sidescanpy

Sidescan sonar data is usually processed in closed software or in lab scripts nobody else can run, so two groups can't tell whether their images differ because of the seafloor or because of the processing. sidescanpy is an open Python package that reads EdgeTech JSF, Klein SDF, and XTF into one data model and records every correction it applies, so any product can be rebuilt from the raw files. From there it grids to GeoTIFF and builds COCO/YOLO training sets whose labels point back to the original pings.

Research Products

Code: sidescanpy GitHub, MIT
Package: pip install sidescanpy PyPI, first release 0.10.1, 2026
Documentation guide, worked examples on public data, API reference
Software DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.24121873 Zenodo
Announcement post

Raw and corrected sidescan waterfalls of the same line — A public EdgeTech line, raw (left) and after bottom tracking, TVG, and slant-to-ground range (right). UK JNCC data, Open Government Licence.

Three sidescan waterfalls from three different sonars — The same calls on EdgeTech JSF, Benthos XTF (UK JNCC, Open Government Licence), and Klein XTF (USGS, public domain).

Sidescan swath tile with two red labelled bounding boxes — A dual-swath tile cut for annotation, with square 0.1 m pixels and example "reef" and "contact" boxes. Each box maps back to its file, ping, side, and position. USGS Grand Bay data, public domain.

Sidescan waterfall beside a gridded map of the same line — Wight-Barfleur Reef as a ground-range waterfall and a 1 m UTM grid. UK JNCC data, Open Government Licence.