IS is an extremely collaborative activity. Almost at the drop of a hat, GIS professionals will organize a conference, set up a Web-based list server, pull people together for discounts on training, establish a networking group, and generally do what they can to move the community forward.The standards for GIS certification in the United States, which are being worked out as we complete the manuscript for this book, explicitly include points for participating in and organizing events that benefit the entire community.

The Dinaric Karst of Croatia was formed in a tectonically active area, where several geotectonic plates of variable size are in direct contact. The African tectonic plate, with its smaller Adriatic plate, extends northwards towards the Alps. The Adriatic plate subducts under the Dinaric plate, which is the base part of the Dinaric Mountains. Therefore, this is a seismically palaeo and neotectonically active area with many earthquakes. Since these area is composed mainly of soluble carbonate rocks (mostly Mesozoic and Cenozoic ages) that are up to 8 km thick in this area, with favourable hydrogeological conditions, the karstification processes are very prominent. A brief overview of the geology of Croatia also indicates the complexity of hydrogeological processes in this area. <...>

Drilling occurs in all nations around the world, and in the seas surrounding those nations, using drilling rigs to bore into the earth.
Drilling:

• provides information about resources (minerals, construction material, oil, gas, water) and also provides access to those resources.

• helps with developing infrastructure in foundations, piling, and constructing dams, and in laying underground cables for energy transmission and  communications.
• helps to gather information such as ground strength, ground formations and composition, and the presence and quality of groundwater (geotechnical, seismic, and environmental).
The drilling industry contributes more than its expected share to a nation’s economy, because it supports a number of other industries – construction and infrastructure development, mining, energy supply (oil, gas, coal, hydro-electricity and geothermal) and housing, agriculture, and rural development through groundwater supply <...>