Seafloor Classification

Seafloor Classification is EOMAP's service for mapping benthic cover and habitats in optically shallow coastal waters from satellite imagery. Surveying seagrass, coral and sediment by divers or small boats is slow, weather-dependent and limited in coverage, while the EU Water Framework and Marine Strategy Framework Directives require seafloor sediments and habitats to be evaluated every three to six years.

EOMAP pre-processes multispectral imagery with its physics-based Modular Inversion and Processing System (MIP), correcting for the atmosphere, sun glint and the water column to retrieve water depth and seafloor reflectance. The scene is then segmented and classified into a schema agreed with the client, for example sediment, dense or sparse seagrass, coral, macroalgae, rock, mangrove and artificial structures, using spectral knowledge, bathymetry and any client in-situ data. Imagery comes from Sentinel-2 or commercial very-high-resolution sensors (Planet SuperDove and SkySat, Maxar WorldView, Pléiades Neo), giving 2 to 10 m grid spacing. Image archives allow change analysis back to the 1990s, and monitoring can be annual, seasonal or daily. Mapping depth follows light penetration, for example 20–30 m in the Red Sea and Caribbean. EOMAP reports that clients have validated its maps at 85–90% accuracy with drop-down cameras and diving transects. Deliverables are vector shapefiles with a PDF map and metadata.

Named projects include about 30,000 km² of seafloor habitat for the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, the shallow Baltic coast of Schleswig-Holstein for the state environment office (LLUR), Australian marine parks for Parks Australia, and seagrass mapping along the Italian coastline for ISPRA in a consortium with Fugro. EOMAP has been part of Fugro since 2025.