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Announcing the BioBase Fish Mapping Layer: EcoFish!

 

Announcing EcoFish TM! A Game-Changing BioBase fish mapping layer powered by Echoview Software, the industry leader in fisheries hydroacoustic processing technology.

Now, anyone with a Lowrance® or Simrad® depth finder can generate detailed counts, depths, relative size, and location of fish. Not only that, but also at the same time with no additional work, acquire critical habitat details including surface water temperature, depth contours, bottom hardness, aquatic vegetation abundance, and detailed side-scan imagery of habitat. If you want the webinar version to learn more, check it out on our YouTube Channel, otherwise read on…

Continue reading “Announcing the BioBase Fish Mapping Layer: EcoFish!”

Polygon editing and other processing improvements

With BioBase, we continue to make the process of creating aquatic maps faster and better and deliver data to practitioners that will make them better at their craft. A better lake manager, means better outcomes for clients/stakeholders and conservation. Here, we focus on our new Polygon Edit feature.

We’ve improved the process of creating polygons on user maps that allows them to analyze sections of a map and extract important information for research and management. The polygon feature is one of our most popular features used over a thousand times a year by BioBase users to calculate water volumes for herbicide treatments, dredge areas, sizing aeration systems, quantifying fish aggregations, etc.

First, for new comers to BioBase, review the basics of the polygon feature in the EcoSound User Manual found on our Support Resources page or watch a quick how to video.

Continue reading “Polygon editing and other processing improvements”

Using the BioBase Fish Layer to Map Fishing Spots

Since the launch of EcoFish™ in May 2025, we’ve focused primarily on how much the product can help Fisheries Researchers and Managers understand more about the critters they are charged with managing, especially how many fish are where and how are they relating to habitat. Well, in addition to managing the fish and habitat in private ponds, managers can also help their clients and guests find and catch more fish with BioBase tools. Specifically, our newly enhanced waypoint feature coupled with the EcoFish layer and Lowrance®/Simrad® Chart Export tool can help put anglers on fish!

Right click on the Fish Abundance layer over fish congregations and create a waypoint. Make some notes about the waypoint
You can view and edit details about waypoints and upload or download waypoints as csv or gpx from or to your chartplotter (any brand)
View and share information about the fish data in the automated reports. In order to get the waypoints into the report, just reprocess the report after adding waypoints (Tools – Trip Reprocessing). These reports can be shared with anyone with the link.
Export Depth, Vegetation, and Bottom Hardness layers as Chart file (AT5) formatted for Lowrance or Simrad chartplotters.
Import the waypoint gpx file downloaded from BioBase to a MicroSD card. Also extract the folder of AT5 files and add to the card. View the custom made contour and vegetation maps along with the fish waypoints on your Lowrance and Simrad while you fish

BioBase Mapping Application Release Notes

This blog will be updated continuously to document dates of major feature releases, known bugs, and other release notes.

Date of Deployment

2025-December-18

Features/improvements

    • NEW FEATURE: Automated Full Waterbody Volume Hypsographic/Hypsometric Data and Graphic Summaries for Every Habitat+ Trip/Merge
    • NEW FEATURE: Advanced back office processing controls that enhances noise filtering in shallow environments (available only on customer requested trips/uploads)
    • Additional minor bug fixes and processing improvements

2025-December-8

Features/improvements

    • NEW FEATURE: Cursor position when user clicks on the Sonar Imagery in the BioBase Map Viewer is preserved when toggling different sonar/fish views
    • Polygon and EcoFish processing improvements
    • Additional minor bug fixes and backend administration improvements

2025-November-18th

Features/improvements

2025-October-22nd

Features/improvements

    • Bug fix for the bulk export feature
    • Refresh of the plans page
    • HOA or Pond owners can now contact us to find a service provider in their area on our Partners Page
    • Notes are now added to waypoint exports and imports
    • Other small enhancements and bug fixes

2025-October-10th

Bug: Bulk Export feature delivers empty zip files. All individual exports at the trip or merge level still function as normal.  (fixed 10/22/25)

2025-October-6th

Features/improvements

    • Users can now export vegetation and bottom hardness shapefiles in addition to depth
    • Fixed an issue where shapefile and Google Earth exports were timing out on large waterbodies
    • Other small enhancements and bug fixes

2025-September-10th

Small enhancements and bug fixes

2025-September-4th

Features/improvements

    • Measuring tool: Measure distance between waypoints or a line created in the BioBase trip viewer
    • Export your GPS trackline from any uploaded trip and import back into any brand chartplotter as .gpx
    • See more detail about what Trips and Merges are in the Processing Queue (in the My Account Menu).
    • Waypoint labels
New EcoFish Features
    • Settings for minimum and maximum depth to locate fish.
    • Contours on EcoFish Google Earth Exports
    • Merges for EcoFish Abundance Maps can now be exported to Google Maps
    • Merges for EcoFish now have CSV exports
    • Polygon tool in Merges now displays fish statistics
    • Analysis Reports for merges now has fish data for users with EcoFish enabled

Bug fixes

    • On the Trip Dashboard: when doing a search, the user will remain on the chosen category. My Trips, My Merges or Organizations.
    • Merges will now display manual depth points added from trips before the merge.
    • EcoFish abundance layer not always appearing in a merge.
    • Using a Drag Box to delete coordinates that would display an error message
    • Adding a manual data point on to waypoint will make that waypoint disappear
    • Other minor bug fixes and enhancements

Known issues or bugs

    • Several values in the Processing Preference Form in the Web Upload page is not accurate. Review https://www.biobasemaps.com/Account/ProcessingPreferences for the correct values
    • Newly processed merges and some trips are not generating full datasets and require a special backend processing request by the customer. (fixed 9/10/25)

2025-July-24th

Features/IMPROVEMENTS

    • Updated Operators Guide

Other notes

    • GPS AT5 Chart Generation Error Fixed
    • Restored several legends missing in image exports
    • Other minor backend improvements and bug fixes

2025-July-7th

Features/IMPROVEMENTS

    • Improvements to .csv and .gpx waypoint uploads. File size and waypoint restrictions expanded
      • 10 MB file size
      • 10,000 waypoints
      • User can download all waypoints as gpx or csv
    • EcoFish improvements
      • Reduction of false detections in aquatic vegetation
    • WGS84 .prj file now included with all Shapefile Exports
    • Analysis Polygon processing moved from a instant Web Request which was prone to timeouts and generation failures to more a more stable Processing service

2025-June-9th

Features

    • Merging EcoFish Outputs with limited functionality
      • Full online heatmaps and export imagery
      • Polygon tool and csv export is still pending (fixed 9/3/2025)

Other Notes

    • Assorted bug fixes (See below)

2025-May-28-29th

Features

    • None

Other Notes

    • Assorted bug fixes (See below)

2025-May-19th

Features

Known Issues or Bugs

    • Checkboxes on upload page will not override processing preferences in My Account (fixed 6/9/2025)
    • User can check on/off feature settings upon upload even though their subscription does not allow access. User can check/uncheck boxes but will not have access to the features. Forthcoming fix will gray out boxes if the user does not have access to the feature (fixed 5/28/2025)
    • Processing may not create a complete set of EcoFish sonar images compared with the other sonar channels. Truncation of images is happening on some large file uploads. (fixed 5/29/2025)
    • Record Create Date on first row in csv file of fish detections is the first timestamp in the file and not the timestamp of the first fish detection. (fixed 6/9/2025)
    • Sonar imagery overlay will not generate for the Downscan channel (fixed 6/9/2025
    • Unit conversion error in Automated Report Settings for Min and Max Depth of Veg Detection. Shows units in metric for users with imperial settings (fixed 5/29/2025)
    • User cannot submit vegetation threshold setting changes in Trip Reprocessing Forms (fixed 5/29/2025)
    • Some users report that they cannot reprocess with different grid cell or buffer sizes (fixed 5/29/2025)

Other Notes

    • EcoFish Size classifications are still experimental and may change with future deployments
    • Future improvements include merging, custom depth exclusion zones, vegetation exclusion zones (complete 9/3/2025)

Revealing the underwater mystery of maar volcanoes with BioBase mapping: from violent explosions to peaceful lakes

Guest Blog by

Dr. Jaime A. Cavazos-Álvarez

Volcanologist and Postdoctoral Researcher
Instituto de Geociencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)

jcavazos@geociencias.unam.mx

When gazing at a peaceful lake, have you ever wondered about its origin? What natural treasures are hidden underwater? How are rocks and life continuously adapting? Well, usually the answers to these questions are far from their characteristic steady landscapes. The answers to these questions lie underwater, usually leaving much to our imagination. Now, with BioBase we are closer than ever in seeing what’s inside these lakes. And, as expected, while solving these questions many others emerged. I will take this opportunity to share a couple of case studies of fascinating lakes in Mexico, and how BioBase has opened new paths towards their understanding.

Continue reading “Revealing the underwater mystery of maar volcanoes with BioBase mapping: from violent explosions to peaceful lakes”

BioBase LLC and Echoview Software Partner to Launch EcoFish: A Game-Changing Fish Mapping Layer

2025-01-17

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BioBase LLC and Echoview Software Partner to Launch EcoFish: A Game-Changing Fish Mapping Layer

Nashville, TN USA — January 17th 2025 — BioBase LLC, a leader in cloud-based automated aquatic habitat mapping, is proud to announce a strategic partnership with Echoview Software Pty Ltd, experts in hydroacoustic science and software. In early 2025, BioBase is set to launch EcoFish: an innovative fish data and mapping layer generated by Echoview and seamlessly integrated into BioBase’s platform.

EcoFish will provide users with unprecedented insights into the location and number of fish in waterbodies mapped using Lowrance® and Simrad® sonars. Leveraging Echoview’s comprehensive and trusted data processing capabilities, EcoFish will offer valuable tools for fisheries management, research, and conservation.

“Our collaboration with Echoview represents a significant leap forward in our mission to democratize the process of creating powerful datasets and maps of aquatic environments,” said Ray Valley, President of BioBase. “We’ve long recognized that to take BioBase to the next level and enable better fisheries monitoring and conservation, fish need to be included in the suite of map layers BioBase creates. Our partnership with Echoview gets us there.”

Echoview’s expertise in processing and visualizing sonar data is the cornerstone of EcoFish’s capabilities. By integrating this technology into the BioBase platform, users will benefit from:

  • Fish Count Data: High-resolution fish distribution maps and data exports that provide near real-time insights.
  • User-Friendly Interface: Intuitive, turnkey tools designed for ease of use by both experts and non-specialists.
  • Automated Reports: Data summaries that give you basic statistics and charts of the number, location, and depth of fish.

“We’re thrilled to partner with BioBase to bring EcoFish to life,” said Brett Merritt, CEO of Echoview Software. “This collaboration aligns with our vision of increasing the accessibility and usage of active acoustic data across a wide range of sectors, budgets, and experience. We expect that EcoFish will be used to inform sustainable management decisions for aquatic ecosystems by offering a way to quickly and easily extract valuable information about organisms in their survey data.”

EcoFish will be officially launched in early 2025, with demonstrations and early access opportunities available. To receive updates follow us at biobasemaps.com, our blog, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, or X

About BioBase LLC. BioBase (biobasemaps.com) is the only commercial cloud platform specifically focused on automating the processing and map creation from off-the-shelf sonars. Through automation and cloud processing, BioBase enables the freshwater and coastal science professionals to focus their efforts on aquatic resource conservation and not making a map.

About Echoview Software. Echoview Software (echoview.com) provides industry-leading software and expertise in hydroacoustic data processing. Our flagship product, Echoview®, facilitates echosounder and sonar data analysis for fine-scale behavioral observations, ecosystem-level monitoring, stock assessments, ecological research, and more. Echoview has been used in more than 70 countries by governments, scientists, commercial fishing companies, environmental consultants and non-government organizations for 30 years, supporting the understanding and sustainable use of aquatic resources.

 

For media inquiries, please contact:

Ray Valley
President, BioBase LLC
ray.valley@biobasemaps.com
(+1) 651-204-0640

Changes to BioBasemaps.com Sign-Up and Sign-In Process

As part of our ongoing efforts to enhance security and improve user experience, BioBasemaps.com will be updating its sign-up and sign-in process. These changes took effect on October 22nd, 2024. Existine customers should follow the steps outlined here to log in and merge their trips/merges into the new accounts.

Tips and Tricks – Optimizing GPS Heading for Accurate Data and Side-Scan Imagery

Optimizing GPS Heading for Accurate Data

“Discover how the correct heading of your portable GPS puck in the BioBase portable kit can dramatically impact the accuracy of your maps and data outcomes. In this tutorial, we guide you through the importance of proper alignment and demonstrate the effects of incorrect positioning on your aquatic habitat maps. Perfect for aquatic habitat managers and anyone using the BioBase portable kit, this video ensures you get the most precise data from your GPS setup. Watch now to optimize your mapping accuracy!”

For more tips and tricks or how to use BioBase visit our support resources page, or other tips and tricks like Tips and Tricks – Upload Trips Remotely

 

Mapping Is Managing Part 2 : Water Resource Management

Mapping is Managing Part 2: Water Resource Management

Continuing our exploration in the “Mapping is Managing” series, we turn our attention to the the pricelessness of freshwater and the pivotal role mapping plays in ensuring its effective management.

Reservoirs and Conduits of Freshwater

Lakes and other natural and artificial waterways, beyond their scenic beauty and ecological importance, function as vital reservoirs of freshwater. Their significance extends far beyond providing postcard-perfect landscapes; they are lifelines for communities, supporting diverse needs such as drinking water, irrigation, and industrial processes. The challenge lies in managing this precious resource efficiently. The Central Arizona Project demonstrates a perfect example of how rapid mapping with BioBase technology helps deliver life-blood water to a city in the desert of Arizona

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BioBase Announcements and Events

BioBase Announcements and Events

Stay up to date on important announcements from BioBase including partnerships, major feature releases, webinars, training, and the BioBase Traveling Road Show!

Continue reading “BioBase Announcements and Events”

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