Atlas' Surveyors provide hands-on workshops

8 April 2011

Atlas Services Group UK is at Ocean Business, UK, with the 11m catamaran MV Atlanta moored alongside the NOC pontoon, where its hydrographic professionals are offering a series of workshops in multi-beam surveying.

During the one hour and a half workshop the technique behind multi-beam is explained. Not just the multi-beam theory, but also calibrations, set-up, acquisition and processing using QPS' QINSy hydrographic survey software. A full vessel safety briefing and an overview of vessel setup (GPS/motion sensors) are given during the short transit to the survey site.

The training workshops are attended by students of marine sciences and existing hydrographic surveyors. This is just a sample of the practical training initiatives planned by Atlas Services Group’s UK officein 2011, which will take place in the Southampton water, to be more specific in the deep-water shipping channel. The main purpose is to take students from the classroom to the field. The courses include multi-beam training, vessel mobilisation training and GPS training.

“No one else is currently doing practical hands-on workshops. For us it’s important, because we are looking to develop surveyors further,” says David Stark of Atlas Services Group. The main target group are students coming from the university. They usually have a lack of practical experience. Surveyors with only a few years of experience are also among the target group.

Why is Atlas Services Group putting so much effort in the skills of students and hydrographic surveyors? “We care about quality. This brings the need for the variety of skills, from the mobilisation vessel, to the acquisition of data and finish with processing. Competency is a big thing in the future, and it gives us confidence to hire the people with the right skills,” says Andrew Blears, senior account manager at Atlas Services Group UK.

Source: Hydro International