Lakebed 2030 conference highlights mapping progress
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The conference featured demos by leading survey technology companies, including Maritime Robotics, which used an autonomous mapping platform to map a shipwreck 1 km away in Grand Traverse Bay.
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Late last month, GLOS attended the Lakebed 2030 conference in Traverse City, MI.
Hosted by Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) and organized by NMC, NOAA, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and GLOS, the conference gathered around 200 professionals to learn about the latest mapping efforts, new technologies, and continue to work towards mapping the remaining 85% of the Great Lakes at high-density.
A few highlights:
- NOAA efforts were prominently featured this year. NOAAâs Rear Admiral Benjamin Evans presented a keynote on the Office of Coast Surveyâs ongoing efforts in the Great Lakes, including sending the NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson to map here for the first time in decades.
- Denis Hains, from H2i, presented on the global hydrospatial movement and how it relates to Lakebed 2030.
- From GLOS, Tim Kearns presented on the current state of Lakebed 2030 and on GLOS efforts to bolster the initiative.
- Also from GLOS, Linden Brinks presented on the development of an interactive hex map layer for Seagull that will allow those contributing to the lakebed map to easily see unmapped areas.
- Students from NMC's Marine Technology program attended talks and demos and networked with potential employers.
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GLOS-funded crowdsourced bathymetry is now live on a public database
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Vessel tracks in Lake Ontario show areas covered by GLOS-sponsored bathymetry, uploaded to an international crowdsourced bathymetry database.
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In 2021, GLOS funded Orange Force Marine to develop a device that could turn ordinary fish finders or other echo sounder systems aboard everyday vessels into basic lakebed scanners that could contribute crowdsourced bathymetry data to a shared International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) database.
Orange Force Marine developed a palm-sized device called a âMussel Kitâ and began installing them on volunteer vessels. But, before the data could make it into the IHOâs Data Centre for Digital Bathymetry (DCDB), GLOS first had to become a trusted node, building a pipeline to automatically upload the data.
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Mussel Kits are now installed on 12 vessels, with more on the way, and the GLOS Trusted Node pipeline is functioning well, delivering fresh data every few weeks.
The data is now publicly accessible on the DCDB.
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To find GLOS data on the DCDB, select only crowdssourced bathymetry and filter for Provider: GLOS.
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Interested in installing a Mussel Kit on your vessel? Email Derek Niles, Orange Force Marine, at dniles@orangeforcemarine.com.
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Buoys are coming out of the water
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To keep buoys safe from ice and winter storms, operators are venturing out on the lake to retrieve buoys, pulling them back to garages and laboratories all over the region.
As they notify GLOS, staff mark them as Recovered.
Special thanks to all who are part of the cold, sometimes risky work of recovering and deploying buoys each year. If youâre a user of buoy data, consider reaching out to the buoy operators to say thanks!
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Filter for only Active platforms on Seagull.
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Join us for a Seagull Users Livestream on Nov. 30
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Weâll be back with another Seagull Users Livestream on our YouTube, Twitter, or Facebook on Nov. 30.
In late August, we hosted the first event and got to hear from many of you and share some updates on whatâs next for Seagull development.
You will get the chance to:
- Hear the latest and what we're planning.
- Ask your questions.
- Hear from other users.
Interested in joining the livestream to share your experience using Seagull? Hit reply to let David know.
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