Hi,

I am new to the reefmaster software. We have sonar data that we can see within the Reefmaster software and I would like to take it from there and visualize it within my ESRI ArcMap program. Is there a way to take the entire sonar file and import/export it into ArcMap?

The purpose of this is to map the substrate of the river bottom for fish habitat.

Thanks

What data do you want to export?

Position and depth can be exported in CSV format (right-click track(s), Write to file and select the CSV format). The resulting file has the format LAT,LON,DEPTH where latitude and longitude are expressed in decimal WGS84 degrees and DEPTH is in positive metres (i.e. higher positive values are deeper).

A grid of the generated bathymetry can be exported from the Contour View of a map project (right click in "open space" in the contour view, Export ESRI Grid).

Generated contours and isoareas for depth and hardness can be exported as ESRI Shapefiles from either map projects or user maps.

It is not possible to export raw hardness values (yet).

Matt

From what I understand, in order to export 'hardness' the Bottom Composition module will be needed to accomplish this task, am I correct in assuming this?

The data that i would like to export is the 'hardness' or bottom composition in order to map the substrate on the river bottom. this is to determine typical habitat for Sturgeon.

Does this data come as an ESRI grid or only as shapefile? How is it visualized? Will my questions be answered if I just get the Bottom Comp module?

I apologize for not being totally clear and concise.

Hi,
Yes, but the only way that hardness can currently be exported (for import into another GIS app) is as calculated isoareas in Shapefile format. These areas are created by contouring the hardness values, in a similar way to how the standard bathymetric maps contour depth values. This might be OK if the data you have is arranged in such a way that a map can be generated from it. If not, it may not prove that useful to you.

What kind of habitat are you looking for? The sidescan mosaic module (release in a few weeks) may be more useful, as it is often very easy to determine the nature of the bottom from the sidescan return.