BioBase Feature Alert: Export Depth Contour Shapefiles

BioBase’s primary strength is its power as an automated processing engine delivering high quality geospatial data layers on aquatic habitats with very little user input outside of the physical effort to drive a boat and passively log sonar over an area of interest. In addition to the online analysis tools within BioBase like the polygon tool and automated statistical reports, users can export raw depth, vegetation, and bottom hardness data along their track, in X,Y,Z grid format, Google Earth imagery, Lowrance or Simrad Charts, AND NOW ESRI SHAPEFILES OF DEPTH CONTOURS! This feature has been in high demand for survey companies and governments who require detailed water volume analysis for aquatic habitat and fisheries management. Below we walk you through some helpful tips about the feature and how to use it.

DepthShapefileExportScreenShot
When viewing an EcoSound trip or merge of interest, select Export Data – Depth Shapefiles

Example from a big lake:

BlockFolders
If the trip or merge you are exporting covers more than approximately 500 m in any one direction, you will see multiple folders in the exported .zip file. For speed and performance, BioBase processes outputs in “blocks.”
BlockPolysinQGIS
Example of exported shapefile blocks in Lake Tohopekaliga; a 74 sq. km lake in Florida. Outputs were viewed in the open source GIS program QGIS. NOTE: shapefile exports do not come with a projection and are in the WGS 84 global coordinate system (CRS 4326)

Example from a small pond:

GolfCoursePondBioBase
5.8 acre (24,281 sq. m) pond as viewed in BioBase
GolfCoursePondQGIS
Exported 1ft contours. In this example, exports are completely contained within one block. The user can control whether contours are in imperial or metric, but the values are always stored in metric (e.g., for the 1ft contour, the VALUE field in the attribute table will show 0.3048).
GolfCoursePondDepthPolys
Depth Areas as polygons are also bundled into the zipped export. This will allow the user to carry out detailed water volume analysis as a function of depth with fewer post-processing steps than were originally required when data was only exportable as points.

BioBase continues its mission to deliver water and fisheries resource professionals high value data products in the hopes that you can focus less of your efforts on making maps and more on the important tasks of research and conservation.

Polygon Feature Tutorial – Updated

The polygon tool is one of BioBase’s strongest features. The ability to calculate total water body, vegetation cover percentage, surface acreage, and more is crucial to environmental management. Reduce the amount of herbicide you need to apply by taking the guess work out of treatments. Pinpoint locations of beneficial vegetation plantings and monitor the success using the vegetation biovolume value created by the polygon tool. The polygon tool is one of the most versatile features and a use can be found in any area of interest. Below is a step by step walkthrough of how to use the polygon tool.

A few things to take into consideration when creating a polygon. First, polygon tool is a very data intensive feature and requires a lot of processing power. In order to limit the demand on server, we must limit simultaneous polygon requests system wide to two. After clicking save and the polygon tool begins the calculations you should see the following statement in the upper right hand corner “Generating statistics: please be patient. Response times depend on waterbody size and amount of data.”. You will also see a spinning circle indicating the tool is working this may take up to 3 minutes depending on the data and the polygon. If you receive a prompt to try again at a later time, the servers may be busy processing other polygons. Try waiting a few minutes then trying again.

Step 1. Select the “Polygon” tab

Select the Polygon Tab

Step 2. Click create polygon button

Click create polygon button

Step 3. Name the polygon

Name the polygon (required)

Step 4. Add a description to the polygon

Add a description to the polygon

Step 5. Draw the polygon by clicking points, double click to end the drawing

Draw the polygon by clicking points, double click to end the drawing

Step 6. Save the polygon

Save the polygon

Step 7. Data Table

Example of data table generated by the polygon tool

  The polygon management tool allows subscribers to create a polygon within their data for automated processing and assessment of specific boundaries within an upload.  After you gather Lowrance sonar data and upload it to your BioBase account to create a bathymetric, vegetation and hardness maps, you can determine water volumes, acres, max and average depths, vegetation average biovolume percentage, vegetation cover percentage and more.

More information on the polygon tool can be found on our support resources page –Support Resources Operators Guide

The days of estimating water volumes are over.  Even though we were already providing detailed water volume analysis of the area covered, BioBase will now allow you to create and manage your treatment zones and areas of concern in greater detail.  BioBase is taking lake management and habitat analysis to the next level and automating everything you need to take your collected data full circle. For more information on Navico’s sustainability initiative click Here

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