Processing

Bathymetric Data
Mikko Ojala
 Data courtesy of FTA and Meritaito Ltd

● Examples generated from data provided by

Finnish Transport Agency and
Meritaito Ltd

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 Bathymetric data
● Bathymetric data can be regarded more sensitive
than topographic data

1) Results are harder to verify

2) Coastal areas can have military interest

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 Processing Bathymetric LiDAR data
● Common practises can be adapted from
topographic LiDAR processing
➢ For example low point search and ground classification
routines

➢ With a combination of classification routines a good

automatic result can be achieved

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 Processing Bathymetric LiDAR data
● Automatic vs. manual classification
➢ Automatic classification routines can speed up
production but consideration has to be put into the
excecution due to the nature of the data

➢ Underwater objects vs. visible objects on land

→ no room for error

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 Processing Bathymetric LiDAR data
● Example of automated water surface noise
classification

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 Processing Bathymetric LiDAR data
● Example of automated sea bottom classification

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 Processing MBES (sonar) data
● Again some practises can be adapted from
topographic (and bathymetric) LiDAR processing

● Deep water vs. shallow water mapping

➢ Deep water datasets can have much less noise when
compared to shallow water datasets

➢ Reasons for this can be e.g. water turbidity and bottom

material in shallow areas

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 Processing MBES (sonar) data
● Deep water automatic MBES data processing:
➢ Most of the data can be regarded as valid sea bottom

→ Classification can focus mainly in finding false echoes

and noise points

→ Examples of errors found in MBES data:

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 Processing MBES (sonar) data
● Deep water automatic MBES data processing:
➢ It's possible to find a general routine that can be applied
to different datasets by adjusting the parameters

➢ Improvement in processing speed of the data can be

significant

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 Processing MBES (sonar) data
● Shallow water automatic MBES data processing:
➢ Data can be very noisy which makes automatic data
processing difficult

→ Even for a human it can be difficult to distinguish

features from these datasets

→ Computer algorithms can help in making sense of the

data

→ Improving automatic classification result requires more

development

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 Combining LiDAR and MBES data
● LiDAR

➢ more cost efficient than MBES in shallow areas

➢ able to reach areas where no ship could enter

● MBES

➢ able to reach depths that LiDAR couldn't

➢ less dependent on environmental factors

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 Combining LiDAR and MBES data
● Complex areas with LiDAR, rest with MBES

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 Combining LiDAR and MBES data
● Important use case of bathymetric LiDAR

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 Combining LiDAR and MBES data
● Example of DTM created of MBES and LiDAR
data

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 Combining LiDAR and MBES data
● Example of DTM created of LiDAR data

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 Combining LiDAR and MBES data
● Example of DTM created of MBES and LiDAR
data

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Mikko Ojala
Technical Support Engineer

Terrasolid
Kanavanranta 7 B 28
00160 Helsinki
Finland
www.terrasolid.com