OGC Demonstrator Showcases TCarta’s Space-Based Approach to Intertidal Zone Monitoring

In contribution to the OGC Federated Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure (FMSDI) 2025, TCarta successfully demonstrated the power of satellite technology in monitoring dynamic coastal environments. This OGC demonstrator—centered on the Hurst Spit region in the UK—highlighted how space-based data can significantly improve hydrospatial awareness and coastal zone management.

Leveraging multispectral imagery from PlanetLabs and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from Capella Space, TCarta derived high-resolution coastline vectors and intertidal zone boundaries tied to real-time water levels. These vectors, available as both a time series and real-time snapshots updated every five minutes, were benchmarked against tide gauges and tide models, offering high temporal accuracy.

To ground truth and validate the results, TCarta compared their satellite-derived coastlines with traditional datasets from the UK Hydrographic Office and Ordnance Survey. This revealed critical variations based on data source, resolution, and tide level, underscoring the challenges of managing a constantly shifting land-sea interface.

The demonstrator also featured satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) using Sentinel-2 and PlanetScope imagery, showcasing how space-based remote sensing methods produce reliable depth data in areas inaccessible to traditional survey methods. These datasets, delivered via OGC-compliant APIs and visualized through a custom web application, enable integrated coastal monitoring and data sharing across platforms.

Lessons learned emphasized the influence of vegetation, seasonality, and spatial resolution on remote sensing outputs, while recommendations pointed toward the use of dynamic, water-level-attributed coastline products and the integration of AI/ML for improved feature classification.

TCarta’s demonstrator is a powerful proof of concept for how space-based technologies can bridge the gap between terrestrial and marine data, offering scalable, near-real-time solutions for coastal resilience, planning, and environmental stewardship.

Click here to view and interact with the OGC demonstrator!