Editing Hydrographic survey (section)

==Organizations==

===National and international offices===
{{main|Hydrographic office}}
Hydrographic offices evolved from naval heritage and are usually found within national naval structures, for example Spain's [[Instituto Hidrográfico de la Marina]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.armada.mde.es/ArmadaPortal/page/Portal/ArmadaEspannola/ciencia_ihm_1/ |title=Armada Esapñola – Instituto Hidrográfico de la Marina |language=es}}</ref> Coordination of those organizations and product standardization is voluntarily joined with the goal of improving hydrography and safe navigation is conducted by the [[International Hydrographic Organization]] (IHO). The IHO publishes Standards and Specifications<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iho-ohi.net/english/standards-publications/introduction.html |title=IHO Publications - IHO Catalogue of Publications - Introduction |access-date=2009-12-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090724155623/http://www.iho-ohi.net/english/standards-publications/introduction.html |archive-date=24 July 2009}}</ref> followed by its Member States as well as Memoranda of Understanding and Co-operative Agreements<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iho-ohi.net/english/letters-and-documents/mou-agreements.html |title=IHO Memoranda of Understanding and Co-operative Agreements |access-date=2009-12-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410145023/http://www.iho-ohi.net/english/letters-and-documents/mou-agreements.html |archive-date=10 April 2009}}</ref> with hydrographic survey interests.

The product of such hydrography is most often seen on nautical charts published by the national agencies and required by the International Maritime Organization (IMO),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.imo.org/safety/mainframe.asp?topic_id=350 |title=Electronic charts |access-date=2013-06-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415030816/http://www.imo.org/Safety/mainframe.asp?topic_id=350 |archive-date=15 April 2013 |publisher=International Maritime Organization (IMO)}}</ref> the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.icomia.com/technical-info/docs/SOLASV.pdf |title=Solas Chapter V Safety of Navigation |access-date=2009-12-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090206011442/http://icomia.com/technical-info/docs/SOLASV.pdf |archive-date=6 February 2009}}</ref> and national regulations to be carried on vessels for safety purposes. Increasingly those charts are provided and used in electronic form unders IHO standards.

===Non-national agencies===
Governmental entities below the national level conduct or contract for hydrographic surveys for waters within their jurisdictions with both internal and contract assets. Such surveys commonly are conducted by national [[hydrographic office|organizations]] or under their supervision or the standards they have approved, particularly when the use is for the purposes of chart making and distribution or the [[dredging]] of state-controlled waters.

In the United States, there is coordination with the National Hydrography Dataset in survey collection and publication.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/maps/gis/datahydro.html |title=1:24,000-Scale Hydrography |publisher=Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091017090347/http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/maps/gis/datahydro.html |archive-date=17 October 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> State environmental organizations publish hydrographic data relating to their mission.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/implementation/water/tmdl/hydromaps.html |title=Hydrography Maps and Data |publisher=Texas Commission on Environmental Quality |access-date=2009-12-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100125231253/http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/implementation/water/tmdl/hydromaps.html |archive-date=25 January 2010}}</ref>

=== Private organizations ===
Commercial entities also conduct large-scale hydrographic and [[Geophysics|geophysical]] surveying, particularly in the dredging, marine construction, [[oil exploration]], and drilling industries. Industrial entities installing submarine communications cables<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.setech-uk.com/pdf/Paper2.pdf |title=Hydrographic Information and the Submarine Cable Industry |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100331195933/http://www.setech-uk.com/pdf/Paper2.pdf |archive-date=31 March 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> or power<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://sanpedrosun.net/old/belcable.html |title=BEL submarine cable survey complete |newspaper=The San Pedro Sun |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930104855/http://sanpedrosun.net/old/belcable.html |archive-date=September 30, 2011}}</ref> require detailed surveys of cable routes prior to installation and increasingly use acoustic imagery equipment previously found only in military applications when conducting their surveys.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hydro-international.com/news/id2826-Utec_Surveyor_Equipped_for_Deep_Ocean_Cable_Route_Surveys.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215152026/http://hydro-international.com/news/id2826-Utec_Surveyor_Equipped_for_Deep_Ocean_Cable_Route_Surveys.html |archive-date=15 February 2009 |title=Utec Surveyor Equipped for Deep Ocean Cable Route Surveys}}</ref> Specialized companies exist that have both the equipment and expertise to contract with both commercial and governmental entities to perform such surveys .

Companies, universities, and investment groups will often fund hydrographic surveys of public waterways prior to developing areas adjacent those waterways. Survey firms are also contracted to survey in support of design and engineering firms that are under contract for large public projects.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hydro-international.com/news/id3583-Infrastructure_Survey_in_Turkey.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122075416/http://www.hydro-international.com/news/id3583-Infrastructure_Survey_in_Turkey.html |archive-date=22 November 2010 |title=Infrastructure Survey in Turkey |date=14 December 2009}}</ref> Private surveys are also conducted before dredging operations and after these operations are completed.  Companies with large private slips, docks, or other waterfront installations have their facilities and the open water near their facilities surveyed regularly, as do islands in areas subject to variable erosion such as in the Maldives.