How Innovations in Mapping Will Help Support the Ocean Decade

A wholly mapped ocean is one of the foundational goals of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. This multifaceted initiative aims to reverse the cycle of decline in ocean health and facilitate improved conditions for sustainable ocean development worldwide. Meeting this goal will require significant innovations in marine geodesy and survey. The following commentary details how innovations in satellite postioning, satellite imaging technology, remote operations, autonomous vehicles and robotics, and analytics and cloud automation are helping to provide safer, more efficient, cost-effective and sustainable marine survey and mapping solutions in support of the Ocean Decade. Real-world innovation examples from Geo-data specialist company Fugro are provided.