During the overview of the year 2018, the staff of the Geological Survey of Estonia elected the colleague and the action of the year.
The hydrogeologist Siim Tarros was awarded the title “The Colleague of the Year”. He is characterized as an industrious, friendly and helpful colleague, who creates a likeable atmosphere around himself and always aids in tricky situations.
The title “The Action of the Year, 2018” was awarded for innovative and interactive appliance in geological mapping. The developed system makes it possible to forward descriptions at field observation points directly to the EGT map server using a mobile phone or a tablet.
The director of the geological survey, Alvar Soesoo: “Information technological solutions have been used in geological fieldwork for more than ten years in developed countries. As Estonia is a world-famous IT state, we took the courage to start thinking in this direction. We did get a small stimulus from our Finnish colleagues that we visited in May. The Geological Survey of Finland showed us how they have used IT appliance in telephones for mapping the Quaternary. We started to study the issue in the beginning of the summer. Sigrid Hade, a senior specialist of applied geology, visited our co-operator AlphaGIS for finding out whether we could use an analogical appliance in our fieldwork. As also other EGT departments had consented to join geological mapping, the hydrogeologists grabbed the idea. With the support of the senior hydrogeologist Maile Polikarpus, data management specialist Rauno Torp and many others, necessary equipment were programmed. The whole system was tested in geological mapping within the Häädemeeste region. Hereby, I wish to thank all our colleagues participating in field experimenting for patience. Standardization of geological data is a common goal for the European Union countries. Such IT solutions assist in reaching this goal also in Estonia.”
