New in Echoview 17

Key new features and enhancements

Region detection configurations

Reusable settings for fish track and school detection

Echoview 17 introduces region detection configurations, which store named groups of detection settings in an EV file. Configurations are supported for fish track detection, 2D school detection, and 3D school detection. Multiple configurations can be created and reused for different hydroacoustic conditions or analysis requirements.

Changes supporting this feature include:

• A new Region Detection page of the EV File Properties dialog box, where you can create, duplicate, view, delete, and select preferred region detection configurations.
• Region detection configuration support in:
  • Detect Fish Tracks dialog box
  • Detect Schools dialog box
  • Detect 3D Schools dialog box
  • Region Browser dialog box
  • Variable Properties dialog box
  • Regions window
  • 2D region definition exports
  • Region_detection_settings analysis export variable
  • EV file templates
  • COM and the Command interface
• Automatic upgrading of detection settings when EV files saved in earlier versions are opened.
• Deprecation of the Schools and Fish Tracks pages of the EV File Properties dialog box.

See also: About region detection configurations

Time Series Overlay

Display time series directly on echograms

Introducing the Time Series Overlay feature, which allows you to display one or more time series directly on an echogram as lines. This provides a new way to visualize and compare time series trends alongside acoustic data without requiring a separate graph window.

Use the new Time Series Overlay page on the Variable Properties dialog box to select time series to display and configure the overlay axis.

Key capabilities include:

• Display multiple time series simultaneously on an echogram
• Configure a dedicated overlay axis with custom label and limits
• Overlay time series using their interpolation behavior
• Toggle overlay visibility directly in the echogram view
• Compare time series trends in context with acoustic data

Time series enhancements

Enhancements to improve the handling of time series data.

Enhancements to existing features and new features to handle time series data include:

• Details dialog box displays the Interpolation mode method for time series dataflow objects.
• The new Multiple time series graph displays one or more time series from a time series collection in a single graph. You can create a collection using the Collate time series operator. To display the graph, right-click a time series collection in the Dataflow window and click Graph, Multiple Time Series.
• Selected line operators now support time series operands.
• New and enhanced time series operators and exporters.

Filesets enhancements

Several new features to expand and enhance work with filesets

Several new features to expand and enhance the workflow with filesets:

• A new Add Folder button to add all the compatible data files from a selected folder and its subfolders to a fileset.
• Support for different CSV file types in the same fileset. Data from files of the same CSV file type are concatenated under a single derived variable.
• Filesets now support *.db.csv files containing single beam unspecified dB values.

EVI file handling

Improved management of EVI (index) files

By default, Echoview stores EVI (index) files alongside their data files. You can now specify a separate location for EVI files.

This change supports workflows where data files are stored on network or cloud-based systems, including read-only locations, and can improve performance when working with large datasets.

When EVI files are stored separately:

• Data folders are less cluttered, as EVI files are not created alongside data files
• EVI files can still be created and used when data files are stored in read-only locations
• Conflicts between different Echoview versions or users accessing the same data are reduced

When you specify a separate location, EVI files may not be visible in the same folder as the source data files.

See also: About EVI files and Echoview file formats

Dataflow window

Enhancements for scene creation and the dataflow interface

Several new features to expand and enhance workflow within the Dataflow window:

• The Dataflow window now supports unseen snap-to-grid handling for dataflow object placement. Use SHIFT + mouse pointer drag for custom object placement (that overrides snap-to-grid handling).
• Drag and drop scene creation now supports the selection of a supported 3D object during creation. Displaying the new scene automatically displays the selected 3D object.
• Drag and drop scene creation now supports the selection of a multibeam Sv variable during scene creation. The multibeam variable is assigned as the Analysis variable on the Analysis page of the Scene Properties dialog box.
• The Dataflow Toolbox is now part of the Dataflow window and can be shown or hidden using CTRL+T. New toggle buttons for the Dataflow Toolbox and Objects List are available on the Windows and Dialog Boxes toolbar. These changes reduce the need to rearrange panels and improve the use of screen space, particularly on smaller displays.
• The integration of the Dataflow Toolbox means that previous object creation pathways have been removed.
• To help identify issues in dataflows, a Warning icon can be displayed beside a dataflow object to indicate a warning or calculation error. Not all issues that cause blank echograms or graphs produce a Warning icon.
• Right-clicking the View tab will now open Dataflow view menu options, making it more intuitive when adding additional View tabs.
• Improved selection of overlapping objects in the Dataflow window, making copied and pasted objects easier to move.

Wideband frequency response - Average

A change in the calculation of the average response

The Wideband frequency response graph, Average calculation now averages individual window responses within a selection or region. The change gives each window (in the selection/region) an equal weight.

Prior to Echoview 17, the Average calculation could produce a biased result for non-rectangular regions or selections, or for rectangular regions or selections containing irregular data exclusions. It first averaged the window responses within each ping, then averaged those ping averages across the region or selection.

This change in the calculation method affects:

• Wideband frequency response graph onscreen and exported Average, Minimum, and Maximum results.
• Sv_f_mean, ABC_f and NASC_f

Discontinued utilities

The Echocheck, Echocalc GPS and Echocoastline utilities are now discontinued. 

The Echoview installer will no longer install Echocheck, Echocalc GPS or Echocoastline.

If required, Echocheck, Echocalc GPS or Echocoastline can be accessed by installing Echoview 16, or you can contact Echoview Software for further advice.

WMTS map zooming

Improved zoom depth for cruisetrack maps

Improved zooming in WMTS maps allows closer inspection of cruisetrack data, particularly for small-scale surveys and detailed track structures.

You can now zoom beyond the native resolution of map tiles. At higher zoom levels, map imagery may appear blurred as tiles are scaled.

Performance improvements

More efficient workflow and time savings

Specific aspects of Echoview are now faster, allowing you to process your data more efficiently, which will be particularly evident when using a powerful computer.

• Improved data file reading performance, particularly when reading files from some remote or cloud-backed storage systems.

General changes

• After Echoview is installed on a shared computer, it no longer needs to be run once as an administrator before non-administrator users can run it.
• Echoview's embedded Python environment has been updated to Python 3.14.2, NumPy 2.4.2, and SciPy 1.17.0 for use with Code operators.
• Addition of a new analysis export variable ECS_filename, which reports the name of the calibration (.ecs) file used by the fileset for each analysis export.
• Retrieve windows and panels that are difficult to locate or arranged unexpectedly using the new Window menu options: Reset All, Reset Workspace, and Reset Echoview Layout. These options restore the layout of EV file views and application panels to their default arrangement. For more information, see Navigating Echoview.
• A new default Echoview layout now displays the Console, Messages, Details and Region Browser dialog boxes.
• Improved time series graph layout so Y-axis labels are no longer clipped when long tick labels (such as scientific notation) are used.
• The Time series set status operator now applies the selected status to all measurements when no minimum or maximum range values are specified.
• A note on the Source page of the Time Series Properties dialog clarifying when settings for editable lines are applied.
• The default Analysis domain for the Sample analysis exporter is now set to Cells (previously Regions).
• Removed the scroll bars from Cruisetrack and Alongtrack Display windows. This change delivers more screen area to the display of data and you can still zoom and pan easily.
• During live viewing, you can calculate and retain Calibration Assistant results for a Stationary selection while its data remain unchanged.
• 3D single target objects are assigned the color scheme from the echogram that is active when the Echogram menu, Create 3D object, Single Targets is used.
• Improved variable selection in the Frequency Response, Wideband Frequency Response, Relative Mean dB, and Threshold Response graph properties dialogs. Selected variables now remain in place, making it easier to select multiple variables.
• The Regions page of the Variable Properties dialog box displays a reminder about the impact of hidden regions for processing by the variable.
• The upper limits for three fish track detection configuration settings have increased from 100 to 100,000. The higher limits support the detection and filtering of long fish tracks, particularly in high-ping-rate data or data from slow-moving fish.
• Support for Windows 10 has been removed. Echoview 17 requires Windows 11 (64-bit Edition). Users can no longer install or run Echoview on Windows 10. See Computer requirements for supported operating systems.
• Time series CSV exports no longer supply a default file name. This avoids using time series variable names that may contain characters that are not valid in file names and makes export behavior consistent with other variable types.
• EV file templates no longer load previously-saved transects within transect groups.

New operators and operator enhancements

Interval analysis and Sample analysis

Support for time series and other non-Sv data

The Interval analysis operator and Sample analysis exporter now support linear, power dB and unspecified dB operands, in addition to Sv. This extends analysis and export workflows to a wider range of data types.

New sample statistics include mean, minimum, maximum, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis.

The Interval analysis - Sv operator has been redesigned and renamed Interval analysis, and the Sv integration exporter has been renamed Sample analysis.

Support for these additional data types also enables results to be displayed using alongtrack and bubble displays.

For more information about new and enhanced time series operators, see Time series handling.

Solar elevation

Calculate and visualize solar elevation at acoustic pings

The new Solar elevation at pings operator calculates solar elevation for each ping using platform position, ping time, and a user-specified time zone offset. The operator outputs the new Solar elevation time series data type.

The new Solar elevation color scheme can be used to visualize daylight, twilight phases, and night based on solar elevation values. See About solar elevation and About solar elevation data for more information.

For more information about new and enhanced time series operators, see Time series handling.

Time series handling

A suite of operators to create/edit time series and time series collections

New and updated operators that handle time series include:

• The Time series set status operator now applies the selected status to all measurements when no minimum or maximum range values are specified. The licensing for this operator has also been updated so it is no longer licensed by the Survey Suite module.
• A new Type conversion - Time series operator assigns a different data type and interpolation mode to a time series.
• These line operators—Arithmetic, Crop, Linear offset, Statistical combination and Time offset—have been updated to support time series operands.
• Pre-existing EV files that use dynamic names referencing a setting that has since been renamed may require their Dynamic names to be updated. In some cases, Echoview displays a warning about an unknown setting name. This may affect Interval analysis, Sample analysis, Crop - Time series, or Transmission time series select (formerly Extract transmission characteristic). If required, use the Dynamic name Reset button to update the dynamic name to the current setting names.

Code - Time series

Run Python code to create a time series

The multi-threaded Code - Time series operator allows you to apply a Python® script from a *.py file to an acoustic operand and optional time series operands. The output is a virtual time series variable. Echoview includes the Python NumPy and SciPy modules, which provide a wide range of open-source scientific computing and numerical integration capabilities.

The Code - Time series operator is available under the Advanced Operators module. For further information, see Using the Code* operators.

Code operator

Enhancements to Python script configuration and file selection

• The Code operator now supports configurable arguments on the Code page of the Variable Properties dialog box. Echoview passes the named values to the Operator class’s __init__ method. This allows multiple Code variables to use the same Python source file with different argument values. For more information, see Arguments.
• The file browse dialog for Python scripts now retains the previously specified .py filename, making it easier to identify and reselect the correct file when the original path is no longer valid.
• The beam_width attribute of the Ping class is now reported in degrees (previously radians), for consistency with other angular attributes.

XxYxZ statistic

Support for Boolean operands

The XxYxZ statistic operator now supports Boolean operands. This allows statistics to be applied to multibeam Boolean data, enabling more nuanced masking and preprocessing before the detection of multibeam schools or targets. Supported statistics for boolean data are Mean, Maximum, Minimum, Median and Percentile.

XxY statistic

Support for Boolean operands

The XxY statistic operator has improved handling for Boolean data, including corrected rounding of results and updated support for statistics. Boolean values are treated numerically during calculation and the result is converted back to Boolean values.

Custom window sizes for single beam Boolean data allow more nuanced masking before the detection of single beam schools or targets. Supported statistics for Boolean data are Mean, Maximum, Minimum, Median and Percentile.

Wideband frequency subset operator

Design change for band-stop filtering

The Wideband frequency subset operator now supports including a specified frequency range using band-pass filtering or excluding it using band-stop filtering. The pulse length is not adjusted in the calculation for this operator, so when used with Sv data, it will result in lower values.

Resample by distance/ping/time

Support for Boolean operands

Resample by operators now accept Boolean input data. Boolean values are internally treated as numeric values (true = 1.0, false = 0.0) during resampling, and the result is converted back to Boolean using a 0.5 threshold. Resampling methods that are not valid for Boolean data produce no output, and a warning is displayed on the echogram.

Crop samples

Support for multibeam input data

The Crop samples operator now supports multibeam input data. Cropping by sample number and range behaves consistently with single beam data.

When cropping by depth, differences in beam geometry mean that some samples outside the specified depth range cannot be removed completely. In these cases, samples are set to no data, and regions of no data may appear at the edges of the cropped output.

Remove duplicate positions

Removes duplicate GPS positions

A new operator, Remove duplicate positions, removes GPS fixes that have a position identical to the previous GPS fix, helping to avoid artifacts in derived vessel speed and distance for moving platforms.

Resample by distance/ping/time and Match geometry operators

Improved handling of heave during resampling and geometry matching

The handling of heave in the Resample by and Match geometry operators has been corrected. Previously, when a heave offset was applied, the number of input samples contributing to output samples could vary depending on the magnitude and direction of the heave. This could result in truncated or misaligned echogram data, particularly for upward-looking data or when large heave offsets were applied.

Heave offsets now affect the position of samples only, and do not change the number of samples contributing to each output cell. This results in more consistent and physically correct resampling and geometry matching.

Mask operator

Design change for complex and single targets data

The Mask operator does not allow the specification of a custom value for complex data or for single targets data.

Multibeam background removal operator

Clearer algorithm description and handling for -999 dB

The description and algorithm documentation for the Multibeam background removal operator have been updated to describe the handling of detected static background features. Identified static background sample values are set to -999 dB. The previous description was unclear. The output of the operator was unaffected.

Merge GPS

Updated licensing

The Merge GPS operator is now also available with the Habitat Classification module license, in addition to the Essentials license.

Scripting and COM objects

For more information about the COM objects, refer to Scripting with COM objects.

Command interface

The Echoview Command interface provides access to Echoview properties and actions. You can run batch commands from scripts or enter commands directly in the Console window. The Properties Information window lists supported properties. Use the right-click Copy commands to copy property names for Console commands, dynamic names, or CSV exports.

Support includes:

• The Command interface now supports read-write access to the data file, calibration file, and Python source file locations stored in an EV file. Use the DataFileLocations, CalibrationFileLocations, and PythonFileLocations properties to insert, replace, or remove file locations. For examples, refer to modifying EV file search locations.
• New region detection configuration object names provide access to fish track, single beam school, and multibeam school detection settings.
• The Properties Information window object properties now include categories for:
  • EV File section for settings on the EV File page of the EV File Properties dialog box
  • EV File, Region detection section for EV file-level Region Detection page Preferred Detection Configurations
  • Variable, Regions section for variable-level Regions page Preferred Detection Configurations
  • Fish Track Detection Configuration object properties for fish track detection configuration settings
  • Multibeam School Detection Configuration object properties for multibeam school detection configuration settings
  • Single Beam School Detection Configuration object properties for single beam school detection configuration settings

Region detection configurations

Changes to COM support and new Command interface access to detection properties

New region detection configuration objects in the Command interface allow detection settings and associated Detect dialog box properties to be viewed and changed.

Support for fish track detection properties has changed. New support has been introduced for school and multibeam school detection properties.

The COM EvVariableAcoustic.DetectFishTracks and EvVariableAcoustic.DetectSchools are unchanged.

The following COM support for fish track properties is deprecated:

• EvFishTrackingAnglesAndRange
• EvFishTrackingProperties
• EvFishTrackingWeights
• EvFileProperties.Fishtracking
• EEFishTrackingDataDimensions

For more information about Command interface region detection configuration objects, refer to About region detection configurations: Scripting.

EvVariableBase

MeasurementCount property available on EvVariableBase.

Added MeasurementCount to EvVariableBase, allowing scripts to retrieve the number of measurements for time series and other non-acoustic variables. Previously this property was only available for acoustic variables.

Property name compatibility in scripts

Improved support for legacy property names in Console and COM scripting

Scripts that reference renamed properties using their previous names are now supported in the Console and COM interfaces. Echoview resolves legacy property names to their current equivalents, reducing breaking changes when property names are updated.

The user interface displays only the current property names. Scripts that use legacy names will continue to work; however, updating scripts to use the current names is recommended.

The Enum EExportType eExportTypeFsv25Netcdf is deprecated and is no longer supported. For information about ICES file format write support, refer to ICES SONAR-netCDF4 convention for sonar data.

Scripting log file

Updated default storage location

The default storage location of Echoview scripting log.txt has changed. The log file is now stored in the current Windows user's local application data folder instead of the shared Public Documents folder. Existing COM methods such as EvApplication.LogFileName continue to work without modification. 

See Scripting errors for more information.

Documentation changes

Computer requirements

Updated information for Windows legacy display software

Updated information about browsers for the Echoview.chm and the Webhelp on the Computer requirements topic.

Using Code* operators

Updated documentation for Code - Time series

Enhancements to the Code operator and the introduction of the new Code - Time series operator have brought major updates to these topics:

• About the Code* operators
• Using the Code* operators
• The echoview.py package includes the new TimeSeriesInterpolationMode class.
• The Virtual variable applications topic now includes tables for Powerful general operators and Versatile analysis operators.

Region detection configurations

Updated documentation for region detection

The Region detection configuration changes for fish tracking, single beam school detection, and multibeam school detection bring new feature documentation and updates to the documentation of:

• Detecting fish tracks
• Detecting schools on single beam data
• Detecting schools on multibeam data

Using the command interface

Updated documentation PageName filtering

The documentation for Page* filtering is updated with PageNames for time series, EV file, exporter and region detection configuration features.