First International Satellite-Derived Bathymetry Day is a Success
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First International Satellite-Derived Bathymetry Day is a Success

With over 45 delegates from more than 15 countries around the world, the first international Satellite-Derived Bathymetry Day (SDB Day) organised by EOMAP was a great success. For the first time all relevant players came together on 6 and 7 June 2018 to anticipate what lies ahead for satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) technology in the next years and to discuss future opportunities for providers and users.

EOMAP CEO, Dr Thomas Heege, commented: “The support for the SDB Day was fantastic. All relevant institutions – hydrographic offices, marine industry, service providers and research institutes – picked up on the themes of capabilities, data integration, requirements and quality standards. Joint considerations are really coming to the fore, which is great to see.”

Shallow water surveys

Presentations at the SDB Day 2018 reflected a great optimism for the SDB technology. Dr Mathias Jonas, secretary general of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) stated: “Satellite-Derived Bathymetry has arrived into practice and it has matured as a regular means for shallow water surveys. The SDB Day was an excellent platform for providers and users. For the global standardisation of hydrography, we have understood that we need to adopt this new technology in the IHO framework and see how to associate it to our technical standardisation and how to anchor it with our education and training programs.”

Dr Magnus Wettle, managing director at EOMAP Australia, said the involvement of speakers underlined the growing importance of the SDB technology for shallow water surveys. “We are happy that the conference came up with such an impressive uptake on SDB, and with the support of providers and users we can all play an active part in this ongoing initiative.”

Participants of the first international Satellite-Derived Bathymetry Conference, the SDB Day 2018, 6 & 7 June 2018.

Satellite-Derived Bathymetry Working Group

As a result and initiated by the participants, first steps were taken to form a Satellite-Derived Bathymetry Working Group. “SDB is recognised as part of an integrated approach for nearshore mapping alongside with traditional survey methods”, said Dr Marco Filippone, chief hydrographer at Fugro. He concluded: “We can use SDB to augment existing technology as a benchmark for high definition data sets and with this new technique develop together enabling technology, processing workflows and machine learning – and we can really speed up the process providing the final users with a product that can be used for their needs.”

The next SDB Day will be announced shortly.

Initially established as a reconnaissance tool for shallow water bathymetry only, cutting-edge SDB techniques are increasingly used as a cost-efficient and rapid survey method for acquiring high-resolution bathymetric data down to water depths of 30 meters.

More information about the conference is available at www.sdbday.org.

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