tools for Scientific Computing
,
10
(
1
), pp.
339
356
.
19.
Bertrand
,
Y.
,
Dufourd
,
J.-F.
,
Françon
,
J.
, and
Lienhardt
,
P.
, 1993, “
Algebraic Specification and Development in Geometric Modeling
”,
International Conference TAPSOFT (FASE)
,
Springer-Verlag
, Orsay, France, LNCS
668
, pp.
75
89
.
21.
Brandel
,
S.
,
Haefele
,
M.
, and
Bechmann
,
D.
, 2003, “
A Geological Application in Immersive Virtual Environments
”, VRIC 2003
5th Virtual Reality International Conference
, Laval, France.
22.
Cazier
,
D.
, and
Dufourd
,
J.-F.
, 1997, “
Term Rewrite Systems to Derive Set Booleeans Operations on 2D Objects
”,
4th, Formal Methods Europe Symposium (sponsorised by EEC)
,
Springer-Verlag
, Graz, Austria, LNCS-Vol.
1313
, pp.
605
623
.
23.
Cazier
,
D.
, and
Dufourd
,
J.-F.
, 1999, “
A Formal Specification of Geometric Refinements
,”
The Visual Computer Journal
,
Springer-Verlag
, Vol.
15
, pp.
279
301
.
24.
Schneider
,
S.
, 2002, “
Pilotage Automatique de la Construction de Modèles Géologiques Surfaciques
,” Ph.D. thesis, Jean Monnet University and Ecole des Mines de St Etienne, St Etienne, France.
25.
The File Exchange Format RESCUE web site, http://www.posc.org/rescuehttp://www.posc.org/rescue
You do not currently have access to this content.