Florida Marine Tracks-Mapping Florida's Waterways

Florida Marine Tracks: Mapping Florida’s Waterways

Marc D. Marino, GIS Specialist

Alexander E. Rivas, GIS Specialist

Glenn D. Housman, President/Owner

What is Florida Marine Tracks?

• Marine Cartographic Design Company

• Produce Electronic Charts for Marine Navigation

• We are Global Mapper Users

What is Florida Marine Tracks?

• Users navigate depths of 3 feet or less

• Higher risk for boating accidents

Impact on Coastal Ecosystems• Increasing amount of boating

accidents.

• Negatively impacting ecosystem

Current Navigation Aids in Use

• Non-Electronic Aids

1. Paper Maps

2. Channel Markers

• Electronic Aids

Marine Navigation Units

• Electronic Aids

• Easy to use

• Marine navigation units offer a safer boating experience.

FMT: Current Area of Interest

• Began in 2006 with coverage of the Florida Keys only.

• Now includes state-wide coverage.

Coverage Area

• Florida’s Coastline

• The longest saltwater coastline of any state in the contiguous U.S. (approximately 1,350 miles long)

• West Coast: Approximately 1,300 miles

• Large dataset

Coverage Area

• Florida Keys and Florida Bay.

• No other company incorporates Florida Bay in their maps.

• Originally a KML file recorded on a HDS Marine Navigation Unit.

Coverage Area

• Inland Rivers, Lakes, and Intracoastal Waterways

• FMT only company to provide routes for this area

FMT: Project and GIS Requirements• Need for efficiency.

• 100,000+ aerial photos in FMT Database

FMT: Aerial Photo Display and Organization • Map Catalog Creation and Editing

• Aerial photos in various projections

Global Mapper: Attribute Calculation

• Depth Soundings

• Field attributes needed for feature display

• Conversion from meters to feet

Global Mapper: Attribute Analysis• Attribute values are frequently edited and updated.

Global Mapper: “Tracks” and Routes

• Global Mapper attribute calculator allows the tracks to be read by the HDS unit.

Global Mapper: Basemap Production

FMT: Redefining Marine Cartography

• Enhanced aerial photography combined with area specific bathymetry and routes.

Global Mapper: Photo and Imagery Acquisition

• Aerial photography acquired from the Florida Department of Transportation

• Counties updated annually

FMT: Imagery Enhancements

• Brightness and contrast adjustments to offset outdoor environment

• Mosaic and area clip can be accomplished using digitizer tools

Contour Calculation• Global Mapper, Generate Contour From Terrain Grid Tool

• Open source DEM provided by NOAA

Contour Calculation

• Global Mapper, Show 3D Function

FMT: Basemap Results• 6-inch resolution aerial coverage overlay.

• Complete coverage of Florida at 1 foot resolution.

Basemap Results

• Global Mapper, Water Level Function

Basemap Results

• High resolution coverage

• Customized raster and vector data

SDHC Formatting• Navico toolbox is utilized to convert all shapefiles, photos, and imagery to Atlas5 files.

• Files are read by Lowrance HDS Unit based on attributes fields created in Global Mapper.

SDHC Formatting

• Maximum capacity of 32g.

• High resolution photography only displayed over water.

Conclusion• Global Mapper Functionality Employed by FMT:

1. Vector attribute calculation and editing.

2. Image mosaic and clip of all FMT photography.

3. Elevation contour creation from a DEM.

4. Raster Map Catalog creation of Florida DOT photography.

5. Raster file format conversion .

Comments and Questions

• Thank you and happy boating from the FMT team!