248 Expanding Geology’s Horizons: Geoinformatics, Open Science, and Open Data

This session highlights the development of new methodologies for collecting, sharing, and analyzing geological datasets and the advancement of FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) data practices.

Wednesday, 22 October 2025
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
HBGCC, 301C

Quality Control and Quality Assurance in StraboSpot: Completeness, Anomalies, and Reports via Automated Analysis

Paper number: 248-9
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 10:25 AM – 10:40 AM

Authors

Abstract

The Strabospot ecosystem has made large volumes of geologic data available in a shared repository, paving the way for collaboration between users and making observational data more reproducible and robust to examination. We are building automated quality assurance and quality control mechanisms (QAQC) into StraboField, allowing users to assess their datasets for readiness and encourage sharing them. The prototype QAQC system focuses on three types of user feedback: automated checks to determine the completeness of data and metadata of spots within a project, on-demand assessment of data anomalies such as overlapping contacts or missing unit labels, and daily reports to give users immediate feedback for their progress.

 

We prototyped this system at the summer 2025 KU field camp with follow-up efforts using student projects and reports.  We compared these results to historical data from the field camp for the years 2016 to 2024 on over 300 separate maps and 50,000 spots.  Although the results are still preliminary, we found that the completeness of maps improved with QAQC efforts, and anomalies decreased.  The completeness check was a good pedagogical tool, yielding better data collection for students and more even and uniform grading by instructors. We continue to work on QAQC development, focusing on giving users feedback that is clearly indicated on their map and easily incorporated into the work. A similar effort is starting for the StraboMicro application. 

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 57, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-414393

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