GeologyRocks

Nothing?

Damn - I was hoping someone would have a suggestion here - it would be useful for me too!

Perhaps I should extend the question to software that costs less than...50 Euros? My private budget is, unfortunately, rather tiny.

The software we use at work probably costs more than 50Euros and I also wouldn't recommend it because, like all software, it's stupid (apologies to any computer programmers!). By that I mean it 'connects the dots' so the cross sections are lots of straight lines, therefore it really struggles with features such as channels, lenses and even faults. It has it's uses but I personally wouldn't put the output into any reports.

I do draw all my cross-sections by hand and I think it's the best way. It's a lot easier to play around with various interpretations to give a best / worst / most likely case. If you're worried about appearance I'd suggest scanning your finished maps / sections and labelling them up in an art package. Adobe Publisher / Illustrator are good for this but WinGIMP does similar things a lot cheaper.

If you're still interested in the software, then we use AGS HoleBase. We use it mainly for creating publishable borehole logs from site notes and it can convert to sections and maps. However, as I mentioned above I don't really trust it to do this and would only use it as a first pass and then correct and improve by hand.

I hope this helps.

My final piece of advice is that for a Master's thesis it is probably better to produce your mapping / sections etc. by hand. This is simply because it effectively proves that the work is all your own whereas the examiner could not be certain that the computer output was all your own work.

Thanks for your insights! You do have a point there. I'll try to get a decent graphic programm to enhance the scanned, manuall versions.

I would have suggested the software I used, Rockware's Rockworks, but it's a few hundred dollars.

 I agree about doing them by hand.  Easier to manipulate to exactly how you want it and much less frustrating than software.