Database versioning and its implementation in geoscience information systems

• The versions of geoscience data is managed in database systems.
• The data model is simple.
• Mesh comparison algorithm is based on the k–d tree sliding-median-widest-spread.
• Version merging strategy considers the conflict situations.
• The software is implemented in PostgreSQL and gOcad.

Many different versions of geoscience data concurrently exist in a database for different geological paradigms, source data, and authors. The aim of this study is to manage these versions in a database management system. Our data include geological surfaces, which are triangulated meshes in this study. Unlike revision/version/source control systems, our data are stored in a central database without local copies. The main contributions of this study include (1) a data model with input/output/manage functions, (2) a mesh comparison function, (3) a version merging strategy, and (4) the implementation of all of the concepts in PostgreSQL and gOcad. The software has been tested using synthetic surfaces and a simple tectonic model of a deformed stratigraphic horizon.