263 



The Coast and Geodetic Survey (now ESS A) has done nearly all 

 of the survey work on SEAMAP to date. The surveyed area covers 

 a little over 1 million square nautical miles, or about 1 percent of 

 the world's oceans. This represents roughly 8 percent of the U.S. share 

 of oceanwide surveys, as envisioned by NASCO. Maps covering this 

 area (in the north Pacific Ocean) will be published in the near future. 



ESSA intends to continue SEx4.MAP survey work at the rate of 

 at least li/^ ship-years per year. This equates to about 600,000 square 

 miles per year, a rate which would comjDlete the U.S. share of world 

 ocean surveys iij about 50 years. More rapid ESSA progress is in- 

 hibited by lack of resources. 



Mr. Drewry. On page 20 of your statement you referred to "an 

 improved and automated data process system for mapping and chart- 

 ing is under development." Would you briefly describe the details of 

 the new system? 



Dr. White. Simply put, the automated system is one which will 

 substitute computerized or mechanized operations for manual oper- 

 ations wherever this will result in savings in money and time without 

 loss of product integrity. In the new system, raw survey data will be 

 automatically or semiautomatically logged into digital form and then 

 machine-reduced into smooth data form by application of known cor- 

 rections for depths and position. These steps will be accomplished 

 aboard ship, as are the present manual counterpart operations. 



The smooth data, in digital form, will in turn be furnished to a 

 central processing office where it will be used with automated equip- 

 ment w^hich will accomplish the cartographic drafting necessary for 

 survey verification and for final cartographic manuscript compilation. 

 Most of the repetitive manual operations will be eliminated, although 

 human decision and evaluation inputs which bear on the final ac- 

 curacy and completeness of the end product will be retained in the 

 system. 



Efficient and effective marine data processing requires the imple- 

 mentation of automated techniques to replace the shortages and short- 

 comings of present day manual techniques. The desirability of an auto- 

 mated cartographic system can easily be demonstrated. It is now 

 known that nearly 100 percent of data reduction can be done by 

 machine, and machine reduction is 1,000 times faster than by man. In 

 addition, 80 percent of the cartographic drafting can be done by ma- 

 chine, at a rate 40 times faster than by man. The end result, in the 

 new system, will be full application of survey data to a new chart in 

 6 months, rather than partial application in somewhat over a year as 

 is now the case. Economic savings reported by DOD agencies using 

 automated techniques indicate an average savings in cartographic 

 compilation techniques of 63 percent. These anticipated savings will 

 increase as the system is more fully implemented. 



Mr. Drewry. Tliat is all, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Downing (presiding). The next witness will be Mr. Robert 

 Abel, Director, Sea Grant College Program, National Science 

 Foundation. 



