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Data Sharing & Availability  |  Share your hydrographic data

If you are considering performing a hydrographic survey and are willing to share the data with us, we can pass it on to the UK Hydrographic Office to help them compile new or updated nautical charts and so help improve safety for mariners.

Your survey does not need to be carried out to full charting standards to be of use. Even without a full search for dangers, a modern survey can improve on our knowledge of the seabed. There will be no legal liability on you for the way that we use your data.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency are always happy to give help and advice on hydrographic data gathering requirements in order to increase the usefulness of hydrographic survey data. Our guidelines for delivering data to us are summarised below.

Ideally bathymetry data would be rendered and delivered in digital form, with the following formats:

  • Data in one of the following: Caris HDCS directory (i.e. “HIPS”); Simrad PROC directory, Generic Sensor Format or Fledermaus PFM;  or ASCII xyz.
  • Spurious data cleaned from the final, delivered, dataset.  Digital data with rejected soundings included, but flagged as deleted. The method used in any data-cleaning (e.g. Shoal or Median Biased) stated.
  • Digital data as full density (i.e. prior to any gridding, binning or tinning being applied), though if gridded datasets have been created then please include these too.
  • The soundings reduced using observed tides (not predicted tides from Tide Tables).
  • Depths referenced to UKHO Chart Datum for the area.

A report of the survey that describes how the data was gathered and processed would be of use, especially if it includes:

  • A list of the equipment and software used.
  • How positioning equipment was set up, calibrated and used.
  • How the echo-sounder transducer was set up and levelled, together with all sensor offsets.
  • Details of the horizontal datum to which the positions are referred (or the grid, if appropriate).
  • How tides were measured, how the tide pole or tide gauge was levelled and how depths were reduced to chart datum.

Data which fully complies with all aspects of IHO S44 Order 1a would be ideal.

If you require any further information, please contact us at:  hydrography@mcga.gov.uk

The Civil Hydrography Programme:  Overview  |  Routine resurvey  |  Survey specifications  |  Propose a hydrographic survey  |  Wrecks
Date Sharing & Availablity:  CHP data  |  Pan-Government hydrographic data  |  Share your hydrographic data  |  Guidelines for offshore developers
Projects & Partnerships:  INIS Hydro  |  Dorset Integrated Survey Project (DORIS)  |  Joint Irish Bathymetric Survey (JIBS)  |  Strategic Coastal Monitoring Programmes
Events & Meetings:  Civil Hydrography Working Group (CHWG)  |  Civil Hydrography Annual Seminar (CHAS)