Reef Smart Guides

Lore & Background

Reef Smart Guides was established in 2016 as a Canadian corporation based in Montreal, Quebec. The company uses photogrammetry to produce digital 3D models of natural coral reefs, historical shipwrecks, and artificial reefs, including the internal structures of some shipwreck sites, in over 20 countries. Its models are primarily used as digital marketing assets by tourism businesses such as scuba diving operators, resorts, liveaboard vessels, and tourism authorities.

The company also publishes a travel guide series focused on diving, snorkeling, and surfing for eight destinations, including Barbados, Bonaire, Curaçao, Grand Cayman, and various regions within Florida. The series was distributed by Mango Publishing from 2018 to 2025, then transferred to Turner Publishing in 2025. In addition to digital formats, Reef Smart Guides' maps appear on handheld waterproof cards and large format prints installed at shoreline access points in Broward County, Okaloosa County, and Palm Beach County, Florida, to raise awareness and improve safety. In 2022, the Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management installed a map of the Phil Foster Park dive and snorkel trail at Blue Heron Bridge, described by PADI as the number one shore dive in the United States.

In September 2025, Reef Smart Guides conducted an underwater 3D mapping training project with scuba divers from several dive centers in the greater Miami area, under a partnership with the nonprofit Miami-Dade Reef Guard Association. The project trained seven local scuba divers to collect data for expanding the region's underwater maps, and nine dive sites have been mapped as part of this effort.

Reader's Guide

Reef Smart Guides' 3D modeling work has provided unique insights into marine environments and human impacts. In 2017, while modeling artificial reefs in the Fort Lauderdale area, a dive team inadvertently documented the effects of Hurricane Irma, the most intense storm to hit the continental United States in over a decade. The waves and currents moved the former U.S. Army tugboat Okinawa over 200 feet across the seabed; the vessel had been sunk as an artificial reef less than one month before the storm. This event was featured in season two of The Weather Files, in an episode titled 'Total Impact' that aired on the Canadian network Cottage Life on January 25, 2021.

The company's 3D models have also been used to illustrate how shipwrecks corrode in the ocean and to highlight measures being used to protect them. In April 2022, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and Eglin's Integrated Test Team demonstrated a modified GBU-31 joint direct attack munition by targeting and destroying the old cargo ship Courageous in the Gulf of Mexico. The wreck, split in half by the munition, settled at a depth of 130 feet. Reef Smart Guides jointly modeled the site with the Okaloosa County Artificial Reef program, providing insight into the effects of the munition. Through these projects, the company has contributed to understanding of both natural forces and human activities on underwater structures.

Did You Know?

• Reef Smart Guides was established in 2016 and is based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
• The company's 3D models documented the movement of the tugboat Okinawa over 200 feet by Hurricane Irma in 2017.
• In April 2022, Reef Smart Guides jointly modeled the wreck of the cargo ship Courageous, destroyed by a U.S. Air Force munition test.
• In September 2025, the company trained seven local scuba divers in the greater Miami area to collect data for underwater mapping.