CASE STUDY

CGG Delivers Interactive Geospatial Products to Customers with GeoPDF

Quick Summary

CGG is a fully integrated Geoscience company providing leading geological, geophysical and reservoir capabilities to its broad base of customers primarily from the global oil and gas industry.

Challenge:
  • Sharing timely and accurate location information with non-GIS users
  • Ability to leverage existing geospatial investments
  • Provide forum for collaboration
Solution:
  • GeoPDF Publisher and GeoPDF Toolbar
  • “GIS-Lite” Capabilities
  • Interactive, Portable Solution
Results:
  • Maximize existing GIS ROI
  • Increase accessibility of GIS to wider
  • Leverage a blend of heavy and light geospatial capabilities

The Challenge

The ability to share timely and accurate location information is critical in the oil and gas industry. From sharing data on new drilling opportunities to monitoring exploration and collaborating with field workers, the ability to leverage geospatial data is vital to both strategic and day-to-day operations, yet all too often, this critical business intelligence ends up as a paper map or a static image in a PowerPoint slide. While GIS is a powerful platform for scientists, mapping professionals and cartographers, the reality is that not everyone who needs geospatial data is trained in GIS software, needs the complexities of robust GIS systems or has access to software such as ArcGIS. That’s why many progressive firms have found a way to increase the return on their GIS investments by using a technology called GeoPDF to share free, interactive, lightweight GIS applications with people not trained in GIS, including decision-makers, analysts, scientists, engineers and field personnel.
“ArcGIS is great, but not everyone has the software or the training to effectively use it. By complementing our ArcGIS work with TerraGo GeoPDFs, we are able to easily share our GIS information, along with lightweight GIS features like layer control, measurements and markups, while providing a forum for sharing feedback with everyone, whether they have ArcGIS or not. The nice thing for the end user is that it’s all accessed with free, universally available software in Adobe Reader.” – James Cokinos, GIS coordinator and geologist for Multi-Physics at CGG

The Solution

CGG implemented TerraGo solutions, including GeoPDF Publisher and GeoPDf Toolbar, to leverage the “GIS- Lite” capabilities for some of the biggest oil and gas companies in the world. Since 2007, the organization has been compiling, analyzing and sharing geospatial data though the use of TerraGo GeoPDF and GeoPDF Toolbar in its Multi-Physics business line, which provides expertise in potential fields and electromagnetics to complement seismic data in exploration workflows. The company includes GeoPDFs as part of the final package it delivers to many Multi-Physics clients.

When CGG produces a GeoPDF, the company goes beyond just making a map to print. The GIS team adds various vector layers and customizes the layers to help visualize and emphasize the most relevant information for its oil and gas customers.
CGG also finds that GeoPDFs are ideal archiving tools to capture the geospatial intelligence at a particular point in time, and since it is not based on software that could be rendered obsolete over time, it can live on forever. The portability of the solution also makes it easier to share information with all relevant parties.

We were early adopters in the usage of GeoPDFs and have found that our investment in this solution has paid off tremendously. ” – James Cokinos, GIS coordinator and geologist for Multi-Physics at CGG

The Results

Since July 2007, CGG has delivered more than 3,000 GeoPDFs, providing interactive geological data for industry leaders around the world. The organization has delivered GeoPDFs for 67 countries in the marine gravity and magnetics arena, for more than 100 oil and gas clients. CGG is a prime example of today’s organizations needing to leverage a blend of heavy and light geospatial capabilities. It will always need to use high- caliber GIS systems, mixed in with the use of light-weight systems for professionals not trained in GIS. As more organizations embrace GeoPDF, the accessibility of GIS increases exponentially — making it possible to extend an interactive map and data to anyone with a push of a button. Most important, the relevance and value of the geo-expert’s analysis within the organization is elevated. And because end users get lightweight GIS features using only free software, the ROI on the existing GIS investment is maximized.
“The great thing about GeoPDF is that, while GIS may be somewhat complex or intimidating, our customers and end users are not afraid of using a PDF file format.” – James Cokinos, GIS coordinator and geologist for Multi-Physics at CGG audience