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TeamSurv, the crowd sourcing project to create better nautical charts, has won support and endorsement from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC).
TeamSurv has won a call by ESA to enter their Business Incubation Centre (BIC) at Harwell, Oxford. This provides TeamSurv with finance, with business and technical support, and with office space for the next year to enable a plan for a sustainable future, and to grow with the number of vessels and the amount of data produced.
ESA’s Technology Transfer Programme Office has seven BICs across Europe, supporting entrepreneurs using space technology in a non-space environment. The UK BIC is run by the Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) on their Harwell campus.
TeamSurv has also come 2nd in the UK arm of the European Satellite Navigation Challenge (ESNC) run by the University of Nottingham’s GNSS Research and Applications Centre of Excellence (GRACE) with support from a variety of sponsors from the UK space sector including UK Space Agency, the Technology Strategy Board, Satellite Applications Catapult, and The Royal Institution of Navigation.
The ESNC is a competition aimed at stimulating new innovations in satellite navigation for use in technologies like smart phone apps and location-based services. 93 business ideas were put before the UK judging panel. The UK winners, ManagePlaces, produce a smartphone application for geotagging documents and other pieces of information in project management and workflow applications.
These two wins show the increasing awareness of the poor quality of data on the depths of our seas we know the surface of the moon in more detail than our seabed and the increasing realisation and acceptance that TeamSurv’s crowd sourcing approach is the best route for filling this data gap. Crowdsourcing was dismissed by the hydrographic community when TeamSurv started in 2009, but now key figures such as Robert Ward, President of the IHO, and Tom Karstner, the UK National Hydrographer, both publicly stating that crowd sourcing is the way to go for filling the data gap, with higher precision commercial surveys being reserved for critical areas.
Having accurate depth data is important for a wide range of applications in addition to that of safe navigation. These include scientific and environmental measuring and monitoring of the maritime environment, ensuring the sustainability of fishing, providing sea bed data for offshore oil, gas and renewables, and monitoring erosion and movements in the sea bed for planning and managing ports and harbours, dredging and sea defences.
Many areas of our seas are almost totally unsurveyed, for example over 80% of the Pacific islands, and even in developed countries such as the United Kingdom over 50% of our coastal waters are reported by the UKHO as being inadequately surveyed. Professional surveys are very expensive (at about £1500 per square kilometre), and governments’ expenditure on surveying is shrinking in most countries.
TeamSurv will use these new resources first of all to establish a sustainable future for the project. It will also upgrade its servers, recruit more participating vessels (with commercial shipping and fishing fleets now joining as well as leisure craft), and provide its data to a wider range of users.
Tim Thornton, leader of the TeamSurv project, says: “These two endorsements show that the use of crowdsourcing to survey our seas is being seen as the only effective solution for filling the data gap, with professional surveys being reserved for dritical areas where the highest accuracy is required. Mariners are becoming increasingly aware of the shortcomings of their charts, and by joining TeamSurv they can help improve the charts, for the good of all.”
1. European Space Agency
The European Space Agency is Europe’s gateway to space, with 20 member countries. It plans and implements Europe’s space programme, including Galileo, satellite communications and earth observation. The Techology Transfer Programme Office’s role is to promote take-up of space technology in non-space sectors.
2. Science & Technology Facilities Council
The STFC is the UK’s research organisation for work in physics, astronomy and space science. Harwell is one of two science campuses operated by the STFC.
3. European Satellite Navigation Challenge
The ESNC is an annual competition for promising services, products and business innovations that use satellite navigation in everyday life. Entries from some 50 countries compete for 22 regional prizes and 8 special categories, with an overall “Galileo Master” being selected from these winners.
The UK leg is run by the University of Nottingham’s GNSS Research and Applications Centre of Excellence (GRACE) with support from a variety of sponsors from the UK space sector including UK Space Agency, the Technology Strategy Board, Satellite Applications Catapult, EADS Astrium, CGI, the Science and Technologies Facilities Council, The Royal Institution of Navigation, Inmarsat, The University of Surrey and Swindell and Pearson. From next year the competition will be run collaboratively between the Satellite Applications Catapult and the University of Nottingham. Other sponsors will continue to provide the route for many of the ideas submitted to the competition to be turned into new businesses.
4. ESA BIC Harwell provides a year’s support including:
• Over £40,000 grant
• Access to further sources of funding
• Hands-on business development support and advice
• Partnership and networking opportunities with other members of the Harwell Campus
• Access to STFC and ESA technology, expertise and resources
• Fully equipped office facilities
5. Second prize in UK ESNC wins
• £1,000 Grant
• 1 years membership to the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN)
• Business, technical, legal and financial advice.
Images:
Logos for TeamSurv, ESA, STFC and ESNC, and images of TeamSurv depth charts, supplied on request.
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tim.thornton[.]teamsurv.com 
