Description: An important aim of large, pan-European scientific projects with numerous research groups is to integrate and visualize the acquired distributed data sets and results. The large volume of diverse data gathered and the need to disseminate results among the scientific community and beyond requires using a Geographic Information System (GIS). This article presents our experiences in creating a unified Web-based GIS for HERMES. The HERMES-GIS is based on Web Mapping Services that include direct links to the World Data Center for Marine Environmental Science and its large, long-term geoscience data archive and publication unit, PANGAEA (http://www.pangaea.de). It incorporates metadata and data from all project partners to provide users with basic analytical and visualization tools for archived (distributed) and personal (local) data, and it is also a policymaking tool. Additionally, we illustrate two important GIS applications inside the HERMES communitythe use of data models to integrate several subdisciplines and the use of predictive habitat modeling.

Description: From November 16 to 20, 2009, the International Coastal Atlas Network (ICAN) held a workshop on “Formalizing the Network, Engaging the Mediterranean” at the Adriatico Guest House of the UNESCO International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy. The workshop (aka “ICAN 4”) engaged 32 participants from 12 countries, representing 26 organizations and multiple areas of scientific and technical expertise. This meeting was a follow-up to the successful 2008 workshop on “Federated Coastal Atlases: Building the Interoperable Approach” (aka “ICAN 3”) held in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as the 2007 workshop on “Coastal Atlas Interoperability” (aka “ICAN 2” in Corvallis, Oregon, USA) and the 2006 meeting “Potentials and Limitations of Coastal Web Atlases” (aka “ICAN 1” in Cork, Ireland). ICAN 3 continued the momentum by identifying the additional opportunities for partnering on coastal web atlas development throughout Europe, demonstrating the atlas interoperability prototype to the European Environment Agency and its many partners, and initiating the development of a long-term strategy and governance model for ICAN. ICAN 2 examined best practices for achieving interoperability between atlases, and led to the design of a demonstration interoperability prototype using the metadata catalogues of two atlases. ICAN 1 examined state-of-the-art developments in coastal web atlases (CWAs) from Europe and the U.S., shared several case studies and lessons learned, and established key issues and recommendations related to the design, data requirements, technology and institutional capacity needed for these atlases. At the conclusion of ICAN 3 it was abundantly clear that ICAN had grown from a simple idea to the cusp of a formal virtual organization, which had captured the interest of the European Environment Agency (EEA), the European Commission, UNESCO, and several government agencies, companies, non-governmental organizations, and universities. However, much more work needed to be accomplished. Therefore, the activities of ICAN 4 included: - Discussions of final implementation structures for governance (including formal procedures for receiving new members), technical activities, and continued identification of funding opportunities, so that ICAN can formally incorporate as a virtual organization (aka “community of practice”). - Presentations on emerging atlases in European countries (especially the Mediterranean) and beyond that are making themselves relevant through policy, environmental and socio-economic indicator work and related themes. - Continued progress on our ontology and semantic interoperability work, with an eye also toward articulating the benefits of semantic interoperability at a broader scale to non-specialists. In this we look forward to the advice and assistance of MMI and SeaDataNet, as well as to the new NETMAR (Open Service Network for Marine Environmental Data) initiative, which has already developed conceptual framework documents in this area. To this end, we also: -- Held a small “workshop within a workshop” for atlas administrators on how to become a new node in interoperability prototype. -- Initiated strategies on making further improvements to all those nodes (according to the Shared Environmental Information Systems (SEIS) principles of sharing information for multiple purposes, using data and systems that are accessible and interoperable). -- Facilitated further work on partnerships, infrastructure and data exchange formats, all with the overall objective of enabling the nodes to share and communicate with each other, avoid duplication, and streamline information management. - Presentations and discussion of user issues, including better knowledge of our atlas users, their needs, and on continued inventory, assessment, and evaluation of atlases. To this end, we discussed as part of a small “workshop within a workshop” how to improve the functionality of CWAs for general users, especially as the technology continues to change. - Small group meetings on potential funding opportunities on both sides of the Atlantic (European Union, US National Science Foundation and government agencies) in order to continue the work of ICAN. - Initiation of plans for a major ICAN presence at Littoral 2010 in London (European ICAN partners), as well as a standalone ICAN Americas meeting in Wisconsin, USA. In addition, the ICAN workshop took place around a two-day Workshop on Maritime and Coastal Information Systems, organised by the EEA’s Environmental Information and Observation Network (EIONET), which was open to ICAN 4 attendees as well. The main objective of this meeting was to inform the many participating countries of the EIONET National Reference Centre (NRC) network and to allow for a first exchange of views on scope and roles in the new formation for this entity. Four participants of ICAN 4 were invited to give presentations at the EEA/EIONET workshop, which allowed EEA/EIONET to explore collaboration opportunities as a result of ICAN’s emergence. The US National Science Foundation (NSF) had originally awarded support for two ICAN workshops, so there will be a 5th international workshop (aka ICAN 5), at the headquarters of the UNESCO International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) in Oostende, Belgium, August 31 to September 2, 2011. IODE will co-host CoastGIS 2011 in Oostende immediately following ICAN 5. Objectives of ICAN 5 will include follow-up activities that we did not have time to accomplish at ICAN 4, including: - Continued progress on our ontology and semantic interoperability work, but with an eye also toward articulating the benefits of semantic interoperability at a broader scale, to non-specialists. - Continued engagement and servicing of users of coastal web atlases, and on continued inventory, assessment, and evaluation of atlases. - Revisiting the main recommendations of the ICAN 1, especially evaluating atlas impact, and developing analysis and decision-support tools in atlases. - Forming proposal teams and submissions to the next available and appropriate NSF and other grant competitions (e.g., NSF Partnerships for International Research and Education, NSF Community-Based Data Interoperability Networks, NOAA, European Framework Program, InterReg, and ESF ). - Exchanging lessons learned in spatial data infrastructure between the US, European INSPIRE and other national and regional efforts. - Continued implementation and improvement of new governance, strategic planning, and technical working groups.

Description: US National Science Foundation; Oregon State University; Coastal & Marine Research Centre, University College Cork, Ireland; ERI; UNESCO; ITCP; ISMAR; European Environmental Agency; Marine Institute (Ireland)

Description: This workshop was held 16-20 November 2009, at the Adriatico Guest House, UNESCO International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy. The workshop web site is http://ican.science.oregonstate.edu/ican4. Wright, D.J., Dwyer, N., Kopke, K., and O’Dea, L., 2010. Report of International Coastal Atlas Network Workshop 4: Formalizing the Network, Engaging the Mediterranean, UNESCO International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy, 16-20 November 2009.

Description: Published

Description: From August 31st to November 2nd, 2011, the International Coastal Atlas Network (ICAN) held a workshop on “Coastal Atlases as Engines for Coastal & Marine Spatial Planning”, at the UNESCO IOC/IODE headquarters in Oostende, Belgium. The workshop (aka “ICAN 5”) engaged 43 participants from 15 countries, representing 36 organizations and multiple areas of scientific and technical expertise. This meeting was a follow-up to the successful 2009 workshop on “Formalizing the Network, Engaging the Mediterranean” (aka “ICAN 4”) held in Trieste, Italy, as well as workshops in 2008, 2007 and 2006. ICAN 5 participants discussed the current and future potential of CWAs for coastal and marine spatial planning and explored the subject area in dedicated breakout sessions. A number of opportunities for how CWAs can contribute to the development of CMSP were identified whilst challenges were also highlighted. Since ICAN 5 there have been significant developments with regard to putting ICAN governance on a more stable footing. A decision was taken to request the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO to approve ICAN as an official IODE project. This request was considered and approved at the IOC IODE Officers Meeting in February 2012. Therefore an IODE ICAN Pilot Project has been established. This is a precursor to the establishment of a full IODE ICAN Project which will be proposed to the 22nd session of the IOC Committee on International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE-XXII) in March 2013. The coming months will see the development of a work plan to be presented at that session. ICAN is entering a very exciting period in this new relationship with IODE and we look forward to seeing you at the 6th International workshop (aka ICAN 6) which will be hosted at the University of Victoria, Canada from June 16th to 18th 2013, just before CoastGIS 2013.

Description: US National Science Foundation; UNESCO IOC IODE; Coastal & Marine Research Centre, University College Cork, Ireland; Coastal and Marine Union (EUCC); Flanders Coordination Centre for ICZM; European Union FP7 funded NETMAR project; InterReg IV funded C-Scope project

Description: This workshop was held 31 August – 2 September 2011, at UNESCO IOC IODE Headquarters, Oostende, Belgium. The workshop web site is http://ican.science.oregonstate.edu/ican5. Dwyer, N., Kopke, K., Berman, M., Belpaeme, K., O’Dea, L., Haddad, T. and Wright, D.J., 2012. Report of International Coastal Atlas Network Workshop 5: Coastal Atlases as Engines for Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning, UNESCO IOC IODE Headquarters, Oostende, Belgium, 31 August – 2 September 2011.

Description: Published

Description: From June 16th to 17th, 2013, the International Coastal Atlas Network (ICAN) held a workshop on “Expanding Participation in Coastal Web Atlas Development and Use”, at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The workshop (aka “ICAN 6”) engaged 29 participants from 9 countries, representing 22 organizations and multiple areas of scientific and technical expertise. This meeting was a follow-up to the successful 2011 workshop on “Coastal Atlases as Engines for Coastal & Marine Spatial Planning” (aka “ICAN 5”) held in Oostende, Belgium, as well as workshops in 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006. ICAN 6 provided an opportunity to discuss how the ICAN community could take advantage of now being an IODE project, to share its knowledge and aid capacity building among IOC member states in relation to coastal and marine data management. Moreover, ICAN has seen its membership grow in the last two years and given its extensive membership along the North and South American Pacific coasts it was a great opportunity to hear about atlas developments in those regions. Key activities at the workshop included: exploring the opportunities for ICAN in an IODE context and how to build synergies with other IOC projects; the activities of the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) project of the IOC were presented as well as IOC’s ICAM programme which highlighted how data management tools developed within ICAN can contribute to the goals of ICAM. Beyond the IOC, activities within the Group on Earth Observations’ (GEO) Coastal Zone Community of Practise (CZCP) are very relevant to ICAN, in particular the objective to develop a global coastal zone information system (CZIS). ICAN can help inform the development of such a CZIS. discussion of coastal atlas training needs and how ICAN members can contribute; in particular the training requirements of the African Coastal and Marine Atlas, and the Caribbean Marine Atlas were discussed. An overview of IODE training activities was presented and linkages on training between ICAN and ICAM related projects (e.g. SPINCAM II) were discussed. ICAN should also take advantage of the OceanTeacher platform developed by IODE. Atlas Stories – presentations from Atlas developers and users from North and South American Pacific coasts and beyond; the ICAN 6 Atlas Stories focused on CWA development around the Western Pacific Rim presenting new activities as well as updating the network on recent upgrades to previously discussed CWAs. The session started with the South American SPINCAM project which is developing atlases across five countries, followed by updates on the Oregon Coastal Atlas and the Washington State Coastal Atlas. Workshop participants also learned about Canada’s CanCoast and ShoreZone and the session concluded with the introduction to SmartAtlas through the African Coastal & Marine Atlas experience. a small “workshop within a workshop” for atlas technical developers on how to become a new node in the ICAN interoperability portal, version 3; The latest version has multilingual search capability, semantic search and the ability to connect directly to map services and display the results in a map. It was agreed that the current interface will be upgraded to HTML5 in the coming period. a small “workshop within a workshop” focussing on Volunteered Geographical Information (VGI) and its implications for coastal atlases; within the EEA, systems have been developed using both crowdsourcing and citizen science approaches. SeaSketch is a software platform intended as an end-to-end mapping solution for marine spatial planning, which allows anyone, regardless of their technical abilities, to sketch prospective management plans and receive analytical feedback on the consequences of their designs. The Marine Regions project aims to develop a standard for georeferenced marine names and there is potential to link it to the ICAN portal. Esri is introducing the concept of a “living Atlas” which is delivered via ArcGIS Online (AGOL). ICAN members can take advantage of this concept by using it to leverage their existing Atlas holdings or by using the platform to build a new Atlas quickly. development of an ICAN work plan for the period 2013-2015; this included plans for developing a communications strategy, a handbook on how atlas developers and users can interact and building synergies with other IOC and non-IOC projects. It also looked at developing a coastal atlas training plan. At its core ICAN supports atlas development and interoprerability approaches, therefore the Technical Committee presented its plans for developments in the next two years. The workshop concluded with the first face-to-face meeting of the new Steering Group, which was put in place after ICAN became an IODE project. This meeting saw two new members join the SG and leaders for the various work plan elements were appointed. Since ICAN 6 there have been developments in relation to the work plan. A revised plan and associated budget request was submitted to the IODE Officers meeting held in March 2014. As IODE has a limited budget and a number of projects to support, not all work plan items will receive funding, however the funding allocated will be of significant assistance to maintain ICAN and help progress its work. ICAN is now on a sound footing as part of the IODE family of projects, although members should continue to seek funding from other sources to advance the key technical activities. This ambitious work plan will require the commitment of all members to ensure that it can be implemented. A priority for 2014 is the redevelopment of the web site in order to make it easier to navigate and more responsive to user needs. Interoperability remains a core activity of ICAN and the technical committee has proposed a number of activities to progress further the developments in this area. A key technical concept which emerged at ICAN 6 was that of an “atlas-in-a-box”. The idea is that a new atlas developer can get started quickly on implementing and publishing a CWA with a minimal amount of technical/programming knowledge. The committee intends to scope the feasibility of such a development based on potential solutions such as SmartAtlas and ArcGIS Online. We would like to thank Rosaline Canessa and her team at the University of Victoria for their warm welcome and excellent hosting of ICAN-6 and we look forward to seeing you at the 7th International workshop (aka ICAN 7) which will be hosted by CSIR at Stellenbosch in South Africa from April 20th to 21st 2015, just before CoastGIS 2015

Description: Coastal and Marine Research Centre, University;College Cork Esri EUCC Coastal & Marine Union University of Victoria IODE

Description: Published

Description: Marine Science Communication (MSC) aims to increase understanding and to raise awareness of Ocean science. It also increases curiosity about scientific discoveries and issues related to our Ocean. MSC is a tool to improve understanding of the importance of Ocean science, to help create awareness and inspire responsible behaviour at all levels of society, and to advocate for policy that is committed to a sustainable Ocean and planet.

Description: Challenge 10: Change humanity’s relationship with the ocean.

Description: Published

Description: Refereed