Conceptual model and implemetation of a tridimensional geotechnical database (BDTG)
Database, Geotechnical Investigations, Data Model, Geospatial Data Management
The demand for geospatial data today has grown exponentially and given the multiplicity of existing geotechnologies in the market, the production and distribution of data become more agile every day. The interest in georeferenced and structured geotechnical data tends to grow in Brazil due to the mandatory use of the Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the direct or indirect execution of engineering projects and services performed by the entities of the federal public administration or for the manufacture of cartographic products established in the National Policy of Protection and Civil Defense (PNPDEC). Regardless of the purpose of the geotechnical data produced, there is an absence of a storage pattern, a format of integration of the data by various sources and a quality control. Data produced is restricted to information producers causing waste of resources by thoroughly reinvestigating areas that could only be subjected to complementary investigation campaigns. If the management of geospatial data were done adequately, the time used in the compilation and compatibilization of pre-existing data could be invested in the planning of data acquisition, in the production and analysis of derived information. However, for pre-existing data to be used properly, together with the data produced, both need to follow standards and technical specifications that ensure interoperability, sharing, and dissemination. In this context, this research analyzed the relationship between different types of investigations and geotechnical tests and proposed a geospatial data model that defines relationship rules and three-dimensional geotechnical data storage patterns in the database. The rules and standards were presented in the form of conceptual schemes using the Object Modeling Technique for Geographic Applications (OMT-G), because it is a model compatible with the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI). The OMT-G model proved to be adequate to express the relationships and three-dimensional representations of the geotechnical investigations and laboratory tests, although the model is commonly applied to the modeling of two-dimensional geographic data. For the validation of the proposal, a geotechnical database of the Federal District was implemented, using the proposed geotechnical data model, in the PostgreSQL Relational Object Database Manager System (RDBMS) spatially extended with PostGIS, which allowed the evaluation of the use of the data model in practical cases. Based on the geotechnical database, three case studies were conducted addressing data analysis and spatialization in the Olhos D'Água Stream sub-basin, construction of three-dimensional geometry and data selection criteria in the Taquari Housing Sector – Step 2 and analysis of geotechnical characteristics in terrain units defined based on geology, geomorphology and pedology. The entire geotechnical database structure is compiled into an extension to PosgreSQL titled "pggeotec" and available in the Github repository, aiming to stimulate discussion about storage standard and geotechnical data distribution architecture.