boreholeId

A boreholeId is a unique identifier assigned to a borehole, an artificial hole drilled into the ground. The identifier is used in records, maps, and datasets to reference a single borehole unambiguously, regardless of its location, name, or operator. BoreholeIds are common in groundwater investigations, mining, civil engineering, and geothermal projects.

Typically, boreholeIds are created by the project operator or data management system and are retained for the lifetime of the borehole. Formats vary: some use numeric sequences; others combine site codes, year, and a sequential number, sometimes with prefixes or suffixes. The important property is immutability: once issued, the boreholeId should not change if records are updated or the borehole is modified.

BoreholeIds serve as keys to linked information such as drilling logs, lithology descriptions, geophysical surveys, pump tests, water quality data, and construction details. They enable integration across datasets and support spatial analyses in GIS by joining attribute tables to geographic features representing the borehole location.

Data governance practices often require recording metadata with a boreholeId, including coordinates, depth to base, borehole diameter, construction date, status, and ownership. Many projects maintain a borehole registry or database to ensure consistency, version history, and interoperability between organizations.

In practice, boreholeIds improve traceability, auditability, and data quality in geoscience and engineering workflows, helping researchers and engineers correlate observations collected at the same borehole over time.