Beneath the surface of every ocean, river, lake, and harbor lies a story that hydrographic surveyors help uncover. To celebrate World Hydrography Day, we asked some of our surveyors across the U.S., UK, and Australia to share their insights. From emerging technologies and evolving industry challenges to the often quiet, but vital impacts hydrography has on daily life, they reveal why understanding the world beneath the water’s surface has never been more important.

Why is hydrography important to the average person, even if they don’t realize it?    

Josh: “The Earth’s surface is about 71% water and of that, only a fraction has actually been mapped. There is still so much of our own planet that we have never explored. Hydrography helps us to not only develop, expand, and improve our lives, but it gives us a better understanding of the natural world we are all a part of.” 

Izzy: “The average person may not realize, but hydrography plays a key role in the global economy. Every ship carrying products around the world relies on nautical charts and updated bathymetry in ports and harbors for safe navigation!” 

Ross: “Water is life-sustaining for us. We live and breathe close to water, to creeks, to rivers, to lakes, and the sea. There are obvious reciprocal impacts, and it is imperative that we understand water and waterways — hydrography is a key measure of that understanding.” 

Gareth: “Our lifestyles are built around hydrography, from reliable internet connections to global shipping and even receiving electricity to the UK via undersea cables from Norway and France.” 

How do you see hydrography evolving as demands on our ports and waterways increase? 

Josh: “As demands increase, the need for data also increases. More data, not only more frequently but cleaner and faster whilst remaining accurate and precise.” 

Izzy: “As demands on our ports and waterways increase, the size and frequency of hydrographic surveys will also increase. Hydrographic survey techniques will be improved to survey faster and more regularly, integrating multiple types of sensors and techniques.”  

Ryan: “The S-100 standards are going to help with this evolution, helping take the high-resolution data we see and collect and transform it into a directly use able format for harbor pilots and other end users on their chart plotters to be able to have the most accurate, high resolution and up to date survey data.” 

Gareth: “Increased activity in our ports and waterways will require more dynamic and frequent monitoring, along with Digital Twins and predictive modelling.” 

What’s one new technology that’s transforming hydrographic surveying that you’re excited about, and how is it changing the way you do your job or surveys are conducted?   

Josh: “Unmanned systems are having a major and ever-expanding impact on hydrography. Removing the human from the vessel has not removed their job; it has just made it far more comfortable. The technology advancements in both underwater and airborne systems is also leading to new methods of capture and allowing the collection of data at qualities not previously imagined.”  

Izzy: “Unmanned survey systems are transforming hydrographic survey operations, especially offshore. It’s been exciting to be a part of this technology advancement — as a force multiplier to manned vessels or having a project collected entirely by remotely operated platforms. We’re seeing unmanned systems with endurance times surpassing some of our own vessels, and able to handle higher sea state conditions that could be unsafe for surveyors.”

Ross: “The level of system integration in recent years has been tremendous. Systems are all-in-one set ups that are plug and play. No more battling with com port selections and baud rates, the systems work seamlessly and will even happily also take an MLS at the same time.”  

Ryan: “This has to be our offshore remotely operated surface vehicles; they have completely changed how we approach and collect day to day acquisition data on our large-scale offshore projects.” 

Gareth: “Implementing drone boats to survey large areas more efficiently and reducing the hazards to personnel and equipment when manually surveying on boats.” 

If there is ONE thing you wish more people understood about our oceans, rivers, and lakes, what would it be?   

Izzy: “That they are constantly changing! There are numerous factors that affect our waters, both natural influences and man-made/artificial influences.”  

Ross: “It is sometimes hard to convey just how much waterways are a sustaining ecological environment just the same as the land is. The only difference is that it is much less visible to us. And what we as hydrographers do is make that environment visible to people.”  

Ryan: “How dynamic the bottom is. Its constantly changing sand waves moving around, dredge areas filling in, scour happing around structure. It’s an incredibly dynamic environment and needs to be constantly monitored. Your knowledge is only as good as your most recent data set.”  

Gareth: “How essential it is for our waterways to be kept as clean and clear from pollution and debris as possible.” 

What’s the coolest or most interesting thing you’ve discovered under the waves? 

Josh: “Paradise Dam (QLD, Aus) we were able to see the construction roads, temporary diversion channel, even the old earth weir. All of which was flooded in 30-40m of water once the dam was constructed.” 

Izzy: “A plane wreck!” 

Ross: “We may or may have not once been called to a site to identify exactly where a Caterpiller D6 Dozer ended up at the bottom of a dredge pit. Definitely interesting to see a shape form in the data that matched a cab, blade, and track.”  

Ryan: “Mapped a few shipwrecks and planes in Micronesia atolls when I was working for NAVO. As part of a larger charting project to help some technical divers locate lost wreck sites.”  

Gareth: “Scuba dived on the Barrier Reef. The range of colours of the fish and coral were incredible.” 

Interested in joining our team? View our open positions here.

The geospatial mapping sector is experiencing a period of significant technological evolution, propelled by breakthroughs in advanced sensors, sophisticated processing software, increased automation, and the widespread integration of artificial intelligence.  And what’s most interesting is that the biggest breakthroughs are not loud revolutions — they’re quiet, steady advances reshaping how we map, measure, and understand the world. 

Simultaneously, the geospatial mapping industry is grappling with significant obstacles related to securing project funding and obtaining government contracts, challenges that persist across global markets. Looking ahead to 2026, several influential trends are set to transform the foundational approaches and operational workflows within mapping. These changes will impact how professionals manage data quality, deliver projects, and embrace innovation, ultimately redefining industry standards and expectations across the field. 

1. The Confusion Revolution: Uncertainty Around Adopting and Adapting to AI

AI is entering a pivotal new era characterized by seamless integration and increasingly autonomous decision-making capabilities. We are experiencing a fundamental transformation in the geospatial industry; AI is no longer a concept on the horizon — it is actively shaping the present landscape of geospatial workflows. Some examples of powerful capabilities include automated processing, advanced anomaly detection, efficient feature extraction, and the rapid creation of mapping products. 

Nevertheless, there is still widespread uncertainty within the industry regarding the ultimate impact AI will have on mapping methodologies, the roles of professionals, and the processes for ensuring data quality. There is likewise ambiguity around best practices for validating the outputs generated by AI and incorporating these results into established geospatial standards. 

Executives and managers in our industry are seeking answers to these complex questions: 

  1. Can AI replace fieldwork? 
  2. Will AI work everywhere equally? 
  3. Will AI remove the need for standards? 
  4. Does AI guarantee accuracy? 
  5. Will AI eliminate the need for highly trained professionals? 
  6. With AI, do we need data governance? 

Here are my insights and advice: 

  1. Can AI replace fieldwork? AI is unlikely to ever fully replace fieldwork unless we achieve a level of super AI beyond our current understanding. 
  2. Will AI work everywhere equally? Not at this time. Models developed for a specific region or sensor frequently encounter challenges when applied to different regions or sensors. 
  3. Will AI remove the need for standards? No, deliverables must still comply with standards such as American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing and U.S. Geological Survey 3D Elevation Program specifications; AI only streamlines compliance by making it easier. 
  4. Does AI guarantee accuracy? AI will continue to support the attainment of required accuracy; however, its performance depends on external factors like sensor quality, occlusions, biased training data, ground control accuracy, and environmental complexity, all of which fall outside an AI agent’s direct control. 
  5. Will AI eliminate the need for highly trained professionals? AI will not replace highly trained professionals, but it enhances what they can achieve. Our role is to guide and use AI for better, faster, and more reliable geospatial intelligence. The future is augmentation powered by automation — professionals must remain involved. 
  6. With AI, do we need data governance? Yes, poor metadata, labeling, or lineage makes AI results unreliable. 
2. The Drone Revolution Enters Its Next Phase 

Unmanned aircraft systems are seeing widespread and rapidly growing adoption throughout both government and private organizations. Recent innovations in autonomous flight controls, beyond visual line of sight capabilities, and the integration of advanced lidar and imaging sensors are dramatically improving the efficiency and affordability of drone-based aerial data collection.  

These technological improvements are reshaping how projects are planned and executed, leading to significant changes in budget allocations, project timelines, and the models for delivering geospatial information. As a result, government agencies, utilities, engineering firms, and environmental organizations are increasingly turning to drones not only for efficiency but also for advanced types of monitoring, including coastal erosion, forest health, infrastructure inspection, and construction progress.  

This strong demand, prompted by accelerated aerial mapping deployment and more consistent, repeatable data acquisition cycles, continues to advance mapping workflows and elevate industry standards. Figure 1 illustrates the rapid growth in the drone mapping market. The chart is produced using publicly reported Fact.MR estimates for the global drone mapping market (2023 value and Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)). The values are generated by applying the reported CAGR (17.1%) to the 2023 baseline of USD 1.0222 billion to estimate 2022–2026 values. 

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Figure 1: Drone Mapping Market Size (source: Fact.MR (2023 market size and CAGR)
3. From Big Data to Trusted Data: The Demand for Quality at Speed 

Recent advancements in using complementary metal-oxide semiconductor-based digital cameras, AI and machine learning accelerators, embedded graphics processing units, solid-state microelectromechanical systems, single-photon, and Geiger-mode lidar have dramatically increased the productivity of sensors used in aerial, terrestrial, and marine mapping, enabling these systems to collect enormous amounts of high-resolution data at unprecedented scales. However, the primary challenge has shifted from data acquisition to the critical task of converting this raw data into trustworthy, actionable information products.

To address this bottleneck, the industry is increasingly relying on robust automation strategies. These include the use of explainable AI to clarify decision-making processes, the implementation of automated quality assurance and quality control procedures to verify data integrity, and the adoption of comprehensive metadata standards to document workflows and data lineage. Collectively, these measures are essential for delivering credible and defensible mapping results within increasingly compressed project schedules, meeting the growing demand for rapid and reliable geospatial solutions.

4. Bathymetry’s Moment: A Global Push to Map the Seafloor 

Despite technological advancements, most of the world’s oceans remain unmapped at modern standards. This gap has triggered renewed global investment in bathymetric mapping, driven by international missions such as Seabed 2030, as well as coastal resilience, maritime safety, and national security priorities. Modern tools such as multibeam echosounders and remotely operated surface vessels are at the forefront of these efforts, while large-scale initiatives like Seabed 2030 work to systematically address and eliminate major gaps in underwater data coverage. Advances in high-resolution airborne bathymetric lidar mapping have enabled the mapping of nearshore coastal zones with greater accuracy in moderately turbid to clear water environments. Improving seafloor mapping is not only vital for ensuring the safety of maritime navigation and protecting national interests, it also plays a crucial role in managing marine environments and fueling sustainable economic development in coastal and ocean sectors.

5. Consolidation and Collaboration in a Tightening Market 

The geospatial mapping industry in the United States is currently grappling with significant challenges stemming from reduced federal spending and a decline in government contracts that once fueled research and technological advancements. In response to these shifts, geospatial mapping product manufacturers are rethinking their approaches, implementing strategies aimed at downsizing their workforce while striving to preserve both productivity and innovation.

As the market moves toward 2026, adaptation to this new reality of shrinking federal engagement will be critical. The coming years are likely to see increased mergers, strategic alliances, and collaborative efforts among leading industry participants. Faced with pressures to remain viable, many competitors are choosing to work together, pooling their resources and talent to tackle larger, more complex projects that demand consolidated expertise and infrastructure. This trend toward partnership and integration marks a significant evolution in the industry’s approach, signaling a collective effort to navigate an environment defined by fewer federal opportunities and heightened competition.

6. Cloud-Native Geospatial Pipelines Become the New Normal 

The shift to cloud-native workflows has reached a tipping point. Elastic pipelines, which can automatically scale up or down computing resources based on workload demands, can now:

These capabilities will enable organizations to scale projects quickly and maintain consistent, defensible production workflows.

7. The Rise of Data Standards and Cross-Vendor Interoperability 

The geospatial industry is undergoing a major shift toward open standards, interoperable formats, and vendor-agnostic workflows. Formats such as Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF, SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog, and Cloud Optimized Point Cloud, along with emerging Open Geospatial Consortium application programming interfaces, enable seamless sharing, reuse, and integration of datasets and models.

As datasets grow in size and complexity, and as AI and cloud-native technologies reshape workflows, the ability for systems, tools, and organizations to seamlessly share, interpret, and process geospatial information has become essential. This movement is redefining how data is created, stored, analyzed, and delivered across the entire mapping ecosystem. It will also empower users, reduce vendor lock-in, and ensure long-term data accessibility. Soon we will see interoperability become a core requirement, not a feature.

What’s Coming in the Next 3-5 Years

As we look past 2026, the geospatial industry is poised to develop into a dynamic and interconnected ecosystem over the next three to five years. The current surge of innovation — fueled by advances in AI, cloud-native pipelines, open data standards, and real-time processing — shows no signs of slowing down. We can expect the transformative momentum we are experiencing now to intensify in the coming year and persist well beyond 2026. This ongoing revolution will not only enhance the integration of geospatial intelligence across sectors but also foster a collaborative environment where rapid data-to-insight workflows, cross-vendor interoperability, and operational digital twins become standard. As these trends accelerate, the geospatial landscape will continue to redefine its role as a strategic driver for industries worldwide, ensuring its growth and influence for years to come.

Conclusion

2026 signals the dawn of a transformative era. In this period, advancements in AI, autonomous systems, sensor technologies, cloud infrastructure, and large-scale global projects will coalesce. As a result, geospatial intelligence will become more rapid, seamlessly interconnected, and significantly more influential across industries than ever before, driving strategic decision-making and delivering unprecedented value.

I hope you find my insights on these topics to be helpful and informative. Happy 2026!

This article will be published simultaneously in Lidar Magazine and the ASPRS PE&RS Journal.