BMEA

Leisure and commercial boaters could soon benefit from more accurate depth information, thanks to a research and development project awarded to a European consortium.

The TeamSurv consortium offers sailors and powerboaters the opportunity to join a community that collects and shares depth information recorded by vessels’ existing depth sounder equipment. Depth data, along with the vessel’s position, are automatically logged and stored in real time, either by a software utility running on a Windows™ PC or using a dedicated hardware logging device.

At the end of the voyage, the logged data is uploaded to the TeamSurv website. Submitted data are combined and processed, using unique algorithms, by TeamSurv and are corrected for actual or predicted water levels and other factors so as to produce a bathymetric surface. Members of the TeamSurv community who contribute data are eligible to view their submitted data graphically, along with the soundings collected by other boaters in the area.

The service launches in April and will focus on three trials areas in the UK, France and Lithuania for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Boaters interested in participating are invited to visit www.teamsurv.eu to register. There is no charge to take part in the trial.

TeamSurv’s research is being part-funded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (grant agreement no. 247998) and aims to demonstrate that the more accurate positioning made possible by the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) may permit community-sourced depth sounder information to be used as a low cost source of survey data, with comparable quality to traditional survey techniques.

For more information, please contact:
Rob Buttress on +44 (0) 7867 500275 or +44 (0) 1823 481149, or by email rob.buttress@teamsurv.eu