AUSHYDROID Working Group

One of the initiatives supported by the AusSeabed community is the Intergovernmental Committee on Spatial Mapping (ICSM) Working Group (WG) aiming to facilitate the development of the AUSHYDROID.

AUSHYDROID is the vertical separation model required to support surveying on the ellipsoid and the reduction of this data to a tidal datum (i.e. LAT (Chart Datum)).  This model is important for the seamless linking of bathymetric and topographic data through a common reference frame, and will help to support the blue economy into the future. The development of small scale port hydroids have already seen economic benefit with the Port Hedland Hydroid resulting in the port’s ability to support extra vessels each tide cycle and thus increase productivity. The development of AUSHYDROID will also be important for the scientific community, as it will support research into projects of national importance such as climate change, via the ability to monitor changes in the coastline and inter-tidal zones on a national scale.

In 2018, ICSM instigated the AUSHYDROID WG to commence development of the business processes, use cases, minimum standards and specifications for the storage, management and access to the data. The inaugural meeting of this WG took place at the Australian Hydrographic Office on the 2^nd May 2019. Further meetings will be organised over the next few months and the WG is seeking involvement from interested partners.

More information and request to join the WG can be found on the ICSM Website. A link will also soon be available from the AusSeabed website here.