Remote Hydrography: Automation & Office Jobs for Offshore Hydrographic Surveys
Offshore industry relies on a number of different roles to stay afloat. Hydrographic surveys are one of the key initial stages that maps out an area of ocean to provide valuable information for businesses, governments, and transportation. With AI and remote working growing in strength and relevance across all industries, how will that impact the role of a hydrographic surveyor?
At UTM Consultants, we help talent find the hydrographic survey roles to suit their capabilities, and help businesses fill gaps in their rosters with skilled contractors. In this article, we’ll discuss remote hydrography, its pros and cons, and the possibilities it offers for offshore industry and energy.
What is Remote Hydrography?
Hydrography surveys record and analyse the makeup of offshore locations, taking into account elements like currents, temperatures, ocean floor topography, and surrounding land masses. These insights are crucial for a number of ocean-based activities like navigation, maritime efforts, and offshore energy.
With everything from the wildlife present to the stability of the ocean floor, to even predictions for conditions at sea, being covered, hydrography surveys are vital for businesses and governments around the globe. However, getting the right talent to these locations can be difficult, time consuming, and in some cases dangerous.
That’s where remote hydrography comes in – by utilising drones and manned or automated remote surveillance units, you can perform hydrographic surveys without needing to be on site. This opens up a whole range of possibilities, both for hydrographic surveyors, and for the businesses that need them.
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Automation for Offshore Surveys
As well as remote hydrography, these offshore surveys can now begin to benefit from automation. This can support surveyors both during the data collection process, and with analysis after:
Data Collection Automation
During the data collection process, AI-powered drones and sensors can detect and record their surroundings. By automating this process, you can drastically reduce the time, and the self-verification process of AI means you’re unlikely to end up with erroneous data.
Streamlined Analysis with AI
AI is an expert at sifting through large quantities of data and producing actionable insights. If directed by a human operator, and supplied with adequate quantities of data, AI is able to summarise key points and make analysing offshore surveys much quicker. This means a faster turnaround for the results to be used, and less time spent by surveyors on figuring out the details.
The Pros and Cons of Office Jobs for Hydrographic Surveys
Pros
A move to remote work means boundless opportunities for hydrographic surveyors, and for the businesses that employ them. By removing or reducing the need to travel, talent can be sourced from effectively anywhere. This means easier access to work, more income potential for workers, and better and faster surveys for businesses.
Without the need to travel to remote offshore locations, the risks to hydrographic surveyors are greatly diminished. Additionally, the assets needed to perform these surveys are generally cheaper as well – with unmanned vessels and drones not having the same overheads or deployment costs as fully staffed ships.
For businesses, a hydrographic survey being carried out remotely by a drone can cut out travel expenses and reduce the time taken for the survey, which can result in lower costs. For surveyors, this might mean less income per job, but the lack of downtime will mean more work can be done in a given time period, often resulting in better income for them as well.
As well as the survey process itself, the next steps can also be carried out in an office environment. Analysing the data is just as important as gathering it, as it can reveal insights that increase the value of the data and make it easier for people to use it. The writeup of reports from data gathered during hydrographic surveys has traditionally been an office job due to the requirement for technology and access to resource materials, but the ease at which it can be carried out is enhanced by the convenience of remote hydrography. Now, hydrographic surveyors can complete both activities from a single location, streamlining the output and expediting offshore activities.
Cons
Seeing might not always be believing, but in the case of offshore hydrographic surveys, having an on-site presence can provide more accurate results. This is less the case with remote-operated vessels, and more with automation – as this can result in data inaccuracies due to incorrect analysis or from the AI simply making things up to fill gaps in its knowledge (known as AI hallucinations). Connection Issues With any remote work, your connection is vital to maintaining reliable access to necessary data and resources. Despite moving into a global era, remote workers are far more likely to encounter connection issues than those operating directly on site, which can slow down work or result in errors if data is corrupted or omitted due to connection loss.
One of the great parts of working as a hydrographic surveyor is the opportunities for travel: getting to see and experience incredible places, all around the world. Moving to remote removes much of these opportunities, and runs the risk of making surveyors lose their enthusiasm and enjoyment for the role.
Find Your Remote Hydrography Role with UTM Consultants
With AI automation, global communication, and remote-operated vehicles, the field of remote hydrography is an exciting place to be. New innovations are being made every day, and fresh talent is needed to help take the industry further.
At UTM Consultants, we’re committed to helping connect the right people with the right opportunities. Our growing list of skilled contractors offer the perfect fit for any hydrographic survey project. To find out more, or apply today, get in touch!
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