Desktop Studies Foundations for cable system data
By James Case
INTRODUCTION
SOURCE DATA
Recent technological and methodological developments in storage, internet, GIS and data standards have paved the way for true lifecycle data management of submarine cable systems. There are many factors that govern the processes by which cable-related data is collected, stored, presented and ultimately archived and this article will focus on the most important phase for any cable system, the desktop study.
The identification and conversion of many disparate data sources, including bathymetry, geology, planned/installed cables and pipelines, charted features, and so many others requires a robust and especially flexible data management system. How all of this data is ultimately stored will dictate the requirements for all down-stream data collection processes. Having a clear data schema and conversion methodology is imperative.
Data that is “readily available” to all the users of the cable system must have a central interface to the data accessible from anywhere in the world.
The desktop study is the data management and visualization foundation for all the other phases of the cable system project. All of the historical baseline data for the project is collected during the desktop study and it is vital that the storage, maintenance and visualization of this data be consistent with data collected in all subsequent phases of the project. It is a true template for all data-related processes. The critical desktop study data management elements, 1) source data, 2) data storage, 3) standards and metadata, 4) dissemination/ visualization and 6) maintenance are discussed in the following sections of this article.
The task of converting historical data of any type is never a straightforward one. There are numerous data types, some with clear definitions or standards and some plain do not. For this reason, every single data type being converted must have a clear conversion schema and be documented in the desktop study’s metadata catalog. A conversion schema can simply be a format definition for the converted data, ignoring the source data definition, or be a full mapping between the data. The degree to which the conversion process is documented relies heavily on whether there will be future requirements to convert the same data type from a different source. An example might be how to convert bathymetric 18