Sonar Bottom Mapping On The Cheap

[CanadaDan]

I want to electronically create some contour maps and 3D representations of the local areas where I dive and to scout out new potential dive sites in local lakes.

I want to keep this simple and inexpensive so I'm looking at hardware like the Garmin Striker GPS or the Deeper Smart Sonar Pro+. I want it portable so I'm looking at the castable units because I could tow them behind a canoe or even take them on liveaboards for fun. Might as well use my phone screen anyway.

Anyone try this or have some insights into these products or others like them? Alternative software suggestions from the hardware mfg's own fishing centric offerings?

 

[hsinhai]

At one point I considered building an arduboat, mounting a cheap lowrance fishfinder w/GPS, autonomously running a grid pattern and then importing the saved data into some software able to create bathymetric 3D mapping..

Bought an old lowrance off ebay, realized how much work it was going to be and went diving...

 

[100days-a-year]

SonarTRX Introduction | Leraand Engineering Inc.
About the only way to stitch different manufacturers sonar and sidescan files into something useful.

 

[kelemvor]

There's a handful of commercial products that do just that. Universities and scientists use them. They're very expensive, $50,000.00USD and up from what I've heard.

There are some guys at the Tampa Hackerspace working a project to reduce the cost. I was recently at their shop buying some old gear from them. They're using Ardusub, I believe it was running on an nVidia Jetson. I think their intent was to produce a product that costs a fraction of current commercial offerings. I was thinking they mentioned targeting under $10k.

Website is Tampa Hackerspace – Build With Us! I think one of the guys working the project was Dennis Lorence. Don't think I'll post his phone number here. tampahackerspace.slack.com for chat.

If you have trouble contacting Dennis directly, you might try reaching out to Bill Shaw.

 

[CanadaDan]

lol... I was more thinking of a freeware alternative to Hummingbird’s Chartselect ;-)

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

there is some kind of submersible device that does a 3D scan of caves and can render it on the computer. I forget what they're called though so I'm useless.

 

[hsinhai]

lol... I was more thinking of a freeware alternative to Hummingbird’s Chartselect ;-)

Something like Genesis maps, you can upload data to create free social maps which you can then download, you don't need to pay for a subscription. The more data you have of an area the more accurate the maps becomes, not sure if it has sufficient resolution though limited to 1ft contours. C-MAP Genesis - Home

I recall there are a number of other free or low cost applications around, ArcGIS is pretty much industry standard for spatial data, think they have a personal use version for around $100 a year.

Reefmaster also popular, $200 ReefMaster

Better might be QGIS it is a free open source version, so many people find themselves there (https://www.qgis.org).

https://insightgenesis.wordpress.com/2014/09/11/insight-genesis-in-3-easy-steps
https://insightgenesis.wordpress.com/2014/09/11/insight-genesis-in-3-easy-steps

 

[Angelo Farina]

I own a Side Scan Sonar with 3D features. It is compact, rugged and portable. The brand is Lowrance, the model is HDS Live 7:
https://www.lowrance.com/lowrance/type/fishfinders-chartplotters/hds-7-live-amer-noxd
And here its side-scan sonar Structurescan 3D transducer:
StructureScan 3D Transducer | Transducer | Lowrance USA
I am quite satisfied of this device, it provides excellent features for a reasonable price.
It is also a chat-plotter navigator, I did buy hi-res charts covering all the Mediterranean.

 

[FullThrottle]

I want to electronically create some contour maps and 3D representations of the local areas where I dive and to scout out new potential dive sites in local lakes.

I want to keep this simple and inexpensive so I'm looking at hardware like the Garmin Striker GPS or the Deeper Smart Sonar Pro+. I want it portable so I'm looking at the castable units because I could tow them behind a canoe or even take them on liveaboards for fun. Might as well use my phone screen anyway.

Anyone try this or have some insights into these products or others like them? Alternative software suggestions from the hardware mfg's own fishing centric offerings?

Rather than buying the castable striker spend slightly more on something like this https://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Trans...614535407&sprefix=garmin+chart,aps,173&sr=8-4 Rig up a suction cup mount for the transducer to your canoe, and use the "quickdraw contours" feature to map your lake. It superimposes your sonar data onto the existing mapping. Quickdraw contours does exactly what you're looking for.

 

[100days-a-year]

Resolution and timeframe on quickdraw make it pretty useless even with crowdsourcing. Tried it with my machine and tried getting the crowdsourced stuff other people had uploaded too. Easier, far better resolution and far more coverage stitching side scan mosaics with an $800 machine and $400 in software.
Trying to build an AUV cheap is the same, by the time you build it, you could own a boat with a sidescan on it that can also be used as a boat still.
Tons of people starting to use qgis, arcgis and similar to manage freely available and personally collected bathymetric data.