Top 10 Best Lake Mapping Software of 2026

HYPACK is a leading hydrographic survey software suite specialized in collecting, processing, and visualizing bathymetric data for water bodies like lakes, rivers, and coastal areas. It supports a wide range of sensors including singlebeam/multibeam echosounders, side-scan sonar, and GPS for generating precise depth maps, contours, volumes, and 3D models. Ideal for lake mapping, it enables real-time quality control, data cleaning, and export to CAD/GIS formats, ensuring professional-grade accuracy in shallow to deep water surveys.

QINSy, developed by QPS, is a professional hydrographic survey software suite designed for real-time data acquisition, processing, and analysis of bathymetric surveys using multibeam, singlebeam, side-scan sonar, and various positioning sensors. It excels in lake mapping by providing high-precision depth measurements, real-time quality control, and tools for generating detailed digital terrain models (DTMs), cross-sections, and volume calculations essential for lake management and sediment studies. The software supports complex survey scenarios with automated workflows, ensuring surveyors can clean and validate data on the fly for immediate decision-making.

Hydromagic from Eye4Software is a specialized hydrographic software for processing survey data to create accurate bathymetric maps of lakes, rivers, and coastal waters. It supports data from single-beam echo sounders, GPS, gyrocompasses, and more, enabling users to generate contour maps, digital terrain models, cross-sections, and volume calculations. The software excels in post-processing raw soundings into professional-grade outputs for navigation, dredging, and environmental studies.

BioBase (biobaseapp.com) is an AI-powered cloud platform specializing in aquatic mapping for lakes and reservoirs, transforming sonar logs from Lowrance, Humminbird, and Garmin devices into detailed bathymetric, aquatic vegetation, and substrate maps. Users upload sonar data collected during boating, and the software automatically processes it using machine learning for high-resolution outputs suitable for lake management and research. It excels in providing insights into water depth, plant density, and bottom hardness without requiring specialized surveying equipment.

SonarTRX is a specialized Windows-based software designed for processing sonar log files from Lowrance HDS, Elite, and Hook series units to generate detailed lake bathymetry maps, contour lines, and side-scan mosaics. It excels in converting raw sonar data into actionable visualizations for fishing, lake surveying, and vegetation analysis. Users can overlay structure scans, measure bottom hardness, and export maps to GIS formats for further use.

Surfer by Golden Software is a professional-grade 2D/3D mapping and contouring software that transforms XYZ data into detailed surface maps, grids, and visualizations. For lake mapping, it excels at processing bathymetric data from sonar surveys to generate accurate depth contours, volumetric calculations, and 3D models of lake bottoms. While versatile for geophysical and environmental applications, it requires data import and manual processing rather than real-time field mapping.

Global Mapper is a comprehensive GIS software suite designed for viewing, editing, analyzing, and converting geospatial data from virtually any format. For lake mapping, it supports importing bathymetric sonar data, DEMs, and imagery to generate contours, cross-sections, and 3D models of lake beds. It excels in terrain analysis tools like volume calculations between surfaces, making it suitable for estimating lake volumes and sediment analysis, though it's a general-purpose tool rather than lake-specific.

ArcGIS Pro is a professional-grade Geographic Information System (GIS) software developed by Esri, designed for advanced mapping, spatial analysis, and data visualization. For lake mapping, it excels in processing bathymetric data, delineating shorelines, modeling water volumes, and integrating multisource data like LiDAR, sonar, and satellite imagery. It supports hydrology tools for watershed analysis and surface interpolation, making it suitable for detailed aquatic habitat and environmental studies.

QGIS is a free, open-source Geographic Information System (GIS) software that enables users to visualize, edit, and analyze spatial data including vector layers for lake boundaries and raster imagery for water surface detection. It supports lake mapping through tools for digitizing shorelines, calculating areas and volumes, performing hydrological analysis via integrated GRASS modules, and generating professional maps. With thousands of plugins, it can be extended for remote sensing tasks like automated lake extraction from satellite data.

CARIS HIPS (Hydrographic Information Processing System) and SIPS (Sensor Independent Processing Software) are professional-grade tools from Teledyne CARIS for processing multibeam, singlebeam, and side-scan sonar data into high-accuracy bathymetric surfaces and products. Primarily designed for marine hydrography, they excel in creating detailed digital terrain models (DTMs), volume computations, and exportable charts suitable for lake bathymetry mapping. While powerful for complex surveys, they require significant expertise and hardware for optimal lake applications.