[GSoC Project Proposal]: Echoshader: a package for interactive visualisation and dashboarding of ocean sonar data

[LOCEANlloydizard]

Project Description

Ocean sonar systems, such as echosounders, are a core tool for observing marine life, providing unprecedented spatial, temporal, and vertical resolution of animal distributions and behaviour. These systems are now widely deployed on ships, autonomous vehicles, and moorings, generating large and complex multivariate datasets that require advanced processing before they can be scientifically interpreted.

This project builds on Echopype, which standardises and processes sonar data from a wide range of platforms. The goal of this GSoC project is to further develop Echoshader, an open-source companion visualisation tool written in Python, originally developed by a GSoC’22 contributor to facilitate ocean sonar data visualisation; it already provides building blocks such as echogram plots, ship-track maps, and 3D curtain views. Building on these existing components, this project aims to evolve Echoshader into a modular application for interactive exploration of ocean sonar data.

The core of the app will provide a general-purpose viewer, with additional functionalities implemented as independent modules accessible via a tab-based interface, allowing new features to be added with minimal changes to the core while keeping a clear separation between core and optional components. In doing so, we aim to integrate recent developments from engine_echo_data_viz into echoshader. An example of a prototype application can be seen here. This visualisation illustrates one possible representation of the app, intended as inspiration rather than a fixed template. Existing tools in other languages can also inform interface and feature design (e.g., Matecho, ParaView).

This design will enable contributors to extend the application through a simple configuration-driven approach (e.g., YAML-based), where new visualisation modules, overlays, or data variables can be declared and integrated with minimal changes to the core. At present, the application is built on the HoloViz ecosystem (particularly Panel), but we welcome alternative ideas and implementations from contributors.

The application will be demonstrated across multiple types of datasets (from ships, moorings, and autonomous vehicles), including via robust cloud-based deployment.

Expected Outcomes

Software architecture enhancement:

• Development of a core viewer and module dispatcher, enabling new features to be added with minimal changes to the core codebase.
• Implementation of a tab-based application structure, where each functionality is exposed as an independent module within the interface.
• Design and implementation of a configuration-driven system (e.g., YAML-based) to control loaded data variables, overlays, and enabled modules.
• An updated codebase compatible with the latest dependency versions.
• A unified widget system, enabling visualisation components to be used both in notebooks and within the application interface.

New functionalities:

• Incorporate new features prototyped in Jupyter notebooks into Echoshader, including interactive annotation modification and 3D echogram visualization.
• Implementation of overlay systems supporting multiple geometry types (e.g., lines, polygons, points) for detections and annotations.
• Prototype and implement new visualisation features in Echoshader, including support for mooring data and broadband acoustic data.

Demonstration and deployment:

• Demonstrations of Echoshader functionalities on several real-world datasets spanning different platforms.
• A deployable application to enable straightforward installation and cloud or local deployment for the acoustics and broader ocean sciences community.

Skills Required

A keen interest in environmental data, including oceanographic, acoustic, and geospatial data; Fluency in Python programming ; Experience or strong interest in working with large, multi-dimensional datasets and knowledge of xarray, dask, HoloViz, Plotly

Expected Project Size

175 hours

Project Difficulty

Intermediate

Mentor Name(s)

Lloyd Izard, Wu-Jung Lee, Valentina Staneva

Mentor GitHub Handle(s)

@LOCEANlloydizard, @leewujung, @valentina-s

Mentor Contact Email(s)

lloyd.izard@gmail.com, leewj@uw.edu, vms16@uw.edu

Contributor Evaluation/GSoC GitHub Issue Links

We invite contributors to take a look at the echoshader app issue. We also encourage you to introduce yourself by opening a new dedicated issue and selecting "GSoC 2026 discussion". You can use it to communicate with us or to raise any questions or concerns regarding your contribution. Cheers!

Additional Project Background/Links

• Lee, W.J., Staneva, V., Setiawan, L. D., Mayorga, E., Tuguinay, C., Butala, S., Lucca, B., & Lei, D. (2024). Echostack: A flexible and scalable open-source software suite for echosounder data processing. Proceedings of the 23rd Python in Science Conference (SciPy 2024).

• Lee, W.J., Setiawan, L., Tuguinay, C., Mayorga, E. and Staneva, V., 2024. Interoperable and scalable echosounder data processing with Echopype. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 81(10), pp.1941-1951.

• https://github.com/OSOceanAcoustics/echopype

• https://github.com/OSOceanAcoustics/echopype-examples

• https://github.com/OSOceanAcoustics/echoshader

• https://github.com/uw-echospace/engine_echo_data_viz

Previous Project Idea Link(s)

#35

[Safwannn89]

Hi @LOCEANlloydizard,
I’m Safwan, a 4th-year Data Science student. I’ve read all the details and requirements of the project, and I found it very interesting, especially the opportunity to contribute to ocean exploration. I would love to work on this project if possible. I understand that the project is not finalized yet, but in the meantime, could you please guide me on how I can start working on some issues?

[LOCEANlloydizard]

Hi @Safwannn89, thank you for your interest!

To get started, we suggest setting up a good development environment, forking the repository, and having a look at its architecture. There is also documentation here. Then try running one of the notebooks?

Once you’re set, this issue is a good place to start and to communicate 🙂

[Safwannn89]

Hii @LOCEANlloydizard
I have gone through the documentation, and it was very exciting to explore these concepts. Following that, I have submitted the Pull Request for the environment modernization and notebook verification task.
I unpinned the NumPy and Zarr dependencies as requested and confirmed that everything is working correctly with NumPy 1.26.4 and Zarr 2.16.1.

The PR is ready for your review whenever you have a moment!
PR #221.

[LOCEANlloydizard]

Hi @Safwannn89,

sorry for the delay in my reply! I’ve seen your PR, that’s great, thnk you for your contribution! I’ll have a look as soon as possible, most likely next week.

In the meantime, I just wanted to make sure you’re aware that the organization selections for GSoC haven’t happened yet. It’s generally recommended to wait until we know whether we’re selected as a GSoC organization before working further on these projects. We will let you know if we are selected!

Cheers!

[Safwannn89]

Thanks for your response @LOCEANlloydizard

[iamluan]

Hello everyone, my name is Luan, and I am a Python programmer with a strong interest in data engineering and science. I am taking my first steps into open-source contribution through GSoC 2026.
I found the echoshader project very interesting, especially with ocean sonar data and 3D visualization. I want to contribute my efforts to ocean environmental science through data and coding. Currently, I am starting to explore the echoshader repo and its related notebooks as suggested.
If there is any additional work I can do to better understand the project, please let me know.
Even if this project might not be selected in GSoC, I would still be happy to contribute to it on my own.

[LOCEANlloydizard]

Hi @iamluan, nice to meet you, and thank you for your interest!

To better understand the project, you can also look at the repositories associated with the echoshader project, namely echopype. Then, exploring the examples and echoregions would also help. Together with reviewing the notebooks, this should give you a good overview, and we can then discuss further.

Once you are more familiar with the echoshader repository, we invite contributors to take a look at the echoshader issues and try to address one? We also encourage you to introduce yourself by opening a new issue and selecting "GSoC 2026 discussion". You can use it to communicate with us or to raise any questions or concerns regarding your contribution. Cheers!

[iamluan]

Thank you, @LOCEANlloydizard, for your instructions. I will definitely follow them.

[Akshat1000Sharma]

Hello @LOCEANlloydizard ,

My name is Akshat and I am a college student with experience in Python, web development, and data visualization. I am very interested in the echoshader project and its goal of building interactive tools for ocean sonar data visualization. I have started exploring the repository and related tools, and I would love to actively contribute. I would truly appreciate guidance on how to begin and would be happy to start working on any beginner friendly or high priority issues right away.

Best regards,
Akshat Sharma

[LOCEANlloydizard]

Hi @Akshat1000Sharma, nice to meet you! Thank you for your interest in the echoshader project. Regarding the guidance on where to start, I'm quoting my previous answer which I believe is a good place to start? Ping me in an issue in echoshader repo if not! Cheers

To better understand the project, you can also look at the repositories associated with the echoshader project, namely echopype. Then, exploring the examples and echoregions would also help. Together with reviewing the notebooks, this should give you a good overview, and we can then discuss further.

Once you are more familiar with the echoshader repository, we invite contributors to take a look at the echoshader issues and try to address one? We also encourage you to introduce yourself by opening a new issue and selecting "GSoC 2026 discussion". You can use it to communicate with us or to raise any questions or concerns regarding your contribution. Cheers!

[iamluan]

Hi @LOCEANlloydizard, I'm starting to draft the proposal based on the provided template. I plan to address the 3 key issues we discussed in the echoshader repository and will explicitly outline them in my document. There are additional issues I would like to work on, but I’m not sure if I can manage them all, so I will discuss these further while working on the proposal. I hope to complete the proposal well before the deadline. Let me know if you have any recommendations.