Development of Submarine Pipeline 3D GIS Platform

During offshore oil exploration, we must take regular investigation and inspections of submarine pipeline, and also need to effectively manage this historic and current information with respect to the oil pipeline, such as the position of pipeline, seabed topography and relief around the pipeline, seabed sediment compositions and so on, so that we can analyze submarine pipeline safety status. Thus it is necessary to establish a submarine pipeline 3D geographic information system (GIS). Firstly, we established a database of submarine pipeline change using the multibeam sounding data, rich submarine feature attribute data and the bottom material composition information etc., and we organically integrate these heterogeneous data from different data source through their geospatial location. Secondly we study the method to build the digital terrain model (DTM) of seabed and generate the 3D submarine virtual scene. Finally, based on the time stamped historic data and cellular automaton theory, we construct a Spatial-Temporal submarine pipeline change Model to analyze the dynamic change trend of submarine pipeline's position, and visually simulate it in the 3D GIS scene. This system has already been applied in a project of oil pipeline management in a sea area in China, provides very valuable decision support information for the scientific evaluation of the submarine pipeline's safety state.