The College of Charleston is only the third place in the world to offer a workshop by QPS on coastal visualization and mapping. This workshop, which teaches software so new it is still in beta, has only been offered in Houston and New Zealand. Starting March 5, 2012, a dozen juniors and seniors at the College are spending their weeklong spring break in this two-credit workshop where they will collect and analyze data from the Charleston harbor.
QPS is a leader in the development of software systems that are used for hydrographic surveys and seafloor mapping. Scientists from the company are training students for seafloor mapping data acquisition, processing, and visualization using their QINSy (data acquisition) and Fledermaus (data processing, analysis, and 4D visualization) software suite.
On March 6, 2012, the students and scientists will go out on the 42-foot M/V EVANS, provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to collect data from the mouth of the Charleston harbor (South end of Sullivan’s Island). Students will learn to use the multibeam bathymetry system as well as a an MDL Dynascan mobile mapper laser scanner system provided by MDL. The scanner will be used to map the marine, estuarine, and terrestrial regions of the coast. The training area is in part a Red Drum spawning habitat called the Grillage that is of particular interest to DNR and NOAA, and also includes sections of the navigation channel, which is being considered for deepening to bring larger ships into Charleston.
“Our students are benefitting from the excellent reputation the College has built in the seafloor mapping industry,” says Scott Harris, geology professor at the College of Charleston. “This workshop is teaching students hydrographic theory and a very specific piece of software that is used worldwide. In addition to preparing them for fieldwork, the students are also networking with scientists from QPS, a leader in the field, that has footholds in most of the major ports around the world. ”
The workshop is funded by QPS and Harris would like to offer this workshop to more students in the future.
For more information, contact Scott Harris at harriss@cofc.edu.
