Towards an open geotechnical data platform in France

TL;DR

This paper discusses the development of an open access geotechnical data platform in France to improve data accessibility, reuse, and scientific progress, addressing current data management challenges.

Contribution

It introduces a new platform for geotechnical data in France, detailing challenges, solutions, and future development stages for better data sharing and reuse.

Findings

Identification of key challenges in geotechnical data management

Proposed solutions for data standardization and accessibility

Outline of next development steps for the platform

Abstract

An important quantity of geotechnical data is constantly collected for all the new projects of civil engineering. This data includes generally core and destructive boreholes, in which samples are taken for laboratory testing and in situ geotechnical tests are performed. The density of geotechnical data is particularly high in urban areas. The data is collected by geotechnical engineering or drilling Companies for public or private owners. Data is essential to define the geotechnical conditions of a project and are obviously necessary for the geotechnical design of foundations or underground structures. However, most of the time, data is not accessible in a numerical format, and at the end of the project, is often forgotten, while it could be reused for neighbouring projects. It is a great loss of information and knowledge to the technical and scientific geosciences community, and it represents a significant cost for the country economy. In France, the BRGM (French geological survey office) is currently developing a new open access platform dedicated to the capitalization and accessibility of geotechnical data, compliant with the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable). This paper describes the challenges to overcome and the possible solutions, considering the high diversity of geotechnical tests, explains the need of keeping the exhaustive data set for each test, and describes the next stages of development.