Acquisition - Additional Information (Detail)		1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	May. 31, 2014 USD ($) Product_Lines	Jan. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Jan. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Oct. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Jan. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Oct. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2014 USD ($)	Jan. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Jan. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Jan. 31, 2014 USD ($)
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, cash paid												$ 10,000,000	$ 14,500,000
Revenue				$ 11,442,000	$ 15,681,000	$ 7,554,000	$ 17,142,000	$ 14,963,000	$ 22,906,000	$ 19,545,000	$ 25,732,000	51,819,000	83,146,000	$ 92,108,000
Net income				$ (26,838,000)	$ (5,813,000)	$ (5,848,000)	$ (237,000)	$ (9,185,000)	$ (397,000)	$ (3,347,000)	$ 3,737,000	$ (38,736,000)	(9,192,000)	4,768,000
Other Intangible Assets [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Weighted Average Remaining Life												9 years 6 months
Customer Relationships [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Weighted Average Remaining Life												59 months 18 days
Patents [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Weighted Average Remaining Life												6 years 9 months 18 days
Trade Name [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets amount												$ 760,000
Equipment Manufacturing and Sales [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Revenue												$ 25,350,000	$ 30,872,000	$ 36,893,000
Klein Associates Inc. [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Revenue		$ 533,000
Net income		$ 5,000
Klein Associates Inc. [Member] | Inventory [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, fair value consideration			$ 3,300,000
Klein Associates Inc. [Member] | Equipment Manufacturing and Sales [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, cash paid			$ 10,000,000
Seamap Singapore [Member] | ION Geophysical Corporation [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, cash paid	$ 14,500,000
Business acquisition, credit	$ 2,000,000
Number of product lines | Product_Lines	2
Business acquisition, fair value consideration	$ 15,600,000
Seamap Singapore [Member] | ION Geophysical Corporation [Member] | Furniture and Fixtures [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, fair value consideration	600,000
Seamap Singapore [Member] | ION Geophysical Corporation [Member] | Amortizable Intangible Assets [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, fair value consideration	10,000,000
Seamap Singapore [Member] | ION Geophysical Corporation [Member] | Amortizable Intangible Assets [Member] | Customer Relationships [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, fair value consideration	5,100,000
Seamap Singapore [Member] | ION Geophysical Corporation [Member] | Amortizable Intangible Assets [Member] | Property Rights [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, fair value consideration	2,900,000
Seamap Singapore [Member] | ION Geophysical Corporation [Member] | Amortizable Intangible Assets [Member] | Patents [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, fair value consideration	2,000,000
Seamap Singapore [Member] | ION Geophysical Corporation [Member] | Inventory [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, fair value consideration	3,600,000
Seamap Singapore [Member] | ION Geophysical Corporation [Member] | Goodwill [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, fair value consideration	$ 1,400,000