This edition comprises two articles and three notes. The first article is a collaborative effort from the International Board on Standards of Competence for Hydrographic Surveyors and Nautical Cartographers (IBSC). The article provides the rationale behind the new format adopted for presentation of the standards and offers information useful to institutions in development of programs with the intention of gaining recognition. Edition 1.0.0 of IHO Publications S-8A and S-8B (Standards of Competence for Category “A” and “B” Nautical Cartographers) and Edition 1.0.1 of IHO Publications S-5A and S-5B (Standards of Competence for Category “A” and “B” Hydrographic Surveyors) have been adopted (IHO CL 54/2017). The Board Members are to be congratulated on their efforts.
The second article from China outlines data quality issues with collecting and processing bathymetric data. The authors describe the various gross and systematic errors and have devised quality control plans covering multibeam sounding data collection and the processing stages including pre-production, data evaluation, checking and final acceptance.
The Japan Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department (JHOD) contributed a note that describes the use of Airborne Lidar Bathymetry (ALB) in their surveys over the past 14 years across a wide ranging number of survey purposes.
A second note from the Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Agency (KHOA) discusses the delivery of Phase 3 of their Category B Marine Geospatial Information Programme. The programme was run by the Capacity Building Fund of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) sponsored by the RoK from 2015 to 2017.
Finally, in the third note, the Suriname Aids to Navigation Academy (SAA) provided a brief description of their first IALA Aids to Navigation level 1 Manager Course run over May 2017. The Academy is the only training organization for the North & South America, Latin & Caribbean Region that is accredited to deliver aids to navigation training based on the IALA recommendation E-141.
I would also like to take the opportunity to congratulate the new Secretary-General of the IHO, Dr Mathias Jonas and the IHO Directors’ Abri Kampfer and Mustafa Iptes upon their appointments (IHO CL52/2017). My thanks also to past Secretary-General Robert Ward and Director Gilles Bessero for their commitment to the IHO and the profession.
On behalf of the Editorial Board, I hope that this edition is of interest to you and may inspire you to submit a future paper on the work that you have done or are currently engaged in.
Thank you to the authors for your contributions and to my colleagues who provided peer reviews for the Articles in this edition.
Ian W. Halls
Editor