As a cornerstone of national geological endeavors, environmental geological mapping requires scientifically rigorous budgeting standards to enhance resource allocation efficiency and ensure survey quality. This study establishes a multidimensional budget calculation model tailored for 1:50,000 environmental geological mapping, integrating the cost-quota theory, which links resource inputs to standardized work units, within a structured four-phase methodology comprising data collection, quota determination, model development, and empirical validation. We extracted key productivity metrics-such as work efficiency (e.g., a standardized group-day efficiency of 4.8 km²/day), personnel deployment, material consumption, equipment allocation, and transportation quotas-from 12,843 field logs provided by 16 national survey teams. The model applies fundamental engineering economics principles ("quantity-price-cost") underpinned by cost-quota theory to compute theoretical budget values, which are further refined through a dual-dimensional adjustment mechanism incorporating geological complexity (coefficients ranging from 1.0 to 1.5) and regional cost coefficients. Empirical validation shows that the proposed model reduces budget deviations to below 3% (specifically 2.1%, 1.7%, and 2.5% across three distinct geological settings), markedly surpassing traditional budgeting approaches. This study offers a scalable and scientifically grounded framework for budget management in geological surveys, with substantial practical implications for optimizing fiscal resource allocation and promoting standardization within the industry.
Luo et al. (Tue,) studied this question.