Webinar : Meet CALHYPSO,the new tool for automated and reliable production of Electronic Navigational Charts(ENC)
03 April 2024
Webinars
"CALHYPSO" is a new tool dedicated to Hydrographic offices and numerical marine charts producers in general. It allows the user to produce automatically an ENC strating from a raw bathymetry dataset. This tool is the new assistant of cartographers, it will help them to considerably speed the generalization process of the bathymetry data, and avoid them a long and tedious task.
Why is CALHYPSO a revolution ?
- Production of a functional ENC S-57 in a few minutes
- An algorithm obtained from combined expertises of GEOMOD and the SHOM
- Automatized simplification of cartographic information in accordance with the desired scale
Watch the replay of our webinar on 23 May, and find out about the features and conditions of access to the tool. The event was presented by our marine geomatics experts and featured a testimonial from Yves Guérin, cartographer at Shom.
First of all, good morning Léo, good morning Yannick. Let's start with a quick introduction before we begin the presentation.
We’ll take it easy to start. My name is Aelaïg Cournet. I work as a marine geomatics engineer at Geomod, and I have been developing the Calhypso application for two years now.
My name is Yann Corley, I’m a research and development engineer in marine geomatics at Geomod. I’ve been working here for two years, assisting Aelaïg in her project, particularly on the commercial side and software testing. However, my expertise lies primarily in the new standards of hydrography and cartography.
Today, we have the pleasure of co-presenting this webinar with Yves Guérin. Yves, I’ll let you introduce yourself.
Yes, good morning. I’m Yves Guérin, a cartographer at SHOM, and I’m specifically in charge of testing all aspects of Calhypso at SHOM in preparation for the deployment of the software, following a contract we established with Geomod.
Indeed, Yves and I have been working together for two or three years now, testing all the new improvements in Calhypso. This webinar is designed to be an interactive discussion, so please don’t hesitate to speak up, interrupt us during the presentation, and ask questions. If you have any questions or specific examples to share, this is the perfect opportunity.
For those who are not yet familiar with Geomod, here’s a quick overview of our areas of expertise. Geomod is a company specializing in the development and distribution of marine charts and cartographic software for the past 25 years. We work with several key partners in France, including Ifremer, Naval Group, and SHOM, among others.
We produce standardized marine charts following S-57 and S-100 standards and actively participate in working groups, with Yann contributing to the Rocheville working group. We also develop software for the processing of bathymetric and navigation data, including PortSide, PortAll, which is specifically dedicated to port traffic management, and Ulhysses.
Today, we will focus on Calhypso, a tool designed for cartographers. If you want more information about Geomod's areas of expertise, you can find a wealth of videos and documentation on our website. But for now, I will concentrate on presenting Calhypso.
What is Calhypso?
Calhypso is a tool designed to automate and autonomously generate bathymetric charts. On the left side of the screen, you can see that we start with an XYZ file containing depth soundings, which is then imported into Calhypso. The user also specifies the compilation scale at which they want to generate the chart and the desired depth zones.
The main objective of Calhypso is to automate cartographic generalization. The software first synthesizes the data, then draws isobaths (depth contours) in a simplified and generalized way according to the scale. This process includes both isobath creation and soundings selection, ensuring that they are safe and appropriately adapted to the chosen scale. The goal is to produce a synthetic yet secure bathymetric chart, similar to those currently produced by SHOM cartographers.
Here are a few examples. This first case is an extracted area near the Rance estuary in northern Brittany, where we generated a 1:15,000 scale chart. With the same dataset, we can vary the generalization process depending on the desired scale, applying different aggregation and smoothing algorithms that always extend outward toward deeper areas. The soundings selection is also adapted to match the required level of information for each scale.
Any questions so far?
We went through the chart standards fairly quickly, and some of you may not be entirely familiar with them. If you have any questions, we would be happy to answer them before continuing.
Before we begin, I’d like to show you Calhypso’s interface, since that’s really the core of what we are presenting today. While I give my presentation, I will launch a Calhypso process so we can review the results and processing times at the end.
At SHOM, we are still in the testing phase. The objective is to put Calhypso into production by the summer, so it can be used by all SHOM cartographers—about thirty cartographers in total. Initially, it will be primarily used for major chart publications and revisions.
Through my testing, I have identified different work zones, as one of the main challenges for SHOM is the diversity of the maritime landscape. The French coastline varies significantly, from rocky Breton coasts to sandy Landes shores, Mediterranean cliffs, and atolls. Calhypso is not yet a one-click solution, though that is our long-term goal. For now, cartographers still need to perform several preparatory steps before running the software.
The cartographer’s role in Calhypso processing
Even before using Calhypso, the cartographer must:
Prepare the dataset, distinguishing between single-beam and multibeam soundings, incorporating coastline data, shipwrecks, obstructions, and known rocks.
Integrate terrestrial data, such as coastal outlines and islands, which are represented in S-57 objects.
Anticipate the expected output, considering factors like sounding density, depth zones, contour smoothing, and scale representation.
Anticipation is crucial. If the cartographer does not properly plan the data, the results will not be satisfactory or representative of what needs to be shown.
Examples of different environments
France has a diverse maritime landscape, which impacts Calhypso’s processing. Here are some examples:
Brittany: Steep coastlines, many wrecks, and rocky formations.
Landes: Mostly sandy seabeds, forming smooth gradients.
Atolls: These present unique challenges, requiring different treatment for interior vs. exterior areas, often impacted by regulatory navigation zones.
Mediterranean: Rocky seabeds with steep depth gradients, significantly different from the Landes' sandy landscape.
These environmental factors directly influence Calhypso’s results. For instance, bathymetric data sources may vary—LiDAR data, single-beam, multi-beam, or even lead-line soundings—requiring different generalization techniques.
Processing time and efficiency gains
For example, for a 1:25,000 scale chart of the Iroise Sea, Calhypso took about 20 minutes to generate the bathymetric chart. By comparison, a manual cartographic process for the same chart took several weeks, plus additional review time. The traditional quality control phase alone could extend the timeline by months.
With Calhypso, once the soundings and depth contours are generated, an integrated validation tool allows for quality checks. So far, Calhypso has never produced errors in depth contouring, though we continue refining the algorithm to better match human-made selections.
Conclusion and next steps
The main benefit of Calhypso is its significant time savings. However, we need to fully trust the tool before completely automating bathymetric chart production. Final validation by a cartographer remains necessary to add regulatory areas, buoys, and other navigational elements.
Currently, we plan to deploy Calhypso into production by summer 2024.
Geomod is also working on Calhypso Web, a cloud-based version of the software. The core functionalities remain the same, but it offers a different user interface for easier data submission and processing.
If you are interested, we can arrange a customized demo, either using your own bathymetric data (confidentially handled under a non-disclosure agreement) or a preloaded dataset for demonstration purposes.
We sincerely thank Yves Guérin from SHOM for joining us and sharing his insights. If you have any questions or would like to discuss further, please don’t hesitate to contact us via email or schedule a one-on-one meeting.
Thank you all for your time!
We’ll take it easy to start. My name is Aelaïg Cournet. I work as a marine geomatics engineer at Geomod, and I have been developing the Calhypso application for two years now.
My name is Yann Corley, I’m a research and development engineer in marine geomatics at Geomod. I’ve been working here for two years, assisting Aelaïg in her project, particularly on the commercial side and software testing. However, my expertise lies primarily in the new standards of hydrography and cartography.
Today, we have the pleasure of co-presenting this webinar with Yves Guérin. Yves, I’ll let you introduce yourself.
Yes, good morning. I’m Yves Guérin, a cartographer at SHOM, and I’m specifically in charge of testing all aspects of Calhypso at SHOM in preparation for the deployment of the software, following a contract we established with Geomod.
Indeed, Yves and I have been working together for two or three years now, testing all the new improvements in Calhypso. This webinar is designed to be an interactive discussion, so please don’t hesitate to speak up, interrupt us during the presentation, and ask questions. If you have any questions or specific examples to share, this is the perfect opportunity.
For those who are not yet familiar with Geomod, here’s a quick overview of our areas of expertise. Geomod is a company specializing in the development and distribution of marine charts and cartographic software for the past 25 years. We work with several key partners in France, including Ifremer, Naval Group, and SHOM, among others.
We produce standardized marine charts following S-57 and S-100 standards and actively participate in working groups, with Yann contributing to the Rocheville working group. We also develop software for the processing of bathymetric and navigation data, including PortSide, PortAll, which is specifically dedicated to port traffic management, and Ulhysses.
Today, we will focus on Calhypso, a tool designed for cartographers. If you want more information about Geomod's areas of expertise, you can find a wealth of videos and documentation on our website. But for now, I will concentrate on presenting Calhypso.
What is Calhypso?
Calhypso is a tool designed to automate and autonomously generate bathymetric charts. On the left side of the screen, you can see that we start with an XYZ file containing depth soundings, which is then imported into Calhypso. The user also specifies the compilation scale at which they want to generate the chart and the desired depth zones.
The main objective of Calhypso is to automate cartographic generalization. The software first synthesizes the data, then draws isobaths (depth contours) in a simplified and generalized way according to the scale. This process includes both isobath creation and soundings selection, ensuring that they are safe and appropriately adapted to the chosen scale. The goal is to produce a synthetic yet secure bathymetric chart, similar to those currently produced by SHOM cartographers.
Here are a few examples. This first case is an extracted area near the Rance estuary in northern Brittany, where we generated a 1:15,000 scale chart. With the same dataset, we can vary the generalization process depending on the desired scale, applying different aggregation and smoothing algorithms that always extend outward toward deeper areas. The soundings selection is also adapted to match the required level of information for each scale.
Any questions so far?
We went through the chart standards fairly quickly, and some of you may not be entirely familiar with them. If you have any questions, we would be happy to answer them before continuing.
Before we begin, I’d like to show you Calhypso’s interface, since that’s really the core of what we are presenting today. While I give my presentation, I will launch a Calhypso process so we can review the results and processing times at the end.
At SHOM, we are still in the testing phase. The objective is to put Calhypso into production by the summer, so it can be used by all SHOM cartographers—about thirty cartographers in total. Initially, it will be primarily used for major chart publications and revisions.
Through my testing, I have identified different work zones, as one of the main challenges for SHOM is the diversity of the maritime landscape. The French coastline varies significantly, from rocky Breton coasts to sandy Landes shores, Mediterranean cliffs, and atolls. Calhypso is not yet a one-click solution, though that is our long-term goal. For now, cartographers still need to perform several preparatory steps before running the software.
The cartographer’s role in Calhypso processing
Even before using Calhypso, the cartographer must:
Prepare the dataset, distinguishing between single-beam and multibeam soundings, incorporating coastline data, shipwrecks, obstructions, and known rocks.
Integrate terrestrial data, such as coastal outlines and islands, which are represented in S-57 objects.
Anticipate the expected output, considering factors like sounding density, depth zones, contour smoothing, and scale representation.
Anticipation is crucial. If the cartographer does not properly plan the data, the results will not be satisfactory or representative of what needs to be shown.
Examples of different environments
France has a diverse maritime landscape, which impacts Calhypso’s processing. Here are some examples:
Brittany: Steep coastlines, many wrecks, and rocky formations.
Landes: Mostly sandy seabeds, forming smooth gradients.
Atolls: These present unique challenges, requiring different treatment for interior vs. exterior areas, often impacted by regulatory navigation zones.
Mediterranean: Rocky seabeds with steep depth gradients, significantly different from the Landes' sandy landscape.
These environmental factors directly influence Calhypso’s results. For instance, bathymetric data sources may vary—LiDAR data, single-beam, multi-beam, or even lead-line soundings—requiring different generalization techniques.
Processing time and efficiency gains
For example, for a 1:25,000 scale chart of the Iroise Sea, Calhypso took about 20 minutes to generate the bathymetric chart. By comparison, a manual cartographic process for the same chart took several weeks, plus additional review time. The traditional quality control phase alone could extend the timeline by months.
With Calhypso, once the soundings and depth contours are generated, an integrated validation tool allows for quality checks. So far, Calhypso has never produced errors in depth contouring, though we continue refining the algorithm to better match human-made selections.
Conclusion and next steps
The main benefit of Calhypso is its significant time savings. However, we need to fully trust the tool before completely automating bathymetric chart production. Final validation by a cartographer remains necessary to add regulatory areas, buoys, and other navigational elements.
Currently, we plan to deploy Calhypso into production by summer 2024.
Geomod is also working on Calhypso Web, a cloud-based version of the software. The core functionalities remain the same, but it offers a different user interface for easier data submission and processing.
If you are interested, we can arrange a customized demo, either using your own bathymetric data (confidentially handled under a non-disclosure agreement) or a preloaded dataset for demonstration purposes.
We sincerely thank Yves Guérin from SHOM for joining us and sharing his insights. If you have any questions or would like to discuss further, please don’t hesitate to contact us via email or schedule a one-on-one meeting.
Thank you all for your time!