Hydrographic surveying in Sydney involves surveying and mapping lakes, harbours, rivers and oceans. This gives us accurate information about the movement of water above the seafloor and how the seafloor looks. The information obtained in its most public form is then published as sailing directions and nautical charts both in hardcopy and digitally.
In a navigational context, these publications are important when it comes to providing mariners with the information they require to navigate ships efficiently and safely.
Used together with meteorological data, nautical publications provide the basis for making decisions on when and where a ship can be taken. Accurate and high-resolution information obtained in the form of imagery provides a basis for decision making on matters such as where to install communication cables and pipelines. It also provides important base mapping to support scientific research.
Communities and cities that have prospered over time due to their close proximity to railways and roads in modern times, airports, superhighways, access to navigable waters and harbours have been the earliest cornerstone for economic development and discovery.
What makes water navigable?
Knowing the depth of water, tides, hazards, and current is very important. The information and data obtained during hydrography provide the basis for this important knowledge, in whatever way it may be communicated. What makes water navigable also makes it safe. The safety of life at the sea, the room to run from the storm and finding an ice-free course to steer are supported by the information obtained during hydrographic surveying.
Bringing of products to and from the market by the ocean – access to sources of energy, fisheries and rich natural resources at sea depends on hydrography. The reduced carbon footprint associated with sea transportation and economic efficiency will surpass all the transportation modes. Resource development, frontier exploration, extraction and harvesting – transportation of cargo and people, national sovereignty, aquatic science and defence, all support the economic development of a country. All these things are enabled by the information obtained from hydrography.
To sum things up, access to land and understanding it, including ocean lands, are very important to claiming one’s territory and developing and realizing the economic sustainability of a nation. Through mapping and surveys, surveyors and engineers have played an important role in supporting land development and land tenure and thus provide an important connection between these kinds of surveys and the basis for a sustainable economy.
Using drones in hydrography
While hydrography has a lot of benefits, it also faces a lot of challenges and that is why technology has been embraced. Drones are now being used instead of aeroplanes due to climate challenges. With drones, the surveyors are in control of every step in the survey. Now, in the case of unreliable data and errors, the surveyors can either collect new data or correct the errors. They do not have to depend on others.
Hydrographic surveying Sydney is getting more useful and popular as countries continue to invest in technology to make it easier, better and more accurate. More people are also joining careers in hydrography.
