The State of the Hydrographic Survey and Assessment of the Potentially Risky Region for Navigation Safety

Abstract

The hydrographic survey is an important technology for improving maritime safety, especially in coastal waters. The accuracy of nautical charts and navigation publications is known to be directly related to hydrographic survey data. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the status of a hydrographic survey by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) regions and identify the potentially risky IHO region for navigation safety. The fundamental step was to obtain the qualitative and quantitative data of the survey. Then, the presented analysis includes investigating the possible relationships between survey status and geographical characteristics by IHO regions. Considering that coastline length and sea surface data have not been calculated by regions, a quantum geographic information system was used to extract data. Using the presented methodology, the case study analyzes the data of stranded ships from 2010 to 2021 by IHO regions, estimates coastline length and sea surface by regions, and establishes the relationships between the coastline length, sea surface, and stranded ships. The results point out the need for improvement in the state of the hydrographic survey in almost all IHO regions and show a correlation between the sea surface and an adequate survey, as well as the coastline length and stranded ships. Hence, this research indicates the possibility of rationalizing the distribution of the IHO region concerning the sea surface and coastline length.