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Traditional methods of hydrographic surveying usually entail a survey vessel equipped with a single beam echosounder or multibeam sonar system along with a position and orientation GPS system to record the location of features. For mission planning, surveying crews use existing charts, aerial LiDAR and available photos as guides to the area to be surveyed. Data collection includes accurate positions and representations of hills, mountains, and even lights and towers that will aid in fixing a ship's position, as well as aspects of the waters and sea floor. To accurately chart this data, it must be collected under strict rules for evaluation and positioning set out by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

"There are limitations with traditional methodologies," explains NOAA's Lt. Cmdr. Richard T. Brennan. "The field hydrographer, for example, records several positions around the extent of an islet to determine its approximate shape and dimensions. A polyline containing these points is drawn to represent the feature. As you can imagine, this is time-consuming, dangerous and fraught with possibilities for error." And, Brennan adds, these methods are "insufficient, producing low-resolution data."

Brennan and others who survey our nation's shorelines often seek new, more efficient technologies and methodologies to...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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