By Darrell Connelly
Infopipe Information Services, Inc.
As you become familiar with what land mapping can provide you, naturally you'll want more. This is one of the significant benefits to automated land mapping, you can create many different types of maps, and to do so is not nearly as complex or cumbersome as present approaches. However, users who are not accustomed to having choices don't know what to ask for. The answer: menus. A menu of commonly requested maps is established and from there more tailored maps can be made.
Clients who are not accustomed to automated land mapping do not know what to ask for when automated land ownership mapping becomes available. However, when a menu of commonly requested maps is made available, requests can readily be made.
The purpose of this article is to begin the task of creating the labels for a system of map requests.
The target audience for this article are mapping and land professionals
In order to understand a menu of possible maps, we must first understand what map entities may be created. These entities will hold and present information that we wish to view and place in relationship with our geology, geophysics, and production.
The most sophisticated automated land ownership mapping tools produce 3 main types of entities:
Colored Polygons
Colored polygons are the result of querying your data to represent the polygons that would be exposed when your query criteria are met.
An example of colored polygon query might be the result of a particular lessee query requesting all polygons for a group of lessees or operators in partnership, i.e, Yates Petroluem, Abo Petroleum, MYCO, etc.
Colored polygons can be further modified by additional queries that change the polygon "fill" pattern or the polygon boundary. An example might be represented by a query that selects all the Held by Production polygons and specifies a read diamond background for these polygons.
Symbols
Symbols are very powerful entity because you can pack a great number of symbols upon a polygon. Contrast this with the idea that you can only put a four pieces of information on a polygon (foreground and background of a pattern and the outline style and color) on polygon. Symbols can hold 2 pieces of information, the symbol holds one, and the color holds another (size could be a third).
An example of a symbol entity might be represented by a red circle for all leases expiring this year, a blue cirlce for leases expiring next year, and a green circle for all leases expiring thereafter. The red circles might cause you to accelerate deals or drilling while the green circles would allow for more long range planning of projects.
Symbol entities may typically be positioned from the corners or center of the polygon.
Text and Text Lists
Text entities (and text outlines) are text information selected from your data and positioned from the corners or center of the associated polygon.
An example of a text entity might be the list of all lessees with lessee interest and expiration date.
The amount of information might be small or large. An improperly (or properly according to your point of view) constructed query can produce so much information that it cannot be viewed at large scales.
A Menu of Maps
Now we are ready to offer a menu of maps. Our menu is not the only menu. Our menu is a commonly used menu of maps (or sometimes called layers in the presentation trade).
Polygon Entity Maps:
All Tracts Polygons - shows the polygons for which you have information.
Lessee Polygons (your company, partners, or competitors) - shows a particular lessee or owner by color.
HBP Polygons - shows polygons where the leases are held by production.
Yearly or BiAnnual Expiration Polygons - shows the expiring acreage by time period and color.
Fee-Fed-State Polygons - shows whether the lease or land is Fee, Federal, or State owned.
Lease Status Polygons - shows the status of the lease. This might be the status of leasing activities.
Operator and Partner Ownership Percentage Threshold Maps - shows the acreage that is ready to be drilled based upon a specific ownership amount (say 75%) held by you and your partners.
Open Lease Polygons - lands and leases that are open for acquisition.
Symbols Entity Maps:
Fee-Fed-State Symbol (Text Symbol) - shows whether the lease or land is Fee, Federal, or State owned.
HBP Symbol (or Text Symbol) - shows where the leases are held by production.
Yearly or BiAnnual Expiration Symbol (or Text Symbol) - shows the expiring acreage by time period and color with a symbol.
Text and List Text:
Lessee-Interest-Expiration Date Text - shows list-oriented text of lessee name and expiration date associated with the polygons.
Lessor-Interest Text - shows list-oriented lessor and mineral interest associated with the polygons. Most useful with fee leases.
Lessee-Working Interest-Expiration Date Text - shows list-oriented text of lessee, working interest, and expiration date associated with polygons.
Combination Maps
In order to produce the most information-packed display, the client may wish to display mulitple maps. For example, an extremely useful map might consist of the following:
Lessee Polygons (your company, partners, or competitors) - shows a particular lessee or owner by color.
Fee-Fed-State Symbol (Text Symbol) - shows whether the lease or land is Fee, Federal, or State owned.
HBP Symbol (or Text Symbol) - shows where the leases are held by production.
Yearly or BiAnnual Expiration Symbol (or Text Symbol) - shows the expiring acreage by time period and color with a symbol.
Lessee-Working Interest-Expiration Date Text - shows list-oriented text of lessee, working interest, and expiration date associated with polygons.
Conclusion
We have laid out a list of mapping entities, given lists of possible information displayed by these entities, and offered combination maps which will display the most information in the most compact form. These lists of possible information are only beginning information and will be augmented by more complex information as what can be displayed is made more well known and familiar.
Email: info@infopipe.com