Abstract: Remarkable achievements in the geological data service have been made in the past twenty years in China. However, the exploitation and utilization of geological data remain at the start stage and have some prominent problems, such as backward exploitation consciousness, few regulations and technical standards, slow marketization, lacking intellectual property protection, less products and methods, and unmatched relationship between supply of product and demand of user. Based on the basic properties of geological data, this paper discusses the scientific value, economic value, cultural value and historical value of the exploitation and utilization of geological data. Researches show that the further geological data exploitation and utilization work has the following characteristics:development of marketization, resource sharing, technological informationization, carriers diversity, and products commodification. It also follows certain development processes and methods. As for promoting better geological data development and utilization in China and accelerating marketization process, this paper has also given its own opinions:improving policies and technical standards system, enriching resources, drafting planning, strengthening informatization construction, broadening exploitation content, promoting marketization, handling the relationship between confidentiality and utilization, transforming concept and some other measures.