Shallow Survey Focused on More than Just Multibeam
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Shallow Survey Focused on More than Just Multibeam

The biennial Shallow Survey event was held in Plymouth, UK, from 14-18 September 2015 and welcomed over 200 delegates. The university's Roland Levinsky building hosted the conference and the trade show, which was spread over three floors. Apart from the papers focusing on the common dataset, plenty of attention was paid to other subjects including satellite bathymetry, data management and quality control.

In the run-up to Shallow Survey, multibeam surveys with equipment of various suppliers were conducted in the waters of Plymouth and the common dataset was made available for analysis. This time, specific line patterns had to be run over a number of objects like a 2m cubic object and a wreck. Also vessel speed, swath angle and offline tolerance were made compulsory with the intention to create comparable datasets. On the Monday, presentations focused on this theme. After a first description by Andy Talbot (UKHO) on the dataset, Peter Hogarth (Kongsberg Maritime) reflected upon the effects of sound velocity variations on the different datasets. Tim le Bas continued on object-based image analysis (OBIA) and applied this principle to the datasets.

More than the Dataset

The conference continued by treating a wide range of other survey-related subjects like backscatter analysis, wreck survey, satellite derived bathymetry and bathymetric Lidar, crowdsourced bathymetry, geographic information systems and data management, visualisation and quality control, resurvey policies and survey planning and autonomous vehicles (surface and sub-surface). This conference proved itself with a broader orientation than just the datasets and multibeam surveying. Especially the attention given to satellite derived bathymetry throughout the conference was impressive and the insights shared were valuable.

Workshops

Active involvement was possible during the workshops on Monday and Friday. Various suppliers like Chesapeake Technology, Fugro, Caris and QPS took care of hands-on training opportunities. Also demo cruises were organised throughout the week by Teledyne RESON, demonstrating their new T50-P multibeam sonar.

Social Events

Networking with colleagues is another important aspect during events like Shallow Survey. To facilitate a good chat, the organisers put a welcome reception on the agenda on Monday evening for the early arrivals, an icebreaker reception on Tuesday and on Wednesday evening delegates could have a taste of the West –ciders, ales, wines and regional food were available throughout the exhibition area. The gala dinner took place on Thursday evening in the marquee on Plymouth Hoo, overlooking the Plymouth Sound.

The next edition of Shallow Survey is to take place in 2018, in St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.

Image: David Wyatt (IHO) shared take home-messages for crowd-sourced bathymetry.

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