METADATA FOR THE REPRESENTATION OF GRAPHICAL INFORMATION IN COMPUTER SYSTEMS.

THE OCEAN SCIENCE COMMUNITY HAS NO ECONOMICAL MEANS FOR TAKING DEEP CORES FROM BARE ROCK SEAFLOORS. IN THE ABSENCE OF DEEP SEDIMENTARY OVERBURDEN THE DRILL BIT AT THE END OF ALONG PIPE STRING "WALKS" FROM THE POINT OF INTENDED ENTRY ONTHE ROCK SURFACE, RESULTING IN DAMAGE TO THE BIT. A PROMINENT, ADVANCED CONCEPT FOR SEAFLOOR ROCK CORING REPLACES THE DRILL PIPE WITH AN ELECTRO-MECHANICAL CABLE. THE DRIVE MACHINERY, DRILL STRING AND GUIDES ARE MOUNTED ON A STRUCTURE THAT RESTS ON THE SEAFLOOR. LARGE MASS AND SIZELIMITS THE ABILITY TO SAFELY DEPLOY THIS DRILL FROM OCEANOGRAPHIC SHIPS IN HIGHER SEA STATES. IT HAS NOT PERFORMED SATISFACTORILY IN INCOMPETENT ROCK, GIVING CONSISTENTLY LESS THAN 15 CENTIMETERS IN FRACTURED BASALT, FOR EXAMPLE. THIS RESULTS FROM BINDING AND JAMMING OF THE DIAMOND CORE BIT. THE ABSENCE OF A RELIABLE AND ECONOMICAL DRILLING SYSTEM FORCORING OF INCOMPETENT ROCK, SUCH AS THE OCEAN POLYMETALLIC SULFIDES, HAS IMPEDED AND MADE MORE COSTLY SUCH OCEAN SCIENCE INVESTIGATIONS AS DEPOSIT GENESIS. THIS PHASE I PROJECT WILL EVALUATE THE TECHNICAL FEASIBILITYOF THE HYDROCORER, A CONCEPT FOR CORING BARE, COURSE-GRAINEDROCK, SUCH AS THE OCEAN SULFIDES. THE GENERAL PROBLEM IDENTIFIED IS: "HOW CAN THE LARGE ARCHIVE OF TECHNICAL DATA EXISTING IN PLOTTED GRAPHIC FORM IN PRINTED JOURNALS, HANDBOOKS, TECHNICAL REPORTS AND OTHER LITERATURE BE MADE AVAILABLE IN MACHINE-READABLE REPRESENTATION FOR ENGINEERS AND SCIENTISTS WHO ARE RAPIDLY MOVING TO A COMPUTER-SUPPORTED WORKSTATION ENVIRONMENT?" THE OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL TO ADDRESS THIS PROBLEM INCLUDE: 1) IDENTIFICATION OF REQUIRED METADATA; 2) DEVELOPMENT OF A TEMPLATE METHODOLOGY FOR ORGANIZING AND RECORDING THE TOTAL INFORMATION ASSOCIATED WITH A PRINTED GRAPH FOR STORAGE IN A MACHINE-READABLE REPRESENTATION AND SUBSEQUENT RETRIEVAL, ANALYSIS AND MANIPULATION AT THE USER WORKSTATION; AND 3) DEVELOPMENT OF A SPECIFICATION FOR SOFTWARE TO USE THE METADATA FOR FULL CAPTURE OF GRAPHIC INFORMATION. THE RESEARCH PLAN INVOLVES: DRAFTING A TEMPLATE, SELECTING TEST GRAPHS, APPLYING AND REITERATIVELY MODIFYING THE TEMPLATE, ELECTRONICALLY STORING THE CAPTURED DATA AN METADATA, AND FINALLY TESTING THE OUTPUT OF THE ELECTRONIC FILE FOR ACCURACY AND COMPLETENESS. IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT THE RESEARCH WILL ESTABLISH THE FEASIBILITYOF A NEW APPROACH TO THE FULL CAPTURE OF PLOTTED GRAPHICAL DATA. IF SUCCESSFUL, THE METHODOLOGY COULD BE USED BY ALL THOSE NOW ACTIVE IN BUILDING COMPUTERIZED NUMERIC SCIENTIFIC/ENGINEERING DATABASES. SPECIFIC POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL AREAS OF APPLICATION ARE IDENTIFIED.