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The Navigation Surface
(DOWNLOAD [2.56M])
paradigm is a design for a databased alternative
to traditional methods of representing bathymetric data. It aims to preserve
the highest level of detail in every bathymetric dataset and provide methods for
their combination and manipulation to generate multiple products for both
hydrographic and non-hydrographic purposes. The advantages of the method over
traditional schemes are such that a number of commercial vendors have adopted
the technology. However, this means that there is a strong requirement for a
method to communicate results in a vendor neutral technology. The Open
Navigation Surface (ONS) project was designed to fill this gap by implementing a
freely available source-code library to read and write all of the information
required for a Navigation Surface.
The Navigation Surface concept requires that in addition to estimation of depth,
we must also estimate the uncertainty associated with the depth. In order to
make the system suitable to support Safety of Navigation applications, we also
require a means to over-ride any automatically constructed depth estimates with
'Hydrographer Privilege', essentially a means to specify directly the depth
determined by a human observer as being the most significant in the area
(irrespective of any statistical evidence to the contrary). Finally, we must
provide data on the data, or metadata, which describes all aspects of the data's
life from methods of capture to processing methods, geospatial extents to
responsible party. The ONS project provides means to incorporate all of these
requirements in a portable, platform neutral, vendor neutral format.
The ONS project has as its primary goal to foster and
support the development of a source level library to read
and write the data format. This web-site is intended to provide current
information on the project, news, status, and downloads of the source base.
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