Frequently Asked Questions

GeoticLog is designed to operate in a standalone environment (Single user operating on a single machine) or in a scalable environment (multiple users operating on the cloud or on an existing corporate network). 

GeoticLog can utilize a Master – Satellite syncing system, meaning your Master Database can be hosted in one location where users can connect directly to the Master Database to perform their tasks, or they can copy the needed data to a satellite Database which allows for users to work locally or offline.  The Master – Satellite system allows for multiple Satellite databases, allowing GeoticLog to scale up to fit your operational needs. 

GeoticLog currently supports and recommends implementing databases in SQL, although GeoticLog currently supports both SQL and Microsoft Access database types.  For more information on which database is best for your operation, please feel free to reach out to info@geotic.ca for a more detailed evaluation of your needs.

GeoticLog is designed to be hosted in a multitude of ways, depending on your infrastructure, or lack of infrastructure.

It should be noted that a GeoticLog Database CANNOT be hosted in file share systems like SharePoint, OneDrive, or Dropbox.  However, GeoticLog can link and read your associated files (documents, photos, backups, etc) that maybe hosted on these file sharing systems.

Figure 1 – This image shows an implementation of GeoticLog on a traditional IT infrastructure, where users can connect directly to a Master Database via direct connection, VPN, or other connection methods. In this example Site 1 users connect to a Satellite DB on their local IT infrastructure, which syncs the data back to the Corporate Master Database.   

Figure 2 – This diagram shows an implementation of GeoticLog on a cloud server like AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, etc.  Users can connect directly to the cloud database via the internet.  All work can be done directly on the cloud, or data can be copied locally to a Satellite Database.

For more information on hosting a database on the cloud, please contact Geotic at sales@geotic.ca    

Subscribe to GeoticLog:

To subscribe to the software, contact sales@geotic.ca or visit our website to create an account which will give you access to our client portal, from this portal you can purchase your subscription to the software directly using a credit card.

Once your subscription is active, you will be sent an e-mail to the e-mail addresses registered to the account.  This email will contain your Company Identification as well as your licence activation code.  This licence information will be needed to “Activate your software”.

Downloading the Software:

All Geotic software is downloadable via the “My Licences” tab in the “Client Area”

Additional free software that maybe required is listed below:

SQL Express 2019 (Free Download) – Click Here

·         For help on setting up SQL Express, please click Here

The ‘Create a database’ wizard will help database administrators create their GeoticLog database.  The wizard allows for transferring of settings from one already established GeoticLog database into another, saving time by transferring existing picklist, coordinates systems, or previously defined tables.

GeoticLog utilizes ‘Associated Directories’ for storing and saving your external data.  The associated directories defaults to C:\DataGeotic\... however the file locations can be user defined.  These defined paths are shared with all users connected to the database.  For more information on associated directories, please contact support@geotic.ca

o   GeoticLog allows for multiple coordinate systems and can convert between these systems including any historical local (or mine) grids that maybe used on the project.  

o   Prior to setting up coordinates systems, the region of your projects needs to be defined.  Setting the region will help in locating your defined coordinate systems. 

o   There is no limit to the amount of coordinate systems defined, but at least one coordinate system needs to be defined per project.  GeoticLog supports NTv2 correction if needed. For more information on setting your coordinate systems please contact support@geotic.ca.

o   GeoticLog comes with predefined picklists, these can be modified at any time to fit your needs.  The predefined picklists are separated by geological type for better organization.  Custom pick lists, called personalized lists are also available for users who want to create pick lists that do not fit into one of the geological types described above.

o   Personal lists, if GeoticLog’s predefined lists do not match your data capture needs, custom picklists can be quickly and easily created.

o   GeoticLog comes with predefined tables, however sometimes the tables provided do not fit all your data capture needs.  In these cases, custom tables (called personalized tables) need to be created with your column headers and data types.

o   Once a table has been created, it is available for use within GeoticLog, however the table will only contain system columns defined by the table type created.  User defined columns can be added for capturing all your data needs; however, these columns also need to have a type field to distinguish what type of data users will be popular

o   GeoticLog allows for control of how users interact with the database.  Users can be restricted or granted permission as deemed necessary.  User Groups allows for control of permissions to a group of users (user roles) at any time.

o   Projects can be created or modified at any time, there is no limit to the number of projects set up in the GeoticLog, nor is there any limit to the amount of data contained within a project.  Project coordinates systems must be set up prior to creating a new project.  For details on setting up your coordinate system please click here

o   Setting up your Analytical Results can be a daunting and confusing task.  With ever changing analytical methods coupled with historical results, your Assay table can quickly become a large and unwieldly table to manage, if you would like more information on how to set-up and manage your Analytical Results, please contact support@geotic.ca.

o   To properly manage your analytical results, each element and analytical method needs to be mapped with their unit of measure, as can be seen in the example below.

o   In the cases where there are multiple analytical methods per element, a column Type of ‘calculated fields’ is available.  Calculated fields allow users to create a results field based off a variety of factors or calculations.  Most commonly used feature is the ‘Priority Average’ function which allows the column to display results based off user defined priority. 

Now that the database has its structure defined, picklists set up, and projects defined, the database is ready for data entry, for now these steps will outline how to create a new drillhole (termed Surveys in GeoticLog).

Once your drillhole has been created and given a Survey ID name, the drillhole is now ready for the collar information to be entered.  Before any data can be entered in GeoticLog, the drillhole must be set to modification mode.

Once modification is turned on for a drillhole the collar information can now be entered.  If the collar location is not known at the time of data entry, the ‘invalid coordinates’ check box should be used until the collar location is known.  If your database utilizes local grids or other grid conversions, the resulting calculated coordinates are also visible.  Entered data can be saved by clicking the ‘save’ () Icon.

Additional tabs are available depending how your database is configured, by default the ‘Down hole survey’ tab and ‘Photos’ tab is available for data capture.

For entering Down hole survey readings, click on the ‘Down Hole Survey’ tab.  There is no limit to the number of entries that can be made, to make a new entry click on the new entry button () or short key ‘ctrl+n’. The device used to get the Down Hole survey need to have been entered before in the library section/Down Hole Survey.  If the survey reading is deemed invalid the check box should be used, the entry can still be recorded in GeoticLog, however survey readings with an invalid flag will not be used in any calculations that maybe done by GeoticLog.

For entering and storing your core photo imagery, click on the ‘Photos’ tab.  Adding a new entry to this table will open a ‘Selection” window where you can browse for the related image, selecting an image and filling out the corresponding table information will result in the selected image being copied and renamed into a consistent naming convention of ‘drillhole From - To.JPG’, the copy of the image is moved to your defined ‘Associated Directories’ location in an organized and hierarchal structure.  If there is a red exclamation symbol (), this denotes the file may have been moved or renamed outside of GeoticLog.  For more information on core photos and how they can be utilized in your workflow, please reach out to support@geotic.ca.

Once a drillhole has been created and the collar information set up, downhole information can now be entered.  On the description tab, select the project, survey type (DDH), and drillhole number.  Once selected the drillhole must be put in ‘Edit’ () mode for entries to be recorded, when entry is completed ‘End Edit’ ()must be clicked for the hole to exit data entry mode.  Placing a hole in edit mode will make the drillhole read only for other users until editing is completed.

Once a hole has entered edit mode, the ‘Control Panel’ ()becomes active allowing users to move quickly around the tables, and to save their entered data.  Depending on how the database is set up, there are tabs above the control panel that equate too different downhole tables that are created during the set up of the database, to find out more about customizing your database, please see the ‘Setting up your Database’ Section.

All data entered is validated by GeoticLog before being saved to the database, validation of entered data maybe dictated by the settings of the table in the database (mandatory fields, etc), or broad validations such as overlap issues or ‘From To’ errors.  For more information on validation of your data please contact support@geotic.ca. 

GeoticLog has built-in functionality to help manage your analytical results workflow, from importation of results to Quality Assurance and Quality Control (‘QAQC’).  Once your database has been set up to accommodate your analytical results (please see ‘Setting up an Assay Table’ ), importing laboratory certificates is a quick and intuitive process with ‘importation profiles’.

The certificate command opens the ‘Import an Assay Certificate’ dialogue where users can load their analytical results, map the fields from the certificate to their corresponding locations within the database, and save their settings and mappings to a ‘importation profile’. This profile allows for all defined mappings to be saved and reused, allowing for quick importation of results. To fully set up your importation profile, first load your certificate and identify where in the certificate your data lies.

To validate the analytical results, GeoticLog has built in QAQC queries and plots.  For more information on GeoticLog’s QAQC capabilities, please contact support@geotic.ca.

Once data entry is completed and all outstanding results have been imported into the database, GeoticLog can ‘Archive’ a hole.  Archiving a hole means the information entered into the drillhole cannot be changed, it becomes ‘read-only’ to all users and any calculations done by the software are no longer automatically ran.  A drillhole that is archived is considered complete by GeoticLog.

GeoticLog has integrated plotting capabilities, plotting can be by individual drillholes or batch plotting of multiple drillholes.  Print profiles can be customized to accommodate most log plotting needs, with a plotting wizard which will guide users through the process of creating print profiles.  For more information on setting up print profiles, please contact support@geotic.ca.