Hydrographic surveying near me has a lot of benefits and that is why its investment is promoted by governments and private entities. What tends to be obvious to the end-users of hydrographic information and hydrographers is not always obvious to those who benefit indirectly from hydrographic surveys – the public. To ensure everyone understands the benefits of hydrography, I will try and make it as simple as possible.
The hydrographic survey involves surveying and mapping lakes, rivers and oceans. The survey gives us crucial information about the movement of water above the seafloor and the seafloor itself. The information obtained from the survey is published as sailing directions and nautical charts both in hardcopy and digitally.
In a navigational context, the publications are essential for providing mariners with the important information they need to navigate their shops efficiently and safely. Used together with meteorological information, the nautical publications from hydrography provide a basis for decision making on when and where a ship can be taken.
High-resolution hydrographic data in the form of the imagery of the seabed provides a basis for critical engineering decisions on important matters such as where subsea installations should be located. These subsea installations may include communication cables or pipelines. It also provides essential base mapping for the sake of scientific research.
Just like communities and cities that have prospered because of their close proximity to roads and rails and in modern times, airports and superhighways, access to harbours have been the earliest cornerstone for economic development and discovery all over the world.
Hydrographic surveying plays an important role in making waters navigable. Knowledge of hazards, water depth, current and tides is vital. Hydrographic information provides us with this knowledge, in whatever way it is communicated. Furthermore, what makes waters navigable also makes them safe.
Bringing products to and from the market by the ocean, access to fisheries, energy sources, and rich natural resources in the ocean depends on hydrographic information. If just in time service isn’t critical, reduced carbon footprint and economic efficiencies associated with marine transportation will surpass other modes of transportation. Resource development, frontier exploration, extraction and harvesting – the transportation of cargo and people; national sovereignty and defence; aquatic science; all of which support economic development all over the world are enabled by the information obtained through hydrography.
To sum everything up, access to hydrographic information that helps us understand the ocean, land and submerged land, are essential to claiming territory and then developing and realising the economic sustainability of a nation.
Through mapping and surveys, surveyors have played an important role in supporting land development and land tenure and this has provided important information and a connection between hydrography and the basis for a sustainable economy.
Countries that have invested a lot of money in hydrographic surveying have benefited a lot from the ocean. They have been able to use the investments to discover and explore minerals in the ocean. They have also managed to discover new islands and claim them. While more has been done, there is still more that needs to be done to improve hydrography.
