The problem of uncertainty integration and geo-information harmonization

In infrastructural projects, communication between involved parties is difficult. This among other things, is caused by inferior quality and uncertain information concerning collected data and derived real world representations. Particularly in subsurface geotechnical representations uncertainties are high, since only sparse information is available for the interpretation. This leads to the introduction of "interpretational uncertainties" into the representation; that are, uncertainties introduced by the expert using own knowledge and experience for the data interpretation. This, in addition to the variety of data and information types, makes harmonization of geo-information extremely difficult. This paper summarizes available methods and software packages as used by different professionals in infrastructural development for the representation of real world and design objects as well as for the management of geo-information. Furthermore, it emphasizes existing problems and gaps towards harmonized handling of geo-information including uncertainty estimations; with focus on 'interpretational uncertainties' in subsurface representations.

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