| Figure
s/Table
sFigure
s/Table
s | Refere
nce
sRefere
nce
ssio
n=""1.0"" e
ncodi
ng=""UTF-8""?>
ss=""h3"">Summary
Ma
nageme
nt of grou
ndwater
sy
stem
s require
s reali
stic co
nceptual hydrogeological model
s a
s a framework for
numerical
simulatio
n modelli
ng, but al
so for
sy
stem u
nder
sta
ndi
ng a
nd commu
nicati
ng thi
s to
stakeholder
s a
nd the broader commu
nity. To help overcome the
se challe
nge
s we developed GVS (Grou
ndwater Vi
suali
satio
n Sy
stem), a
sta
nd-alo
ne de
sktop
software package that u
se
s i
nteractive 3D vi
suali
satio
n a
nd a
nimatio
n tech
nique
s. The goal wa
s a u
ser-frie
ndly grou
ndwater ma
nageme
nt tool that could
support a ra
nge of exi
sti
ng real-world a
nd pre-proce
ssed data, both
surface a
nd
sub
surface, i
ncludi
ng geology a
nd variou
s type
s of temporal hydrological i
nformatio
n. GVS allow
s the
se data to be i
ntegrated i
nto a
si
ngle co
nceptual hydrogeological model. I
n additio
n, 3D geological model
s produced exter
nally u
si
ng other
software package
s, ca
n readily be imported i
nto GVS model
s, a
s ca
n output
s of
simulatio
ns (e.g. piezometric
surface
s) produced by
software
such a
s MODFLOW or FEFLOW. Borehole
s ca
n be i
ntegrated,
showi
ng a
ny dow
n-hole data a
nd propertie
s, i
ncludi
ng
scree
n i
nformatio
n, i
nter
sected geology, water level data a
nd water chemi
stry. A
nimatio
n i
s u
sed to di
splay
spatial a
nd temporal cha
nge
s, with time-
serie
s data
such a
s rai
nfall,
sta
ndi
ng water level
s a
nd electrical co
nductivity, di
splayi
ng dy
namic proce
sse
s. Time a
nd
space variatio
ns ca
n be pre
se
nted u
si
ng a ra
nge of co
ntouri
ng a
nd colour mappi
ng tech
nique
s, i
n additio
n to i
nteractive plot
s of time-
serie
s parameter
s. Other type
s of data, for example, demographic
s a
nd cultural i
nformatio
n, ca
n al
so be readily i
ncorporated. The GVS
software ca
n execute o
n a
sta
ndard Wi
ndow
s or Li
nux-ba
sed PC with a mi
nimum of 2 GB RAM, a
nd the model output i
s ea
sy a
nd i
nexpe
nsive to di
stribute, by dow
nload or via USB/DVD/CD.
Example models are described here for three groundwater systems in Queensland, northeastern Australia: two unconfined alluvial groundwater systems with intensive irrigation, the Lockyer Valley and the upper Condamine Valley, and the Surat Basin, a large sedimentary basin of confined artesian aquifers. This latter example required more detail in the hydrostratigraphy, correlation of formations with drillholes and visualisation of simulation piezometric surfaces. Both alluvial system GVS models were developed during drought conditions to support government strategies to implement groundwater management. The Surat Basin model was industry sponsored research, for coal seam gas groundwater management and community information and consultation. The ¡°virtual¡± groundwater systems in these 3D GVS models can be interactively interrogated by standard functions, plus production of 2D cross-sections, data selection from the 3D scene, rear end database and plot displays. A unique feature is that GVS allows investigation of time-series data across different display modes, both 2D and 3D. GVS has been used successfully as a tool to enhance community/stakeholder understanding and knowledge of groundwater systems and is of value for training and educational purposes. Projects completed confirm that GVS provides a powerful support to management and decision making, and as a tool for interpretation of groundwater system hydrological processes. A highly effective visualisation output is the production of short videos (e.g. 2-5 min) based on sequences of camera ¡®fly-throughs¡¯ and screen images. Further work involves developing support for multi-screen displays and touch-screen technologies, distributed rendering, gestural interaction systems. To highlight the visualisation and animation capability of the GVS software, links to related multimedia hosted online sites are included in the references.