About us
The aim of the Geoscience Information Consortium (GIC) is the exchange of the latest know-how in use and management of geoscience information systems between National Geological Survey Organisations. The GIC Annual Conference provides an important forum where individual geological surveys openly discuss the challenges of the digital era in geosciences, and where they introduce their national activities and report on their actual developments in this sector.
Membership is open to all national Geological Survey Organisations who wish to contribute to the improved understanding of geoscience information systems. Each member country is allowed to delegate up to two representatives – preferably senior staff of the national Geological Survey responsible for strategy and building of geoscience information infrastructure – to attend the GIC Annual Conference. Members are obliged to provide an annual National Report on the state, development and priorities of informatics in a specific geological survey in the form currently required by the Executive Secretary and Steering Committee.
Some challenges tend to be specific to certain regions. In response to this, as well as to promote closer contacts and cooperation between geoinformatics, programmers and technicians from neighbouring countries, GIC regional branches are being set up. The Nordic GIC (Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands), the Central European GIC (CE-GIC) (Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Romania) have been operating in this way for many years.