GMS NX
Geomechanical survey of rock-mass discontinuities, from compass to stability report. All in a single web app.
GMS NX is the new web generation of the GeoStru program for representing and processing geo-structural surveys of discontinuities in rock masses, carried out in the field with the compass-and-clinometer method following the ISRM recommendations. It inherits the formulas of GMS desktop, brings them inside the browser, and enriches them with 3D stereonet, native map, AI-assisted import and a smartphone compass companion.
The survey procedure follows the ISRM recommendations “Suggested Methods for the Quantitative Description of Discontinuities in Rock Masses”, translated into Italian by O. Del Greco in the Rivista Italiana di Geotecnica — R.I.G. 2/93.
Features
| Area | Detail |
|---|---|
| 2D stereonet | Equal-area Schmidt–Lambert or equal-angle Wulff projection, polar or equatorial view, live toggle. |
| 3D stereonet | Sphere rotatable with the mouse: poles, great circles, intersection wedges and slope plane in perspective. |
| Great circles | Mean-plane great circles per joint set, hemisphere selection (Upper/Lower), toggle between Pole / Great circle / Both. |
| Fisher statistics | Concentration parameter k, confidence cone α95, magnitude of the resultant R̂. 1-NN spherical assignment with configurable tolerance. |
| Distributions | Star diagram of dip directions, Denness isodensity on 100 spherical cells, ISRM modal histograms on aperture, spacing, persistence. |
| Markland kinematic test | Planar sliding and wedge failure per Hoek & Bray (1981), toppling per Goodman & Bray (1976), with operational verdict and recommended countermeasures (scaling, rock bolting, anchors, rockfall nets, reinforced shotcrete, sub-horizontal drains). |
| AI import | Automatic extraction of dip/dip-direction from unstructured text (field notebook, legacy PDF reports, heterogeneous tabular data). |
| Compass NX | Installable PWA on iOS and Android smartphones (evolution of eGeoCompass): native phone compass and clinometer, GPS, photo and voice note per joint. Desktop transfer via a six-digit numeric code, with no Wi-Fi and no shared account. |
| Native map | OpenStreetMap, topographic and satellite backgrounds. Each joint in decimal geographic coordinates (lat/lon to six decimals) and UTM projection. |
| 3D point cloud | Import .PLY / .XYZ from photogrammetric drone or LiDAR scanner, with interactive extraction of discontinuity planes. |
| Export | Structured Word (.docx) report, DXF of the stereonet for AutoCAD, CSV of orientations, vector SVG, high-resolution PNG. |
| Save | Continuous cloud autosave, reopen the project from any browser — no installs, no hardware keys. |
What GMS NX adds over GMS desktop
- Rotatable 3D stereonet — the three-dimensional sphere with poles, great circles, wedges and the slope plane represented in perspective.
- AI Import — automatic extraction of orientations from free text.
- Compass NX — installable PWA on the phone, with GPS, photo and voice note.
- Six-digit transfer code — from phone to PC without Wi-Fi, without shared accounts.
- Native map — OSM, topographic and satellite, UTM coordinates and lat/lon to six decimals.
- Point cloud — import from LiDAR and photogrammetry, with plane extraction in a 3D environment.
- Markland verdict with countermeasures — not only the number of critical kinematisms, but also the indication of typical stabilization works to be considered at preliminary design stage.
- Cloud autosave — no work lost, reopen the project from any device.
Professional target
Applied geologists, geotechnical engineers, rock-slope consolidation designers, consultancy firms, construction companies operating in rock-slope stability, universities and PhD programs in applied geology.
Report output
The Word (.docx) technical report generated by GMS NX is structured for immediate delivery to the client or for inclusion in a project file. It includes: cover page with project and site data, survey description, extended table of orientations following the 15-column ISRM scheme, Fisher summary of identified joint sets (k, α95, R̂), Markland kinematic verification section complete with verdict, numerical KPIs and table of critical kinematisms. Charts (stereonet, rose, isodensity, histograms) are inserted as high-resolution images, derived directly from the on-screen vector rendering.
GeoStru NX Suite — GMS NX is part of the new web generation of GeoStru applications. Stratigrapher NX, Computo NX, LiquiTer NX and the other applications in the suite share the same cloud environment, the same authentication system, and talk directly to each other on project data.