News Release, Kansas Geological Survey, Oct. 27, 2008
LAWRENCE--Oil and gas operators, landowners, and the public can now locate oil and gas fields and even individual wells in Kansas on a unique interactive map available from the Kansas Geological Survey at the University of Kansas.
The online oil and gas map viewer provides various options for exploring current and historic oil and gas activities in the state. Starting with a statewide map that shows the locations of all oil and gas fields in Kansas, users can zoom in on a specific site, county, field or well.
Field and well locations can be found on the map using the zoom tool or by typing in the field name, county name, well identification number, or legal description of a property. The viewer also provides drilling information for each well and annual production totals for the life of each field.
"This map viewer goes way beyond our previous mapping tools," said Dan Suchy, geologist in the Survey Data Resources Library. "New features include the ability to click and drag the map, zoom to a precise location, choose among numerous map layers that can be turned on or off, access well or field data, and link to related web pages."
Unlike a printed map, the map viewer can easily link the user to other sources of oil and gas well and field information and always provides current material.
"Information on new wells or alteration in the status of existing wells is updated weekly on the map viewer," said Mike Killion, assistant GIS coordinator and compiler of the map viewer. "We update the location or expansion of oil and gas fields once a month."
Another distinctive feature of the viewer is that its base map, which shows cities, highway, counties and section lines, can be changed to an aerial photograph or topographic map at the click of a mouse.
The highly detailed aerial photographs and topographic maps emphasize the lay of the land and illustrate where wells lie relative to natural landmarks, such as hills, creeks, and lakes, as well as to populated areas, paved and unpaved roads, and rural buildings. The aerial photographs are so detailed that individual rooftops and trees can be identified.
"This is the only such oil and gas mapping tool for the state of Kansas that is available to everyone free of charge via the internet," Suchy said. "It uses the latest in mapping technology and stands out among oil and gas online mapping tools developed by other states. We're excited to get it out there for people to use."
The oil and gas map viewer can be accessed at http://maps.kgs.ku.edu/oilgas/. To open the viewer, users must have one of the following browsers: Internet Explorer 6 or higher, Firefox 2 or higher, or Safari. For more information about the Kansas Geological Survey and its other resources, visit http://www.kgs.ku.edu.