Engineering Archives - EOMAP - Earth Observation Services https://eomap.com/usecases_category/engineering/ Satellite-based insights on the world's environment Thu, 17 Jul 2025 14:13:02 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.4 REMAP – a new workflow for drone mapping https://eomap.com/usecases/remap-a-new-workflow-for-drone-mapping/ Fri, 09 May 2025 12:22:59 +0000 https://eomap.com/?post_type=avada_portfolio&p=12449 The R&D project REMAP offers interesting insights and new capabilities into how to use multispectral drone data for efficiently mapping very shallow waters. This project has been finalised together with German Aerospace Center (DLR) and OptoPrecision GmbH and in close collaboration with Fugro. The project team developed a flexible drone-based system for surveying coastal and [...]

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]]> The R&D project REMAP offers interesting insights and new capabilities into how to use multispectral drone data for efficiently mapping very shallow waters. This project has been finalised together with German Aerospace Center (DLR) and OptoPrecision GmbH and in close collaboration with Fugro. The project team developed a flexible drone-based system for surveying coastal and shallow water zones.

Challenging conditions in shallow water

Currently, on-site survey methods for shallow water require substantial effort in equipment and costs. To address this, we developed a concept and system using standard drones. These drones can be operated with standard licenses and equipped with relatively affordable yet precise multispectral sensor systems and positioning tools.

However, this approach presented several challenges. Until now, our physics-based algorithms for retrieving depth and water properties have relied on either multispectral satellite data or hyperspectral airborne data. Factors such as the amount of data collected, recording conditions, precise positioning, and recording below cloud cover, among others, needed to be carefully considered and applied.

The outcome: a streamlined workflow for standard drones

The drone-based system now offers a streamlined workflow with user-friendly operation. It enables flexible on-site surveys at very high resolution, which is especially valuable for mapping changes such as coastal erosion processes and for benthic studies.

Key insights from the REMAP project include:

  • Multispectral drone data are particularly effective in very shallow waters.
  • Proper calibration, data analysis, mosaicking, and geolocation improvements are crucial.
  • Throughout the project, the developed algorithms and workflows proved reliable across different sites and with three different sensors.

Coastal stakeholders will benefit from flexible and extremely high-resolution bathymetric data, which enhances decision making. This should be complemented by seafloor characterisation to help detect localised anomalies in shallow water areas, which are critical for navigation or coastal engineering projects.

We appreciate the support given by Landesbetrieb für Küstenschutz, Nationalpark und Meeresschutz Schleswig-Holstein and Staatliches Amt für Landwirtschaft und Umwelt Mittleres Mecklenburg.

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]]> Extensive High-Resolution Baltic Sea Habitat Mapping https://eomap.com/usecases/extensive-high-resolution-baltic-sea-habitat-mapping/ Wed, 01 Nov 2023 09:43:05 +0000 https://eomap.com/?post_type=avada_portfolio&p=869 The EU Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) and Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC) require evaluation of seafloor sediments and habitats every three to six years. Until now this has been a challenging task, especially for shallow areas of the Baltic Sea along the coast of Schleswig-Holstein, where access by ship is difficult and surveys have been [...]

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]]> The EU Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) and Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC) require evaluation of seafloor sediments and habitats every three to six years. Until now this has been a challenging task, especially for shallow areas of the Baltic Sea along the coast of Schleswig-Holstein, where access by ship is difficult and surveys have been limited to local mapping from inflatable boats or by divers. These methods are highly time-consuming and expensive and only possible under certain weather conditions. An assessment of the entire shallow water area of the Schleswig-Holstein coast by these means would take six years – longer than the interval between scheduled surveys. The same applies for the transition between the intertidal and sublittoral zones of the North Sea.

In 2017 EOMAP was contracted by the State Office for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (LLUR) of Schleswig-Holstein to map the shallow water areas based on satellite data. Recent and historical very-high resolution data has been used as well as up-to-date imagery taken by the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 mission. Based on EOMAP’s algorithms for data pre-processing and physical inversion of the water column and seafloor reflectance, the entire area of the Schleswig-Holstein coast, approximately 1000 km2, has been mapped.

So far, this is the only very-high resolution dataset of the whole area. It serves as a starting point for successive, specific on-site surveys and as a planning guide for environmental impact assessments.

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