Students of NOAA’s certification program in nautical cartography completed their final projects and presented them along with other Master of Professional Studies in GIS students during a poster symposium at the University of Maryland’s Department of Geographical Sciences. At the event, NOAA students explained their capstone projects and described how their research benefits nautical charting at NOAA. Project topics included:
- Improving Shoreline Application to NOAA Electronic Navigational Charts, Megan Bartlet
- An Automated Approach to Generate Nautical Vector Features from Raster Bathymetric Attributed Grid Data, Noel Dyer
- Developing a Rasterization Procedure for Vector Chart Data, Christie Ence
- NOAA Chart Discrepancies: A Temporal and Spatial Analysis for Navigation Response Teams, Lt. Cmdr. Matt Forney
- Airborne Lidar Bathymetry’s Impact on NOAA Charts, Andres Garrido
- Validating and Refining the Proposed Rescheming of NOAA Electronic Navigational Charts, Colby Harmon
- High Resolution Bathymetry as an Alternative to Charting Controlling Depths in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Channels, Craig Winn
- Satellite Derived Bathymetry: An Alternative Analysis to Nautical Chart Updates, Aleah Worthem
This inaugural class will complete an internship as part of the program over the summer and receive their certificates in September 2018.
NOAA’s certification program in nautical cartography, recognized and approved by the International Board on Standards and Competence for Hydrographic Surveyors and Nautical Cartographers (IBSC), grants certificates to up to 13 cartographers per year. Students learn through a combination of lectures, hands-on chart production experience, work details to various branches within the Coast Survey, and field trips to working hydrographic survey vessels. The first class began in fall 2017 at Coast Survey headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. The duration of the program is 51 weeks and comprises six courses.
The 2018 certification program in nautical cartography starts in August 2018. The class is already full with another 13 students, 12 from NOAA and one from the Nigerian Navy.