12875 West 15^th Drive
Golden, CO 80401–3501 USA
Tel: 303–237–6590 E–Mail: LManess2@China–Resources.Net
 
Copyright Holder: Lindsey V. Maness, Jr.
 
Revised on February 22^nd, 2,006
 
 
Specialty Products
 
The IsoLineÔ Products & Services:
 
IsoLineÔ Maps are essentially diagrammatic expressions of the distribution of certain resources or some aspect(s) of interest of the resource(s), including the direction to or distance from some type or types of infrastructure, concentration, probability of occurrence, profit potential, etc. IsoLineÔ Maps can range from qualitative to quantitative, based upon the information available and the needs and desires of clients. The China & East Asia digital maps, especially when used with attribute information and/or digital imagery, can enable the generation of specialized products far beyond the simple display of selected information in chosen colors, etc. IsoLineÔ Maps are available strictly on a bid or cost+ basis because of the extreme variability in the exact desires of clients and the reliability and extent of the information available. Only those specialized IsoLineÔ products in which the most interest have been shown are listed herein: the possible combinations are almost infinite. The various IsoLineÔ Maps assume the existence of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) digital files in sufficient detail to render meaningful maps and analytical precursor attribute data. The GIS system preferred and the precursor data format (Vector) used is AutoCAD R13 (*.DWG files); however, ESRI (*.DXF files) and several other formats are also available at the same prices and terms. The China & East Asia Study is available in ARC–Info, AutoCAD and several other formats to enable maximum flexibility in the generation of IsoLineÔ Products. Numerous statistical tools are available, the most popular of them being Principal Components; however, specialized predictive capabilities are enabled by Canonical Correlations tools and these are strongly recommended.
 
IsoProxÔ Maps are of special interest, and can be further subdivided into IsoTransÔ , IsoPortÔ , IsoCanalÔ , IsoNavÔ , etc., maps. IsoProxÔ Maps often display the proximity of oil fields, mines, and geological structures, etc., to roads, railroads and other infrastructure. There will be no problem at all doing the IsoProxÔ Series from the existing Transportation Maps with the existing Geological and/or Basin Maps, etc. After completion, the same digital operation can be readily performed on the in–process Minerals Maps, etc. The existing digital data base is already sufficient to show distances between resources and roads, towns, railroads, canals and other features of general interest as already mapped. Distances to transportation, types of transportation and other supporting infrastructures are major variables controlling the economics of most resources operations. While the IsoProxÔ Series of Maps (being a simple measure of distance from a point, line or area) can be done quickly, the more sophisticated analyses and resulting maps (even those which use IsoProxÔ Maps as precursors) generally require significantly more base–line information about each such project.
 
IsoClayÔ Maps can be further subdivided into IsoIlliteÔ , IsoKaolinÔ , IsoMontmorilloniteÔ , etc., maps. In this case, it is often very useful to display these three common clay minerals as a raster image in the three primary TV colors of red, green and blue.
 
IsoRadÔ Maps show radiation resulting from surficial concentrations of potassium, uranium and thorium. IsoRadÔ Maps are often very usefully displayed as a raster image in its common constituent parts of IsoPotassiumÔ , IsoUraniumÔ and IsoThoriumÔ either singly or in any combination of red, green and blue raster images, with the brightness of each pixel being a function of the magnitude of the radiation emitted from the corresponding area on the ground. The IsoRadÔ Series of Maps presupposes the existence of something like America's NURE (National Uranium Resource Evaluation) data sets: if such does not exist, the client will have to acquire via another contractor a meaningful measure of the K, U and Th surficial radiation levels. The IsoRadÔ Series of Maps is quite possibly the most effective way known to explore for uranium: as an added bonus it also directly supports detailed geological (stratigraphic) and soils (pedologic) mapping. Some have claimed that IsoRadÔ Map equivalents are useful in exploration for oil & gas.
 
IsoSlopeÔ and IsoAspectÔ maps are useful base data to compensate satellite and other imagery for the effects of topographic shadowing. These maps can also be useful aids in land–use planning decisions (e.g., road and residential construction).
 
IsoComÔ maps enable the choosing of optimum communications sites. This requires sufficiently detailed digital topographic maps, a–priori generation of IsoLOSÔ maps and knowledge about the communications frequencies to be utilized. Frequencies are necessary to calculate areas of signal coverage, multiple path interference zones, etc. The IsoLOSÔ maps display zones of equal lines of sight for a specific point or points. In the simplest IsoLOSÔ model {e.g., for UHF}, a bit–map showing two categories [reception and non–reception] is usually generated. More sophisticated models {e.g., for AM–Radio} generally display more reception categories because of the varying and predictable ability of frequencies below 30 MHz to follow the contours of the surface of the earth. Indeed, in more sophisticated IsoComÔ Map modelling, the different over–the–horizon coverages of different frequencies can be predicted based upon temporal, seasonal and other variations in the D, E, F₁ and F₂ ionospheric reflectors: similarly, the probability of "ducting" of UHF and other short wavelength signals can be predicted for the circumstances that might be potentially encountered for various sites. The IsoLOSÔ model can also be used to determine the optimum placement within the "Footprint(s)" of one or of multiple satellites.
 
IsoPigmentÔ Maps can be further subdivided into the surficial concentrations of those plant pigments measurable with remote sensing devices, including IsoChlorophyllÔ and IsoCaroteneÔ . When used in association with forestry, soils, geological or agronomic maps, these maps can indicate plant stress. Plant stress can be a result of any combination of hydrological, pest, geological and other causes and can lead to useful predictions of crop yields, mineralization, polluted areas and pollution sources (point versus non–point), etc. IsoPigmentÔ Maps can be of special use in studies of oceans, seas and of large lakes.
 
IsoProbÔ Maps display in a relative qualitative or quantitative sense the probability of finding specific new resources deposits based upon known occurrences of other deposits, geology, geochemistry, structure, remote sensing, analyses, etc. The more sophisticated IsoProbÔ Maps can, however, require extensive analysis using additional overlays [e.g., Photogeological Remote Sensing], to enable more detailed geological mapping, the delineation of geochemical and geobotanical anomalies and sophisticated statistical predictive analyses (e.g., Canonical Correlations). The statistical methods require accurate attribute information. A comparatively primitive, but very useful, IsoProbÔ Map is one prepared at my request as a Demo by Petroleum Information/Dwight's Corporation (PI/D) [formerly an authorized dealer] that differentiates at a glance the relative oil & gas potential for Xinjiang Province and adjacent areas. Most of the oil and gas accumulations in western China have been found under or within sediments of Quaternary (Q) and Tertiary (T) age; the least has been found within igneous and volcanic rocks. Since igneous and volcanic rocks are labelled on the geological map with Greek letters (based on composition), it was a simple matter of Boolean logic to instruct the computer to color all areas of Quaternary sedimentary rocks in yellow, all areas of Tertiary sedimentary rocks in orange, and all areas of igneous or volcanic rocks in red, with the remaining areas remaining uncolored. Had this been done by hand, it would have been very time–consuming and expensive for each such map. This demonstrates that using the computer and digital map (GIS) technology, multiple copies can be done quickly and inexpensively, with any desired choices of colors, line thicknesses, scales, features (roads, railroads, towns, oil fields, oil seeps, refineries), etc., to demonstrate in map form a desired derived (IsoProbÔ –type) analysis.
 
All of these above IsoLineÔ maps can be useful precursors to the generation of IsoProfitÔ and IsoEconÔ maps, which are themselves special variants of the IsoCombÔ (Combination) and IsoCompÔ Maps (Computation). IsoProfitÔ Maps display the comparative estimated profitability of resources accumulations or deposits based upon distance from market, proximity to roads and railroads, quality or tenor, proven and probable reserves, taxes and like variables, calculated using off–the–shelf accounting software, usually relative to a raster–based data–set {econometric information} as attributes assigned to pixels, etc. IsoProfitÔ Maps usually require several additional precursor data–set analyses to enable a reasonably accurate estimate of comparative profitabilities. The IsoProfitÔ Maps could also be labelled as What–If? Maps, because they can quickly, pictorially and reasonably answer common questions like: "What if we find the mineralized zone is larger (or smaller) than mapped?" or "What if the taxes are forgiven for five years?" or "What if the price of gold rises and the price of copper falls?" or "What if we find more water needs to be pumped?" or "What if roads and railroads are extended or improved?" or "What if a pipeline is built?" or any number of other modelable questions. The "What If" aspect of this really means that each client would eventually want to use the China Study data base for ongoing confidential in–house analyses, weighting each of the variables as each sees fit, with changing conditions or perceptions. Probably, no two people do this alike.