Lake, pond, and river mapping with off-the-shelf powerful technology like Lowrance® and BioBase™ has democratized the previously complex and expensive process of creating detailed and accurate bathymetric maps. BioBase continues to deliver new features that empower biologists, researchers, service providers, and surveyors to create better maps for their stakeholders and clients. BioBase has listened to your feedback and has updated the Manual Data Feature. This is an important feature for those mapping large areas too shallow for sonar to deliver a reliable signal. This is a common occurrence in ponds and small rivers. Below we walk you through how this feature works
BioBase Software Engineer Patrick had this to say about the new update, “We have changed the way we save and manage manual data entries via the BioBase trip viewer. The old pattern of distinct points for each type of data (bathymetry or vegetation) has been replaced with a pattern that saves values for each type at the same location saving you time and tedious editing of each layer individually.”
If you only want to add manual data for vegetation biovolume, and not to add bathymetry or hardness, submit the new form without providing values for bathymetry or hardness. Incorporating manual data changes into a trip’s or merge’s output still requires reprocessing, which is conveniently available in the new form. Make all of the changes to your manual data before instructing us to reprocess your trip or merge.
All of your previous manual data has been converted to the new format and ready for your review. An important underlying change to keep in mind is that by adding a manual data point you will be modifying the interpolated area for all three layers. Thus, if you wish to provide only a vegetation biovolume manual data point, depending on the location of that manual data relative to the trip’s or merge’s interpolated area, you may notice bathymetry or hardness outputs in the area of the manual vegetation biovolume even though you did not specify a bathymetry or hardness value for the manual data area.
For more information on how to use the manual data feature visit our video walkthrough on our YouTube channel – BioBase Mapping YouTube Channel. Or look for the “Ask The Experts” button on the top left of your trip in the trip viewer to get additional information. For more Tips and Tricks keep an eye on the blog or visit – New EcoSound Feature: High Def Side-Scan Mosaics for more information on new features.
