Abstract: Traditional method of manual contact measurement is hard to obtain water line; aerial survey method is risky and airspace approval procedures are complex; satellite remote sensing technology is of low time-efficiency and low degree of automation of data processing. In view of this, a water line surveying and mapping system integrating civil marine radar and GNSS compass is proposed. The theory and technical framework of automatic radar data acquisition and processing are constructed to complete the real-time water line surveying and mapping system. Typical application results unveil that the maximum absolute positioning error of the system based on marine radar is 1.19 m, and the mean square error is 0.70 m; the maximum repeated measurement error is 0.97 m, and the mean square error is 0.59 m. The accuracy of the system meets the requirements of water line surveying and mapping of 1∶5 000 and below scale topographic map. The system effectively overcomes the shortcomings of traditional operation modes with its low-cost, real-time, high efficiency and automation.

Key words: real-time waterline, marine radar, GNSS, surveying and mapping, system development