WA Branch Tech Talk: Automating Digital Surface Processing And Object Delineation Using Differential Geometry.

The WA Branch of the Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicist invites members and non-members to quickly rsvp for the special talk scheduled as:

Date:      Thursday, July 27, 2023
Time:      5:30pm (AWST)
Location: The Shoe Bar and Cafe 
               376 - 420 Wellington Street Perth, WA 6050
Parking: CPP parking is close by for those of you who will be driving to the city. 

Registration: Here

Bio:

James (Jim) Dirstein studied Geology and Geophysics at the University of Toronto. For more than 40 years he has enjoyed working as a geophysicist on many resource projects in Australia and overseas. In addition to his project work, Jim has played a role in the commercialization of several transformative technologies. During his career, these efforts   have involved working as an early adopter, angel investor or collaborator, in the fields of time series analysis, digital surface analysis along with a patented airborne acquisition system and a fully trained and patented Artificial Intelligence (AI). Outside of the realm of geophysics Jim has presented papers at metallurgy conferences on the role of microbes for in-situ mining, minesite remediation, Carbon capture and using microbes for permeability enhancement and the production of Hydrogen.

Abstract: 

The art of data interpretation is about finding patterns in data. Finding patterns requires careful observations. Human beings are very much visual creatures with our perception of the world based upon what we can see. Unfortunately, traditional interpretation methods are often biased by our senses as well as pre-existing ideas. Therefore, the combination of confirmation bias, along with things we “don’t see” distorts our perception of reality. Often data we are tasked with interpreting is presented to us a surface. This surface could be a digital elevation map or more likely data from remote sensing methods such as Potential Fields, Radiometrics or Seismic attributes, etc. As geoscientists we are always looking for ways that help us to organise information into more meaningful formats, enabling both accurate and time efficient reviews of data. Moreover, since most of interpretation of the geophysical data we acquire is non-unique in nature, we need to consider workflows to help minimise this non-uniqueness.
 

Since a fundamental property of any surface is its geometric characteristics, the identification and extraction of these properties can reveal features and objects not easily identifiable by visual analysis alone. In 2013, a new method for digital surface analysis was introduced to address some of the limitations of traditional surface analysis methods. This mathematical solution applies a completely different approach without the use of existing techniques or algorithms. With this method, the analysis of a digital surface involves the calculation of a complete set of morphometric properties as it is defined by differential geometry (e.g. Dupin Indicatrix). The resulting database of geometric elements is queryable using a GIS style interface providing an attractive means to simplify and accelerate the data mining process.
 

This analysis technique was introduced to the ASEG at the 23rd International Conference and Exhibition, 11-14 August 2013 Melbourne, Australia. The presentation and extended abstract was entitled “Digital surface Analysis: -A new approach using differential geometry”.

While the 2013 publication provided background and several examples, our evening presentation will discuss several new examples and workflows from our use of this technology over the last decade.

Drinks and nibbles will be available from 5:30pm - 6:15pm. The talk will commence promptly at 6:15pm. The ASEG WA thanks our sponsors for their continued support.

Please contact wapresident@aseg.org.au with any queries.