Development of a Mobile GIS Database for Use on Research Cruises and Examples of its Application

Abstract

Although internet access services have become available on board in recent years, regular high-speed communications are still challenging, necessitating that previously acquired data be brought to the ship on media. We have developed a highly mobile database system to effectively utilize various data, allowing observation plans to be made and modified on board. The system allows users to manipulate the data in the same environment as on land and easily integrates the obtained survey data into the database on land after the cruise. Furthermore, we have implemented a simple visualization tool, a database including metadata, and a user interface that makes it easy to utilize any data. For evaluation of the system, the developed database and previously acquired data were installed on a ship and adapted to search for promising areas of submarine hydrothermal deposits. During the research cruise, we conducted various types of data acquisitions with the database for a candidate mining area that had been pre-surveyed. Finally, high-quality seafloor topographic and self-potential data were obtained by an AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle), enabling us to narrow down promising areas from an initial analysis on board.