Multibeam Echo Sounder User Needs Survey: 103 Respondents

103 people across 69 government, private, and academic entities responded to a survey on multibeam echosounder (MBES) data needs. The report, produced by FrontierSI, Geoscience Australia, and Deakin University, summarizes user requirements to inform future survey planning tools. It identifies 30 specific MBES survey purposes across 10 application areas.

Use Cases

• Designing survey planning tools based on identified user challenges and requirements.
• Improving data discoverability and sharing services based on reported obstacles to data access.
• Prioritizing seabed mapping applications based on the 30 specific survey purposes identified.
• Developing quality assurance frameworks informed by how users currently apply specifications and guidelines.

Strengths

• Based on responses from 103 participants, providing a substantive user sample.
• Covers perspectives from 56% of participants directly involved in MBES data acquisition.
• Identifies 30 specific survey purposes, offering detailed insight into application areas.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic or sector bias inherent to the survey's respondent pool.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Online questionnaire supported by two workshops.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 12:44:03.819758; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Primarily Australia, with some international respondents.