Application of HPC technology in the building of a virtual geological visualization system

The rapid growth of modern geological and mining exploration technologies over the past two decades has dramatically increased the amount of multi-dimensional data generated in geological and mining activities. Systems for the classification, retrieval, visualization and integration of geological and mining data are in their infancy. The advent of high performance computers with fast floating point and integer processors and enhanced graphics rendering capabilities have made many technologies widely accessible. These new technologies have liberated graphics visualization in modeling the modern exploration and mining environment. This paper demonstrates the application of HPC in the building of a virtual geological visualization system to integrate large scale disparate 3D geological, geophysical and mine planning data. We added a time dimension to include capabilities for including time dependent data such as vehicle and equipment movement and monitoring data. A case study was conducted using underground mine site data. A case study with the results and benefits achieved by using HPC to build a virtual geological visualization system is given.