Center for Ocean Mapping & Innovative Technologies

Mission Statement

The benefits of the Center for Ocean Mapping and Innovative Technologies are intended for a diverse community of constituencies by developing, testing and implementing better, cheaper and faster approaches to ocean and coastal mapping. Innovative approaches developed under this Center will serve a wide variety of constituencies, stake holder groups, and the public with more precise, timely and informative ocean and coastal mapping products.

The Center’s outputs will meet a variety of needs such as navigational safety as well as better understanding the spatial distribution of essential fish habitat. The technological developments planned for COMIT also seek to provide rapid response tools to re-map critical navigational areas during coastal disasters.

USF’s College of Marine Science has a long history of developing new technologies to study and monitor the marine environment, from sensors to systems. This has been made possible largely by the CMS Ocean Technology group, comprised of individuals whose expertise and knowledge span electrical, software, and mechanical engineering. This has well positioned COMIT to spearhead novel research with unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.  

COMIT brings together engineers, geologists, physical scientists, and biologists who are working collaboratively to engineer and research methods and techniques which will more efficiently map coastal and offshore areas, promote safe ocean navigation, and protect natural resources.