General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) is an international project under the joint auspices of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (of UNESCO) and the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO). Its main goal is to upgrade continually and promulgate an authoritative, high quality, seamless bathymetric contour chart of the world's oceans through the medium of the GEBCO Digital Atlas.

Because the native GEBCO data is not easily usable outside their DOS-based program, Fugro Pelagos has converted this data into ArcView shapefiles for use in ESRI’s ArcView and Cable Analyst. When purchased with Cable Analyst, all of GEBCO’s original and converted data are supplied.

The GEBCO worldwide bathymetric contours are extremely useful for planning continental scale projects (like routes of submarine cables). The GEBCO shapefiles for use in Cable Analyst are optimized for speed and do not require that the whole dataset be loaded at once (increasing program performance). GEBCO contours can be used as a background layer in any view. They can be queried for depth values and with the graduated color legend, add aesthetic value to any cartographic display.

Although the GEBCO shapefiles can also be used in our WinFrog navigation software, the data is not intended for navigational use and is not appropriate for these applications. Rather, it is best used as a global scientific research or cable route planning tool.

For additional information, please visit www.bodc.ac.uk.