gINT Professional Software (gINT) is a data management tool for geotechnical, geological and geoenvironmental professionals. But many people only know it as a tool for creating boring logs. The purpose of this article is not so much to train you how to use gINT, but to show you what it can do, and to understand how it treats the data and the reports you make with it and what the implications are to your data and your end products. I will also cover some tips or best practices for successfully implementing gINT. This article was written based on gINT version 7, version 8 has been released but my company hasn’t upgraded yet. However, based on a cursory review of changes in Version 8, the content in this article should still be valid for the later version as well.

gINT Professional Software Explained

by Randy Post (for GeoPrac.net)

What it Does

The most important thing to remember is that gINT is at its core a program for manipulating databases. Geotechnical engineers, engineering geologists and geoenvironmental professionals among others are all used to working with geo-data, sometimes large volumes of it. gINT is a useful tool for managing it, searching and sorting through it, and formatting it into a nice end product.

Figure 1 – Screenshot from gINT Version 8 (gINT Software)

Another fundamental thing about how gINT operates is that it treats your geo-data and the report templates for outputting it completely separately. There are many advantages to this (and a few considerations). I’ll touch on the “considerations” later, but on the plus side:

• Once your report templates are set, you can apply them to any similarly formatted data set
• Enter the data in one location and it is available for use in all relevant reports
• Data files don’t get bloated with graphics and images that are common to all reports in the data set

Examples of Use

Most people are aware that gINT is good at making boring logs, but what about some of the other things that you can do with it? Below is a list of ways we have used gINT over the course of my practice at URS Corporation (Tucson office) and at NCS Consultants, LLC. You can download a collection of PDF samples in the Downloads Section.

• Conventional geotechnical soil boring log
• Rock coring log
• Test pit log
• Boring log with well diagram
• Lab testing summary table (gINT can classify samples according to the USCS classification scheme using raw sieve and Atterberg limits data)
• Grain size curves with summary data useful for design and envelopes for material specifications
• Plasticity chart plots with summary data
• Plasticity chart with graphical representation of clay mineral zones
• Fence diagram with SPT N60 values plotted along with selected lab index properties
• Visualization of soil cement cylinder break for QA/QC of a deep soil mixing (ground improvement) project
• Processing of survey data monitoring settlement and deformation of a mechanically stabilized earth retaining wall during and after construction

And in case that isn’t enough for you, gINT’s website has some nice sample reports for a whole variety of different applications. These can be a good starting point for developing your own templates, or just for learning about template modification and how it ties to the database files. Look for some future gINT articles to discuss more about report customization and modification.

Import/Export

gINT is also useful for importing and exporting data to and from other programs. Chances are it can read your data and output it in something that you can use for further processing. Here are some programs/applications/file types that gINT can read and/or write.

• Adobe Acrobat (PDF) – Export any report to this format without any additional software
• Microsoft Excel – Import and Export
• AutoCAD – Import and Export
• Microsoft Access – Import and Export (and link to external data sources)
• GIS – With additional software (gINT for ArcGIS) you can manipulate your gINT data in ArcGIS
• Text – Export simple text data if you need to

How it Works

There are several different files required by gINT for everything to come together. When reading the next few paragraphs, you may find it helpful to refer to Figure 2 which shows an overview of how things work.

Figure 2 – Data in Database to Report Template to Final Report

Project Database

First of all, let’s talk about a “Project Database” file (*.GPJ). This file is a database file that will hold your actual data. Things like project name and description, borehole designations and depths, GPS coordinates, SPT blowcounts, PID readings, depth to groundwater readings, contaminant concentrations, lithology information, lab testing data…etc. Needless to say, you will want one of these files for each of your projects.

Data Templates

Now let’s backpedal a little bit and discuss the “Data Template” file (*.GDT). This file is essentially an empty Project Database. It contains all of the database table names and fields required for your data to work with the reports you will be using. When you create a new Project Database, you typically start by cloning a Data Template (or an existing project). It is possible to have more than one data template to account for different applications. For example, you could have one data template for a typical geotechnical job, and one geared more towards an environmental job or a lab testing job.

Library File

The third critical file needed for happy gINTing is your gINT Library File (*.GLB). gINT ships with a library file out of the box, but you will also customize it to suit your needs. The library file also has a database format, but you don’t really need to concern yourself too much with that. The library file contains:

• Your report templates
• Graphic symbols used for samplers
• Symbols for different lithologies
• Discrete graphics such as your logo or a north arrow
• Lookup lists (eg. Hammer types, sampler types, etc.)

More about Databases

Most scientists and engineers are probably more comfortable using a spreadsheet program than a database. They both have their benefits and uses. Why is a database approach good for your geo-data?

• It eliminates or reduces repetitive and duplicate data entry
• Data is saved to database almost immediately (nice in the event of a sudden crash)
• More efficient for storage and manipulation of large amounts of data
• You can control the type of data (eg. numeric, text, pick from a list, etc)
• Easier to selectively query or filter the data
• Much easier to have one parent record and multiple children (eg. One boring, multiple samples; one sample, multiple lab tests; one grain size record, multiple sieve readings)

Figure 3 – Database Table Structure for Typical gINT Project

Common Pitfalls and Best Practices

Starting a New Project

You can start a new project by cloning an existing one. But the best way to start a new project is to clone your most recent data template. Follow these steps to start a new project by cloning a data template:

1. When you first open gINT 7, it opens to kind of a nothing screen. What I mean is, you’re not entering data or outputting it, you’re just kind of in limbo. So you need to click on the input tab first. It will open the last project you were working on, which is fine.
2. Go to File->New Project->Clone Data Template
3. It will default to the templates directory that is specified under your File->System Properties.
4. Choose your latest gINT template. (Remember, a data template is nothing more than a blank project database)
5. It will then prompt you for the name and path of the new project database you are creating. You can put this anywhere; usually in your project directory (I use a “gINT” subfolder). Or you can store all of your gINT data in one project.

That’s it, you can begin entering data!

Ye Old Project

One very common problem we have had with gINT is revisiting an old project where the logs were entered many months ago, and then either updating something or adding more borings and trying to output. If you have updated any of your report templates or you are starting your projects with a different data template, then they might not output correctly.

With most programs you are used to saving one file to a directory. Then when you want to work on that file again, you just have to open it up and off you go. With gINT, you need to not only find the project database that contains the data, but the correct LIBRARY FILE that was in use at the time of the creation of that project file. Herein lies the reason for the above-mentioned problem. One of gINT’s strengths is that you can tweak a report template once and have the improvements reflected on all of your logs. But as you are probably now seeing, this also can cause problems when revisiting old projects.

Solutions and ways to avoid the problem:

1. First of all, whenever I edit the library file and change templates or something of that nature, I try to contain those changes in a new version of the library file. I simply add a version number to the library filename and keep them all in the same directory. To do this, make a copy of your library file before you open gINT, and give it the new version number. Then open gINT, and switch your library file to the new version and make your changes.
2. If you make any changes to the database structure (adding tables, adding fields), create a new template file. It’s sometimes helpful to use a similar numbering scheme for your data templates as for your library file.
3. Always create a new project file from your most recent data template as described below.
4. On hard-copy and electronic output, default gINT reports contain something called “Tracking Codes” on the first page of most every log, graph, or fence. It contains information on the path to the project file (a *.GPJ file) that contained the data being output, and the template file (a *.GLB file) that contained the blank templates being used. The name of the template that was being used is also shown. This should give you enough info to go back and find the correct template in the correct library file to output your old reports again.

Conclusions

If you were hoping for some sage wisdom on how to tweak your log template or setup your gINT library to handle lab testing results, I hope you were not too disappointed with this article. But rest assured, I’ll write more on the topic of gINT later. Why not leave me a comment with what you would like to see in a gINT tutorial?

The purpose of this article was for people unfamiliar with gINT, and people who use gINT on more of a casual basis to get a better idea of how it works and what make it different than some other programs. The bottom line is that it is a fancy front end “wrapper” around a database for your geo-data. Once you develop your own report templates, you can reuse them for any similar project. Maybe with a little time and effort up front, you can streamline your geo-data input, output and miscellaneous processing.

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