Over 480 people and 50 exhibitors attended this event. The premises, although primarily established as a casino, provided excellent meeting rooms and services and for personnel of the US Naval Oceanographic Office, had the added convenience of being close to their headquarters at the Stennis Space Center. Personnel from other participating organisations, such as the US NOAA and Army Corps of Engineers, besides the Canadian Hydrographic Service had rather farther to travel. The overall arrangements and financing were by the Hydrographic Society of America (THSOA).
The Technical Program provided approximately 50 papers covering the full range of modern technology used in hydrography today with sessions devoted to: Multibeam and sidescan sonars; Tides and Tidal Datums; Airborne Hydrography; Data Management; Hydrographic Applications and Electronic Charts. Unfortunately, a small number of the sessions were arranged in parallel but the subjects covered were broad and interesting. A particularly useful feature was to have workshops on specialist topics, running not only before and after the main conference but also during the conference. While this further introduced the dilemma of where to spend one’s time it did provide information on specialist topics.
The Technical Program enjoyed the participation of speakers from various centres of excellence which now exist in North America, such as the University of New Hampshire, the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of New Brunswick. Added to this were papers on the development work being carried out by NAVOCEANO and NOAA and the conference was provided with papers and discussions on the leading edge of the technology. Although it might be unfair to single out any particular developments, most interesting papers were given on the development of multibeam system data, the establishment of a single vertical datum and airborne hydrography. ECDIS, also a subject for discussion, while reportedly reaching maturity, appears to be casting about for a future direction.
The exhibitors had a large space with a logical arrangement, which made it easy to get around and by all reports, did good business. Associated to some extent with the exhibition, were the On-the-Water displays, which ran demonstrations from the hotel marina. These demonstrations were run by both government and industry interests.
The Proceedings (in PDF format) will be available for free downloading from the THSOA web-site (www. thsoa.org) on or about 1 July 2003.
No hydrographic conference would surely be complete without the opportunity for less formal activities and discussions provided by the social events, particular as an example of Southern hospitality. Such events included the usual Ice Breaker party; the Exhibitors’ party and the Conference dinner. At the last we enjoyed Cajun music and food.