TOWARDS INTELLIGENT SPATIAL COMPUTING FOR THE EARTH-SCIENCES IN SOUTH-AFRICA

The last two decades have seen the geological sciences branch out into more and more specialized subdisciplines. Modern computer graphics te chnology and interactive data-base handling heralds a new time for rei ntegration. At the University of Cape Town, we have recently establish ed a computer centre which capitalizes on the advancing technology of geographical information systems (GIS). Fundamental to success is the ability to integrate information digitally from the different subdisci plines, to attain a synthesis that was previously impossible, notably with reference to the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, and the mine ral deposits of Antarctica. Now research at the centre is able to solv e diverse problems ranging from the global to the small-scale and from the academic to the applied.