295 Geologic Maps and Their Derivatives (Posters)

This poster session will highlight new geologic maps, mapping programs, and innovations in geological mapping, including data management, web accessibility, 3D, and applications in water and land management.

Wednesday, 22 October 2025
8:00 AM - 5:30 PM
HBGCC, Hall 1

Conversion of the Surficial Geologic Map of Allegan County, Michigan, USA Into an Interactive Web-Map

Paper number: 295-5
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:00 AM – 8:00 AM

Authors

Abstract

The Michigan Geological Survey (MGS) is revolutionizing how geologic data reaches the public by transforming static PDF maps into interactive web-based platforms that make complex geological information accessible to everyone from seasoned geologists to curious citizens. MGS compiles and publishes surficial geologic maps at the county scale (e.g. 1:100,000 or 1:62,500 scale) as georeferenced PDFs and in the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Geologic Mapping Schema (GeMS). These publications are useful to many stakeholders, however pdf maps can be cumbersome to use and to view data in the GeMS format requires the use of a Geographic Information System, which many stakeholders do not have access to or may not be comfortable using. Moreover, much of the data compiled and viewed by MGS geologists, which informs many of the interpretations made on the geologic map, are not published with the final map and GeMS database. Because of these issues, MGS is working to convert recently published geologic maps, and their associated data, into a more accessible format for state partners, land-use planners, industrial users, and the public. 

The surficial geologic map of Allegan County, MI was completed in 2023, and work to convert this publication into a web-map is nearly complete. The web-map will contain not only the surficial geologic map units, but also derivative maps of bedrock topography, drift thickness, groundwater table, and aggregate resource maps. MGS collected data layers will also be in the map, including borehole locations (with attached logs), field observations, and analytical data. To make the map useful to the non-geologist a simplified geologic map, derived from the detailed surficial geologic map, will also be included.  Other important publicly available layers such as water well and soil map data will also be available on the web map. These datasets and derivative maps were all produced for the final map publication in 2023, so the bulk of the work in this project was to determine the best way to serve these datasets in a web-map. An existing ArcGIS Online account was used to host and publish this data in both 2D and 3D views. This web-map is the first of its kind to be published by the MGS and will serve as a model for future web-map development by the MGS.

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

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-414409

© Copyright 2025 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.