Release notes 13th June 2023 – NDR Support Documentation and Help

Since our last NDR Update we can announce:

Introduction of additional map layers for offshore wind, carbon storage and geology

NSTA facing developments to Edit Request and Data Request UIs

Adjustment to TIFF upload rules, enabling;

reporting of files recorded at 1 Bit,

‘QC Scan’ on all TIFF files and

files with a resolution expressed in mm

Additional Classification Tags to better differentiate certain geophysical data types

New QA procedure to detect invalid polygons during seismic project creation

We have also published an updated document Information Reporting – Form and Manner for NDR that includes the new Classification Tags as well as updates and corrections to content.

Please read on for further details.

Best Regards,

Andy Thompson NSTA

Introduction of additional map layers

Taking inspiration from the NSTA GIS Team’s interactive Offshore Energy Lease map we have included three new categories of spatial data in the default layers of the NDR Map.

The Layers Menu now has:
Wind Sites – incorporating spatial extents of offshore wind developments published by the Crown Estate (TCE) and Crown Estate Scotland (CES).

CCS Sites – incorporating TCE and CES published boundaries for active carbon storage leases.

These are active layers, meaning they can be used to search for wells and surveys that lie within or cross over the same area of the UKCS.

To complement this functionality, and for optional additional context, we have also incorporated three BGS Geology layers;

Bedrock lithologies, Quaternary sediment lithologies and Quaternary sediment thickness.

Edit Request and Data Request UIs

Discussed at the March 2023 NDR User Group meeting, we have improved the internal user interfaces for the review of Edit Requests and Data Requests.

Whilst these developments are not visible to most NDR users, these improvements will help the NSTA to review and process requests in a timely manner.

It is worth noting that Edit Requests raised by an authorised user in relation to their organisation’s content, and without additional comments, do not require NSTA approval.

From an external user perspective, we have updated the mouseover pop-up details for each C Tag in the Data Request UI, providing summary descriptions for seismic information types and more accurate descriptions for well information types.

TIFF upload permits Log Images recorded at 1 Bit and incorporates ‘QC Scan’

The recent development to enable Log Image information types for pre-2018 wells to be reported in TIFF format required files to be recorded with a bit depth of 8 or higher. Licensees advised that it was common for images to be scanned at 1 bit, in line with recommended practice of the time.

This version permits TIFF files for Log Images that have been recorded at 1 bit to be reported to pre-2018 wellbores.

The NSTA intends that the NDR data collection should be machine readable, for the benefit of both itself and all users of data obtained from the NDR. With that in mind, the data reporting workflow for well information now requires that all TIFF Log Images are scanned to provide a metric to indicate how successful a future exercise to create a machine-readable version might be. Note that, at this stage, this does not create a machine-readable document.

Our initial build included requirements to meet minimum and maximum image resolution that was expressed in ‘dots per inch’, or dpi. This version accommodates files that have properties expressing the equivalent resolution in metric units of measure.

Additional Classification Tags to better differentiate certain geophysical data types

Our work to create a mechanism for reporting earlier revision of SEG-D files continues. We will have more to say about that soon – for the time being we’re advising that several new Classification Tags have been included in the NDR for geophysical information types.

Some of these are for artefacts that will be required as inputs to, or as outputs from the future solution for reporting SEG-D rev0 and rev1:

Source_Signature; Coverage_Plot; Line_listing

We’re preparing to review the Navigation data associated to geophysical surveys.

Over 20,000 files are classified as “NAVIGATION” – with over 26 different labels for File Format. We expect that can be rationalised – e.g. “P190” and “UKOOA P1/90” are likely to mean the same thing.

To help us also differentiate between raw, processed and derivative products we have introduced these new C Tags:

Raw_Navigation; Final_Navigation; Ends_and_Bends

The latter being a much-reduced version of a navigation file that is often used to optimise the display of 2D lines on a map. Such data is not required to be reported to the NSTA, so that C Tag will be reserved for internal use in a future project to clean up metadata.

Reporting organisations will be able to assign Raw_Navigation and Final_Navigation when uploading reportable information to the NDR.

And we have also added these C Tags for interpretations and products associated to non-seismic geophysical surveys, including gravity and magnetic surveys.

Interpretation_time; Interpretation_depth

Data_processed_time; Data_processed_depth;

QA code to detect invalid polygons during seismic project creation

NDR projects for Seismic and Site Surveys require a polygon with four or more corner points to define the survey extents.

A new control in the project creation process identifies instances where the sequence of coordinates needs to be corrected to describe a valid polygon.

Most users won’t encounter this functionality, but we think it is worth reminding you that our commitment to establishing a quality assured data repository is fundamental to our approach.

Updated document: Information Reporting – Form and Manner for NDR

The June 2023 version of the “Form and Manner” document is available on the NSTA website via the link above.

Changes included in this version, versus the preceding February 2023 document are summarised in the Version Amendments section at the end of the document.

For wellbore information:

Specifics relating to the reporting of Log Image files in TIFF format mentioned above,
LAS header data reporting requirements that we deployed earlier in the year,
Correction to the C Tag for Core Photographs – CORE_CCA can be assigned when reporting this information type.

For geophysical information:

New classification tags that we’ve outlined above,
The additional permissible file format “SEG-D-GZIP” for DATA_ACQUIRED, which relates to the developing mechanism for reporting of earlier revisions of seismic field data.

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