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Mapping the Planet’s Last Great Frontier: Joe Breman and International Underwater Explorations

	IUE takes data and creates information portfolios. In this example, Global Seafloor data are merged with higher resolution regional oceanographic data including whale location points for the past decade (darker points are more recent), and deep sea cable survey locations. Data provided by Smith and Sandwell, NOAA, and The Nature Conservancy.

The ocean depths may hold unfathomable mysteries and all manner of things for writers and filmmakers (think: The Abyss, The Big Blue, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), but for Joe Breman and his company, International Underwater Explorations, LLC (IUE), they are an exciting new frontier.

Breman’s company applies global bathymetry, or underwater terrain, with data from cruises conducted by agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – and weather feeds from the National Weather Service and other sources including Google Earth to produce up-to-date, web-based information and high-resolution multi-dimensional ocean maps.

IUE’s analytic and visualization services also incorporate the overlay of ocean temperature and current information. The software products that result, together with data application and integration, provide further invaluable information on the barely-explored realm that makes up two-thirds of our planet’s surface.

There are multiple applications for IUE’s innovative, high-quality work: for example, determining sea-bed topography for placement of underwater communications and power cables; mapping underwater features for ocean navigation; dredging projects; oil exploration and conservation; placement of ocean fish farms and aquaculture installations; and coastal resource management and reef protection. In one way or another, geography plays an important role in all kinds of decision making.

Other potential applications include renewable and sustainable ocean energy projects. Breman explains, “Ocean power generation and sea floor turbines that use deep currents and temperature differences to produce electricity are among the proposed sources of renewable energy that will become increasingly important as the cost and supply of traditional fossil fuels cause the reevaluation of our energy resources.”

“We work with geospatial data and create web applications, using the most current technology,” says Breman. “With the most recent innovations in Geographic Information Systems mapping and the internet, we help people and organizations move from data, to information, to knowledge and decision support.”

Their work is not limited just to the ocean. IUE’s high-resolution mapping techniques can also be applied to terrestrial locations. IUE has recently been contracted to provide high resolution land terrain information for a wind farm project on Maui so that site selection can be optimized. The information service can also be used to track current, wind, and temperature data in real time for use with solar and wind energy projects.

Joe Breman’s background is in geospatial technology and oceanography. After completing graduate studies in the marine sciences, he went on to ESRI, one of the largest Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software companies. In addition to his work as a GIS architect with Maui-based company Akimeka LLC, the fast-growing IT solutions company, Breman is an oceanography professor and author of books on Marine Geography and ocean data modeling.

For more information, contact IUE by email at info@oceanglobe.org