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Published 06.01.26

Rivers are constantly changing. Water levels rise and fall, sediment shifts, banks erode, and infrastructure must adapt to an environment that is always in motion. Understanding these changes requires more than a traditional survey; it requires a complete picture of both the landscape above the water and the channel hidden below it.

To support that effort, Whiteout Solutions recently completed the integration of topobathymetric LiDAR and multibeam sonar data for the San Joaquin River near Stockton, California.

The project combined twocomplementary technologies to create a seamless, high-resolution elevation model across the land-water interface. Topobathymetric LiDAR captured floodplains, riverbanks, levees, and shallow-water environments, while multibeam sonar mapped deeper portions of the river channel where LiDAR penetration becomes limited.

The result is a continuous digital representation of the river corridor—from the tops of the banks to the deepest sections of the channel—providing engineers, planners, and environmental professionals with a more complete understanding of the system.

Integrated datasets like these play a critical role in flood modeling, infrastructure assessment, sediment transport analysis, and environmental restoration planning. By eliminating gaps between terrestrial and underwater data, decision-makers can better understand how water moves through the landscape and how river systems evolve over time.

As demand grows for more accurate environmental intelligence, projects like this demonstrate the value of combining advanced geospatial technologies to reveal what cannot be seen from the surface alone.

Project Location: San Joaquin River, Stockton, California
Technologies: Topobathymetric LiDAR & Multibeam Sonar
Applications: Flood Modeling, Infrastructure Planning, Sediment Analysis, Environmental Restoration

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Published 06.08.26

MONTREAL — April 2026 — At the Canadian Hydrographic Conference 2026 in Montreal, Trevor Hobbs, Senior Geospatial Analyst & Geomorphologist at Whiteout Solutions, delivered acompelling presentation on the implementation and processing of data collected by compact, next-generation topo-bathymetric LiDAR sensors. The presentation showcased how these systems are transforming the way surveyors map the complex interface between terrestrial andaquatic environments.

Hobbs presented alongside Michael Sitar, Managing Director of RIEGL Canada, in a joint session titled, “Small Sensors, Big Results”; both of which drew on Whiteout Solutions’ growing portfolio of real-world field deployments.

At the heart of their presentation was what Hobbs described as a fundamental data gap problem. Traditional near-infrared (NIR) LiDAR systems are blind to water. They cannot penetrate the surface to capture riverbeds, nearshore bathymetry, or the shallow zones critical for flood modeling and coastal management. Green-wavelength (532 nm) topo-bathymetric LiDAR fills that gap, penetrating clear to moderately turbid water to map riverbeds, estuaries, and shallow coastal zones in a single pass.

The challenge, historically, has been size and cost. Until recently, systems capable of this kind of survey required large, expensive aircraft and substantial logistical footprints. RIEGL’s latest sensor portfolio and Whiteout Solutions’ operational experience deploying it is changing that calculus.

Institutional Involvement

Both presenters placed their technical work in the blatent demand for topo-bathymetric products. Canada’s National Elevation Data Strategy, coordinated through Natural Resources Canada, calls for seamless, high-resolution 3D mapping of land and shallow waterbeds, with particular emphasis on flood hazard mapping, high-risk coastal zones, and improved shoreline representation through a land-water continuum approach.

South of the border Canadian border, the USGS 3D Hydrography Program (3DHP) (the hydrography component of the broader 3D National Topography Model initiative) is driving federal priority acquisitions across the United States, with high-priority collection zones concentrated in mountainous regions and inland riverine corridors where terrain variability and sensor altitude constraints make collection particularly challenging.

These government mandates represent a significant and growing market for topo-bathymetric data collection, and that the new generation of smaller sensors paired with Whiteout’s operations and processing are well positioned to serve the dispersed, complex, and often remote areas these programs prioritize.

In the Field: Two Deployments, Two Platforms

The core of Hobbs’ presentation is rooted in three Whiteout case studies:

Gulfport, Mississippi: UAV Training with the Army Corps

Working alongside the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and NAVOCEANO, Whiteout Solutions evaluated the RIEGL VUX-820-G in a turbid deltaic coastal environment near Gulfport, MS. The mission served dual purposes: assessing sensor performance in challenging, low-clarity Gulf Coast waters and providing hands-on training to Army Corps personnel in UAV data acquisition and processing using RiPROCESS and RILOC.

The resulting point cloud data clearly resolved the land-water interface distinguishing ground, low vegetation, water surface, and bathymetric bottom returns. This remains true even in conditions where turbidity significantly limits optical penetration. The depth range captured spannedfrom approximately +2.59 m above water to -4.08 m below the surface.

Winooski River, Richmond, Vermont: Flood Mitigation from the Air

Vermont’s Winooski River corridor near Richmond has seen repeated and damaging flooding in recent years, affecting wastewater infrastructure and residential properties. Whiteout Solutions deployed the RIEGL VQ-840-GL aboard a Bell 206 helicopter to develop a high-resolution topo-bathymetric elevation model in support of hydrologic modeling and flood mitigation planning for the town.

The resulting data product was striking in its resolution and continuity — seamlessly mapping the riverbed, water surface, adjacent floodplain, and riparian vegetation in a single dataset. Height profile analysis of the point cloud revealed the river cross-section in fine detail, with 72,941 points captured in a single swath slice, clearly showing the transition from upland forest through riverbank to the submerged channel bottom.

Processing the raw waveform data using Exponential Decomposition (XDC) yielded dense, well-separated returns for the bathymetric bottom, water surface, and coastal marsh zones; though Hobbs noted that the technique also introduced a significant volume of low-noise points requiring careful filtering.

Broader Applications: Coastal Marsh and Turbid Rivers

Hobbs expanded the picture further with two additional case studies.

For the Connecticut DEEP Coastal Marsh Mapping Project, Whiteout Solutions tackled one of the more logistically demanding topo-bathymetric assignments imaginable: 300 discrete areas of interest totaling approximately 14,000 acres and stretching across roughly 155 km of complex, estuarine Connecticut coastline. The team deployed an integrated payload combining the RIEGL VQ-840-GL (green, topo-bathy), RIEGL VUX-1LR (NIR, topographic), and a SPECIM multispectral sensor for vegetation mapping.

Physical access to the marsh environment precluded traditional ground control placement. Whiteout’s solution was to harvest synthetic ground control points from USGS 3DEP LiDAR data, using a stratified random scheme scaled by AOI size. Independent high-accuracy control collected at accessible locations (80 points project-wide) confirmed overall accuracy, with swath-to-swath elevation differences clustering tightly around a mean of +0.030 m.

Geospatial technology, while seemingly a niche industry, continues to be integral to understanding and solving some of the world’s most complex challenges on the earth’s surface. Whiteout Solutions is proud to be at the forefront of that effort, developing innovative geospatial technologies that help transform complex data into actionable solutions for our clients. We are additionally incredibly proud of our team of analysts, in field operators, and everyone in between that helps bring each product to fruition.