Segment Information (Details)	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2016 USD ($) segment	Mar. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of business segments | segment	4
Summary of segment information
Revenues	$ 22,665,000	$ 40,578,000
Gross profit (loss)	(8,930,000)	(15,788,000)
Income (loss) from operations	(30,129,000)	(46,689,000)
Interest expense, net	(4,734,000)	(4,625,000)
Other income (expense), net	120,000	(3,219,000)
Income (loss) before income taxes	(34,743,000)	(54,533,000)
Operating segments [Member]
Summary of segment information
Revenues	22,665,000	40,578,000
Gross profit (loss)	$ (8,930,000)	$ (15,788,000)
Gross margin	(39.00%)	(39.00%)
Operating segments [Member] | Solutions [Member]
Summary of segment information
Revenues	$ 13,018,000	$ 18,999,000
Gross profit (loss)	$ (9,773,000)	$ (10,392,000)
Gross margin	(75.00%)	(55.00%)
Income (loss) from operations	$ (15,477,000)	$ (21,778,000)
Operating segments [Member] | Solutions [Member] | New Venture and Data Library [Member]
Summary of segment information
Revenues	7,578,000	7,166,000
Operating segments [Member] | Solutions [Member] | New Venture [Member]
Summary of segment information
Revenues	3,306,000	5,029,000
Operating segments [Member] | Solutions [Member] | Data Library [Member]
Summary of segment information
Revenues	4,272,000	2,137,000
Operating segments [Member] | Solutions [Member] | Data Processing [Member]
Summary of segment information
Revenues	5,440,000	11,833,000
Operating segments [Member] | Systems [Member]
Summary of segment information
Revenues	5,359,000	12,769,000
Gross profit (loss)	$ 1,363,000	$ 4,559,000
Gross margin	25.00%	36.00%
Income (loss) from operations	$ (2,509,000)	$ 1,014,000
Operating segments [Member] | Systems [Member] | Towed Streamer [Member]
Summary of segment information
Revenues	2,457,000	5,165,000
Operating segments [Member] | Systems [Member] | Other [Member]
Summary of segment information
Revenues	2,902,000	7,604,000
Operating segments [Member] | Software [Member]
Summary of segment information
Revenues	4,288,000	8,810,000
Gross profit (loss)	$ 2,526,000	$ 5,590,000
Gross margin	59.00%	63.00%
Income (loss) from operations	$ 996,000	$ 3,335,000
Operating segments [Member] | Software [Member] | Software Systems [Member]
Summary of segment information
Revenues	4,150,000	7,729,000
Operating segments [Member] | Software [Member] | Services [Member]
Summary of segment information
Revenues	138,000	1,081,000
Operating segments [Member] | Ocean Bottom Services Segment [Member]
Summary of segment information
Revenues	0	0
Gross profit (loss)	$ (3,046,000)	$ (15,545,000)
Gross margin	0.00%	0.00%
Income (loss) from operations	$ (4,214,000)	$ (17,559,000)
Corporate and other [Member] | Corporate and Other [Member]
Summary of segment information
Income (loss) from operations	$ (8,925,000)	$ (11,701,000)
INOVA Geophysical [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Equity method investments value			$ 0