The smartphone and tablet revolution has changed how geologists work in the field, but now the community must come up with standards to tame the flood of data.
The geological sciences, maybe more than any other discipline, rely heavily on field studies to evaluate and interpret the natural world. It is increasingly important for field-based geoscientists to incorporate digital data management systems into their workflow to increase efficiency, data sharing, and collaboration and, ultimately, to answer larger scientific questions. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all data management system; field practices vary widely across disciplines, and individual researchers tend to customize these practices further.
Mookerjee, M., D. Vieira, M. A. Chan, Y. Gil, T. L. Pavlis, F. S. Spear, and B. Tikoff, 2015: Field data management: Integrating cyberscience and geoscience. Eos, 96, doi:10.1029/2015EO036703.This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1340265, 1440323. Opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of the NSF.