Consumer Sonar for Bottom Mapping: Updated Reference List

Another FAQ we get is wondering if there are published studies using BioBase technology? There are many legacy applications on which the BioBase technology is based. Further, now that a sufficient passage of years has accumulated to support the “research to publication” cycle, we’re happy to share several BioBase-specific studies published in the peer-reviewed literature.  This is far from an exhaustive list and we’ve intentionally left out the niche growth in consumer side-scan technology for creating habitat maps.  If there are good published papers you know of that are not on this list, please share in the comments.

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FAQ of the year: Does BioBase EcoSound Map Sediment Depth?

Thanks to advances in physical, chemical and biological technologies and funding that are focused on reducing sedimentation or muck depth in waterways, many water resource practitioners are eager to determine how much sediment is in a waterway of interest and how much could be removed. As such, we frequently are asked: “Will BioBase tell you how deep the sediment is?”

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Announcement: BioBase Under New Ownership

In late 2016 Navico – the parent company of BioBase – was acquired by Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division and Altor Fund IV.  Also in 2016, Goldman Sachs and Altor acquired an industry leading marine cartography and services company called Digital Marine Solutions (DMS), which promotes their products and services under the C-MAP brand (www.c-map.com).  As of January 2017, BioBase and related digital services will be transferring from Navico to DMS (operating under the C-MAP brand).  We are working now on a new organizational structure and product roadmap that will establish DMS as the preeminent marine charting and cloud data services provider across both recreation and commercial sectors.   “…alongside the C-MAP brand we will now have a cloud-based infrastructure and range of web and mobile applications for recreational markets, such as Insight Genesis and BioBase which provide differentiated and high-quality crowd-sourced mapping services that lead the competition,” stated Paul Ostergaard, Digital Marine Solutions Chairman. BioBase customers can expect the same high-level of service and minimum disruption with this change. Over the long run, the move to DMS and strategic company investments will bring new high-value features to BioBase and establish it as the aquatic and marine industry standard for processing, visualizing, and analyzing spatial data.  BioBase feature development and technical sales and support will still operate out of the same Minneapolis office where it was born and we anticipate an even faster development cycle in the coming years.  We hope to announce some great features that are already in the pipeline under this new structure and resulting roadmap.  Please direct any questions about this transition to Ray Valley (ray.valley@c-map.com) or Matt Johnson (matt.johnson@c-map.com).

Minnesota LGU Taking Citizen Aquatic Plant Monitoring to New Level!

At conferences, we often encounter curious coordinators of citizen monitoring programs about how they could use automated consumer technologies to monitor aquatic habitats.  When they learn what BioBase does, a frequent question is: “That sounds pretty cool and something we could certainly apply, who else is using BioBase for citizen science applications?”

In response, we always highlight the Prior Lake Spring Lake Watershed District (PLSLWD) in Minnesota USA.  PLSLWD is a leader when it comes to leveraging the talents of volunteers, partners, and Lowrance and BioBase technology to implement a comprehensive, standardized aquatic plant monitoring program.  To learn more about the PLSLWD’s program and implementation strategies, check out this report.

Schematic showing the collection of merged files collected by citizen volunteers.  A PLSLWD intern coordinated efforts across multiple volunteers, informed citizens about desired travel routes, and even preloaded transect guides in their Lowrance Chartplotter for citizens to follow.

 

 

Maps of Bottom Hardness (top), Bathymetry (middle), and Aquatic Vegetation Abundance (% of water column filled with vegetation or biovolume, Bottom) collected by citizens on Prior Lake with Lowrance Sounders/Chartplotters and processed automatically by BioBase Automated Lake Mapping System.

 

BioBase EcoSound does Seagrass, Kelp, and Tides Too!

Although BioBase EcoSound was originally developed for aquatic vegetation mapping in inland lakes, users along both US Coasts have helped us diversify its toolbox to now be a powerful coastal habitat mapping tool as well!

One of the biggest challenges of mapping coastal habitats is their tidal influence with depths changing harmonically based on the moon phase and other factors.  Fortunately, however, widespread tide stations and large public databases of tide predictions allow for accurate and precise offsets to georeferenced and time-stamped sonar logs from Lowrance HDS or Elite units uploaded to BioBase EcoSound.  BioBase EcoSound immediately queries the nearest tide station to your upload (up to 75 km) and adjusts your depth and seagrass or kelp biovolume to the Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW) datum every 5 minutes.  Tidal statistics (Avg., start, stop, high, low,) are archived in your account for each trip.

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Portability Options for Your Lowrance

We recently sent out a mailer to our subscribers letting them know about the portability solutions that we have come up with.  Within minutes we received photos and details from many of our customers about how some they have used a little ingenuity to mount their Lowrance units on unique water craft.  Below we have a photo gallery of images that could help you design your own portable setup.  Of primary importance, however, is a mount that minimizes cavitation (air bubbles) directly under the transducer (e.g., surface noise) and maintaining a correct angle on the transducer.  See recent blogs on this topic. The preferable solution is to permanently mount separate transducers following DIY guidance like shown here on each survey craft and just move the Lowrance Elite or HDS display from boat to boat.  But if the job calls for a fully portable mount, we can help!

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Replay, Review, and Re-record Your Trip with the Lowrance Simulator Tool

Updated March 23, 2017

Have you ever wanted to view your BioBase EcoSound trip in even more detail? The trip simulator feature available on Lowrance sonar units is a great way to take a closer look at your trip for troubleshooting, or just to identify areas of interest for your next field day. We’ll walk you through how to view your EcoSound trips on your Lowrance:

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How BioBase is Helping Fish Conservation

BioBase EcoSound is helping State Fisheries Departments and Research Institutions across the US and UK to better manage Fisheries by providing important information about fish habitat.  See below for a short description of these ongoing investigations.Precision bathymetric mapping to estimate concentrations of a fish toxin (rotenone) to kill invasive fish in a Nebraska backwater lake. … Continue reading “How BioBase is Helping Fish Conservation”

BioBase EcoSound is helping State Fisheries Departments and Research Institutions across the US and UK to better manage Fisheries by providing important information about fish habitat.  See below for a short description of these ongoing investigations.

Continue reading “How BioBase is Helping Fish Conservation”

Helpful Lowrance Hints: Depth Tracking

We promote BioBase as an automated “easy-button” solution for creating aquatic maps, but unfortunately, mobile acoustic data collection is not something you can push a button and forget about and expect perfect results.  Like using most other sophisticated instrumentation, users need to monitor that the instruments are performing as expected and sometimes make adjustments if they aren’t.

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BioBase Project Propels Jeff Schuckman to Nebraska Game and Parks Employee of the Year!

Lake Yankton, a 332-acre backwater lake on the Nebraska/South Dakota border had a problem. In the summer of 2011, the Missouri River flooded, spilling into the lake a number of undesirable invasive rough fish, including large numbers of carp (silver, bighead, grass, and common), smallmouth buffalo, and gizzard shad. Notorious for stirring up lake bottoms while feeding and spawning — and for overeating zooplankton and aquatic plants — these species degrade water quality and fisheries.  

Overrun by these invasive species, Lake Yankton soon looked like chocolate milk, with a water clarity of only three inches — that’s right, inches, not feet.  So the cavalry was called in to assess the situation and provide a solution. Leading the effort was Nebraska Game and Parks Commission District Fisheries Manager Jeff Schuckman.

Fortunately for Nebraska anglers, this wasn’t Schuckman’s first rodeo. He knew the lake could be rehabilitated with careful application of Rotenone, a common fish-killing chemical. The challenge would be to determine just how much of the chemical was needed, and then purchase and apply just enough to do the job — no more, no less.

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