A cloud-based database of UK geological and geotechnical data and 3-D ground models could soon become a reality, as a result of new research led by geotechnical data company Keynetix and the British Geological Survey (BGS).

Gary Morin, technical director of Keynetix, who is leading the research team, explained: "Unforeseen ground conditions continue to be a major cause of project delays and construction programme overruns.

"A big problem is the limited availability of high-quality geotechnical data, which is stored mainly in project archives. If this was publically available, construction teams could access better data, site investigations would be more focused and ground risk reduced, saving time and money.

"Including 3-D interpretative models in the cloud will also make it possible to plan investigations in 3-D. An added benefit is that the use of geotechnical data in Building Information Modelling (BIM) should also grow."

Kate Royse, director of environmental modelling at BGS, added: "This project will lead to a step change in how the BGS delivers its data and models to the geotechnical engineering and construction sectors. It builds on an increasingly open and accessible wealth of information in the BGS National Geoscience Data Centre."

The two-year, £540,000 (US$850,000) BIM for the subsurface project is funded by Innovate UK under its Digitising the Construction Industry initiative. As well as Keynetix and BGS, the project team includes consultant Atkins and BIM specialist Autodesk.

One of the biggest sticking points of incorporating geotechnical data in BIM is that many geotechnical teams are reluctant to share interpreted data with the wider project team, because they are worried it will be misused, Morin said.

"We hope this research will help alleviate those concerns, improving collaboration and data sharing," he concluded.