DIGGS is pleased to report the successful completion its first US Environmental SIG meeting in New Orleans on the 13th March 2008. The aim of the day was to introduce the structure and principles of the DIGGS group and how the DIGGS format will meet the needs of the environmental community.

Presentations were made by Kim Stagg and Roger Chandler. These presentations can be downloaded below.

At the meeting a commitment of time and resources was pledged to the group by Earthsoft, Delta, Environmental Standards and the Navy. Others hoped to be in a position to pledge their support shortly.

"The industry needs this" said Dennis Callaghan from Environmental Standards after the meeting "we need to publicize this group as much as possible so we can involve the people who will benefit the most."

More information will be available on the DIGGS format once it is released for review in the coming months.

Attendees:

1. Kim Stagg (Delta)
2. Frank Piehl (Pace)
3. Pam Kelly (TestAmerica)
4. Scot Weaver (EarthSoft)
5. Chris Weathington (Pace)
6. Michael Johnson (USEPA/OSWER)
7. David Trevino (Navy)
8. Dennis Callaghan (Environmental Standards)
9. Mitch Beard (EarthSoft)
10. Russ Wendell (Geotech)
11. Chris Bray (Keynetix)
12. Dan Ponti (USGS)
13. Roger Chandler (AGS)

Presentations:

1. Introduction to the DIGGS Group
2. Technical Introduction to DIGGS
3. DIGGS Environmental Examples

Press release - September 2007

A coalition of representatives from government, industry and software companies worldwide has collaborated with the aim of producing a definitive data transfer format for the geotechnical and geoenvironmental industry. The Data Interchange for Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists (DIGGS) committee will release the first version of DIGGS in 2008 which will include standards for transfer of project, location, sample, field and laboratory test and result, quality control, deep foundation, and borehole geophysics data.

DIGGS provides a standardized means of geotechnical and geoenvironmental data exchange between disparate databases. There are several significant advantages to the user of DIGGS including performing software-automated data checks, exchanging data between databases within an organization and with external organizations, and merging databases and incorporating software into an integrated data management system. DIGGS facilitates the seamless flow of geotechnical and geoenvironmental data from point of generation, through project usage, to storage, and then reuse.

DIGGS utilizes Geography Markup Language (GML) compliant eXtensible Markup language (XML) schema and will allow 'reference values' or 'pick lists' to be referenced from any source. The DIGGS model is extensive and with the flexibility of XML can bring together data from many existing formats. The format can utilize style-sheets and tools to show data in many of the well-know formats including: SEDD, EDMANS, AGS, COSMOS, EZ EDD, and others. Several DIGGS compatible tools will be available at the time of the release of DIGGS version 1.0. Many geotechnical and geoenvironmental software vendors are already including DIGGS translators in their software.

DIGGS is a non-profit, international, voluntary consensus organization. It is funded and supported by the following government agencies: the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), 12 State Departments of Transportation, United Kingdom Highway Agency, USGS, US EPA, US Army Corps of Engineers, FHWA Ohio Division, and FHWA Office of Federal Lands Highway.

Please contact the following DIGGS-Environmental SIG Committee for further details:

1. Kirk Hatfield, University of Florida: chairman and documentation
2. Dr Kim Stagg, Delta Consultants: commercial liaison, public relations, and field technical advisor
3. Dr Anand Mudambi, US EPA: lab technical advisor
4. David Trevino, US Navy: lab technical advisor and documentation
5. Scot D. Weaver, EarthSoft: field technical advisor
6. Roger Chandler and Chris Bray, AGS: schema managers

http://www.diggsml.org September 2007

The Environmental SIG has just completed a successful first meeting in Orlando, FL and is in the process of producing it's first deliverables.

The SIG is composed of the following 9 members.