Hydrographic surveying planning is a complex process that requires a flexible approach, considerable attention to detail, effective decision making and good management. If the planning process is thorough, the chances are that the hydrographic survey will be good.

The project

Hydrographic survey planning is a term used to cover the entire process of the development of a project from its inception, and subsequent issue to a unit. The detailed planning process within the unit of how to do the survey and the submission of data to the relevant hydrographic office. Planning must involve coherent procedures which will consist of survey requirements, proper preparation of survey specifications, program planning of a designated unit, assessment of the work within the unit, resource allocation, reconnaissance requirements, detailed planning of the survey, estimation of the time required, liaison with outside authorities, final program planning, daily planning, plans for rendering data and so on. The development of the requirement of the survey varies from one country to another. The final survey specifications are assigned to a designated unit that has responsibility for the remaining planning needs. A designed unit might be a surveying vessel that belongs to the government, a chartered vessel that belongs to an independent party or using a commercial company or a boat working under contract. Each country has its own planning processes.

Assessing the survey task

Before doing detailed planning, the surveyor should be clear about the aim of the survey and who’ll be the main user of the information. Generally, every survey should cover the needs of the user and benefit others. Having studied the requirements of the survey, accompanying data and the area to be surveyed, the hydrographic surveyor should first decide whether any additional information is required and propose changes he considers necessary. Once the basic data is held and the scope and limits of the survey have been fixed, the surveying tasks can be established. The survey specifications will be stated in the survey specifications.

Detailed survey planning

After the scope and size of the task have been carefully assessed and the necessary resources needed to do it decided upon, detailed planning can commence. Several activities can be put in place to run in parallel. A good surveyor will reduce the overall time required to meet the desired goals. A comprehensive list of the required actions is given but it must be remembered that every survey will be unique and additional items may be inserted.

Horizontal control

The specification of the survey will detail the horizontal reference for the hydrographic survey and list the details for the existing coordinated geodetic stations with their respective descriptions if held.

Vertical control

The specifications of hydrographic surveying will detail the datum to which all the soundings are to be reduced and the relation of the sounding to the existing land datum. It is important to decide where to observe all the tidal heights if they are not ordered in the specifications of the survey. It is also important to decide on the siting of more gauges and poles if required and plan the recovery of the offshore gauges if necessary.