When processing manual probe CSV data with BioBase, the number of known data points is significantly less than when processing sonar data.
Your sonar files often contain thousands of known data points that can produce very accurate, high resolution maps. When your datasets are limited to a handful of known data points, you may need to increase the grid cell size to produce an accurate volume estimation.
In this example, a pond was surveyed using sonar and manual probe data points.
Here, with the sonar data (2,022 data points) processed with the default 5 meter grid cell, we get a very accurate volume estimation of just over 60 acre-feet.
When processing the manual probe data (61 data points) with the same 5 meter resolution, we get a reduced volume estimation of a little more than 56 acre-feet.
This is a result of the interpolation model “pushing” the 1 and 2 foot contour lines between the known data points, seen here:
However, after increasing the grid cell size to 20 meters, we somewhat “match” the grid cell resolution with the known data point resolution to produce a more accurate volume estimation of just under the 60 acre-feet estimated using the sonar data.
Now, with a 20 meter grid cell size, the “bubbles” of 1 and 2 foot contour lines being pushed between the known data points are eliminated.
It is important to consider the resolution and quality of the input data when determining the grid cell sizes to use when processing data with BioBase.
As always, please reach out to the BioBase team if you have any questions on how to get the most out of your CSV data.