To help commercial, regulatory, and energy research professionals more effectively explore and interact with complex and evolving data, and glean insights through interactive maps, NETL developed EDX Spatial — a game-changing platform that empowers users to visualize data seamlessly through online mapping. 

EDX Spatial is the official geospatial visualization, exploration, and discovery tool of the Energy Data Exchange (EDX), the Department of Energy (DOE)/Fossil Energy and Carbon Management’s (FECM) virtual library and data laboratory built to find, connect, curate, use and re-use data to advance fossil energy and environmental research. Developed and maintained by NETL, EDX supports the entire life cycle of data by offering secure, private collaborative workspaces for ongoing research projects until they mature and become catalogued, curated, and published.  

The new EDX Spatial feature hosts thousands of earth-energy data files from public and DOE/FECM related sources. Geospatial data on EDX Spatial can be downloaded within the application or as standalone files through EDX’s published data search repository. EDX Spatial was launched on the EDX Platform Nov. 14, 2023.

The need for efficient and user-friendly geospatial web tools is growing because users must make sense of vast datasets to move various energy projects forward.

Now available to the public, EDX Spatial is a multi-cloud curated mapping platform for displaying research and development spatial data resources that are published on EDX. EDX Spatial is hosted on ArcGIS Enterprise, a system that includes servers, data stores, web adaptors, and a portal. The data is directly available to the public through ArcGIS Portal for the download, visualization, interaction, and analysis of geospatial data.

EDX Spatial offers access to thousands of individual spatial data layers, as well as collated Data Collections that align to DOE FECM/NETL funded research. The current inventory of EDX Spatial Data Collections includes:

• Carbon Storage Open Database — A collection of spatial data obtained from publicly available sources and published by several NATCARB Partnerships and other authoritative organizations.
• Natcarb Viewer 2.0 — The National Carbon Sequestration Database (NATCARB) is an online collection of data layers describing carbon capture, use, and storage (CCUS) potential across the United States.
• Offshore Gulf of Mexico Collection — The collection includes spatial data from authoritative sources using analytical methods for the Gulf of Mexico. This data contains information on public and industrial infrastructure, environment, and socio-economic factors as related to the offshore energy system.
• Rare Earth Elements (REE) and Coal Open Database — The database is an online collection of subsurface contextual data from publicly available geological, geochemical and geospatial resources.
• Global Oil and Gas Infrastructure (GOGI) Database — The geodatabase contains 4.8 million records demonstrating the global footprint of oil and natural gas infrastructure. Data is represented from all 193 United Nations Member States and their respective exclusive economic zones.

To access NETL geospatial resources, click here. Potential EDX Spatial users can request additional information by contacting edxgeodata@netl.doe.gov

NETL is a DOE national laboratory that drives innovation and delivers technological solutions for an environmentally sustainable and prosperous energy future. By using its world-class talent and research facilities, NETL is ensuring affordable, abundant, and reliable energy that drives a robust economy and national security, while developing technologies to manage carbon across the full life cycle, enabling environmental sustainability for all Americans.