How can you efficiently use multispectral drone data to map very shallow waters? In the project REMAP, EOMAP teamed up with German Aerospace Center (DLR) and OptoPrecision GmbH. In close collaboration with Fugro, they created a harmonised workflow for extracting bathymetric data from drone imagery.
Currently, on-site survey methods for shallow waters require a high effort in equipment and costs. To address this, a concept for using standard drones was the target. These offer precise multispectral sensor systems and positioning and can be operated with standard licences.
This implied many modifications to EOMAP’s processing routines. So far, the company’s physics-based algorithms to retrieve depth and water properties rely on multispectral satellite or hyperspectral airborne data.
Finally, the results of this drone-based mapping were a positive surprise in many ways:
- Multispectral drone data are particularly useful in very shallow waters. Correct calibration, analytics and mosaicking as well as geolocation improvements are of highest importance.
- Throughout the project, the developed algorithms and workflows proved reliable on different sites and with three different sensors.
- The drone-based system now provides a harmonised workflow with user-friendly handling. It allows for flexible on-site surveys in very high resolution.
- This is of particular interest for mapping changes, such as coastal erosion processes for benthic studies.
The images show the drone-derived bathymetry with a spatial resolution of 5 cm in Prerow, Germany using a Multispectral Imaging Camera.
Now, coastal stakeholders will benefit from flexible – cost-effective – and extremely high-resolution bathymetric data, when surveying coastal and shallow water zones. Complemented by seafloor characterisation, this allows to localise anomalies in the shallow water area critical for navigation.
REMAP’s results are another step forward to creating digital twins of coastal areas.
In this project, EOMAP received viable support from Fugro, Landesbetrieb für Küstenschutz, Nationalpark und Meeresschutz Schleswig-Holstein and Staatliches Amt für Landwirtschaft und Umwelt Mittleres Mecklenburg. REMAP was co-funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.
Please reach out to shallowwater@eomap.de for further details.