http://hdl.handle.net/1957/1726 Search the Channel search http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/dspace/simple-search http://hdl.handle.net/1957/8042 Title: Report on Coastal Mapping and Informatics Trans-Atlantic Workshop 1: Potentials and Limitations of Coastal Web Atlases <br/> <br/>Abstract: Governments, industry sectors, academic institutions and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have a tremendous stake in the development and management of geospatial data resources. Coastal mapping plays an important role in informing decision makers on issues such as national sovereignty, resource management, maritime safety and hazard assessment. Efforts to improve data accessibility are driven by legislation on topics such as Environmental management, open access of public sector information and data standards and harmonisation. The development of Geographic Information System (GIS) based web mapping products has improved the usability of GISs by non-specialists. This, combined with community needs, has resulted in the growth of a niche group of interactive coastal web atlases (CWAs) around the world, developed to address the needs of the coastal and marine community. The 2006 Green Paper on Future Maritime Policy in the European Union stated: “a veritable Atlas of EU coastal waters… could serve as an instrument for spatial planning” (European Commission 2006, p. 35), illustrating the increasing recognition of the potential of CWAs, even at an international level. Funding was obtained through the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Marine RTDI programme in Ireland to organize two trans-Atlantic workshops on coastal mapping and informatics. The first workshop, entitled “Potentials and Limitations of Coastal Web Atlases,” was hosted by the Coastal and Marine Resources Centre (CMRC) at University College Cork in Ireland in July 2006. This workshop brought together key experts from Europe and North America to examine state-of-the-art CWA developments, share lessons learned, determine future needs in mapping and informatics for the coastal practitioner community and identify potential opportunities for collaboration. A coastal web atlas is a collection of digital maps and datasets with supplementary tables, illustrations and information that systematically illustrate the coast, oftentimes with cartographic and decision-support tools, and all of which are accessible via the Internet. Access to the various components can be provided in different ways. The typical CWA contains a number of general features, including: geospatial data and metadata; a map area for data display; a legend and/or layer list; tools to interact with the map and data; data attribute tables; topical information; powerful server and software technologies; and a wellrounded atlas design to meet atlas and user needs. As part of the workshop, a number of representative coastal web atlas case studies from both sides of the Atlantic were presented by developers. This report provides an overview of the case studies, which highlight key aspects of CWA development and operations such as atlas purpose, institutional support, technology and functionality. Those included as case studies are: The UK Coastal and Marine Resource Atlas; De Kustatlas Online, Belgium; The Marine Irish Digital Atlas; The Oregon Coastal Atlas; North Coast Explorer, Oregon; and Mapping Tools for Coastal Management, Virginia. During the workshop, four working groups were established to identify issues related to atlas design, data, technology and institutional capacity. Each working group focussed its discussion by carrying out a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis. Examination of the various points which were raised by the four working groups led to the identification of a number of cross-cutting issues. The design and usability of an atlas are keys to its success. An atlas should clearly communicate its purpose, be visually appealing, be kept as simple as possible, use efficient technology and management systems and have a flexible design to enable growth and change over time. Ultimately its success relies on the atlas users, so efforts should be made regularly to ensure that it meets the needs of those users. An output of the workshop was a list of considerations for atlas design and implementation on topics such as data content and display, metadata, atlas interface, atlas tools, technology, user feedback and support for maintenance and future developments. <br/> <br/>Description: Workshop Proceedings http://hdl.handle.net/1957/8041 Title: Report on Coastal Mapping and Informatics Trans-Atlantic Workshop 2: Coastal Atlas Interoperability <br/> <br/>Abstract: From July 16 to 20, 2007, international partners in a trans- Atlantic workshop series on coastal mapping and informatics, held a workshop on the campus of Oregon State University entitled “Coastal Atlas Interoperability.” The workshop engaged 27 participants from 6 countries, representing 17 organizations and multiple areas of scientific and technicial expertise. This meeting was a follow-up to a successful first workshop entitled “Potentials and Limitations of Coastal Web Atlases,” hosted by the Coastal and Marine Resources Centre (CMRC) at University College Cork in Ireland in July 2006 (O’Dea et al., 2007). While that first workshop examined state-of-the-art developments in coastal web atlases (CWAs) from the 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, the purpose of the second workshop was to examine best practices for achieving interoperability between CWAs. Given that no CWA functions alone as an island, and is often part of a larger universe of resources that is needed for effective marine spatial planning, resource management, and emergency planning, CWAs must build a common approach toward managing and disseminating the coastal data, maps and information that they contain. Workshop participants examined the issue of semantic interoperability (where concepts, terminology, even abbreviations that are shared between two or more individuals, systems, or organizations are understood by all to mean the same thing) and found this to be an important prerequisite for the integrated approach needed when working with a broader network of CWAs. For example, the terminology used to describe similar data can vary between specialties or regions, which can complicate data searches and integration. Use of the word “seabed” in Europe versus use of the word “seafloor” to describe the same feature in North America is a good example of this scenario, as is the interchangeable use of “coastline” versus “shoreline” in both regions. Agreements on content/semantic interoperability can help to eliminate such problems, making searches between disparate, but mutually beneficial, projects feasible. Ontologies provide the mechanism for enabling this, and workshop participants gained hands-on experience with some of the effective tools and approaches for creating ontologies and organizing them in catalogs, as presented by representatives of the Marine Metadata Interoperability (MMI) project. Presenters provided examples from use cases and ontologies based on recent research and the outcomes of the 2005 MMI Advancing Domain Vocabularies workshop (Graybeal et al., 2006). During the workshop a project was outlined to develop a demonstration prototype as a proof-of-concept to inter-relate metadata and other information between two initial CWAs (the Marine Irish Digital Atlas or MIDA, <http://mida.ucc.ie>, and the Oregon Coastal Atlas or OCA, <http://www.coastalatlas.net>). The prototype is in the form of a catalogue services for the Web (CSW), where web map services (WMS) will be registered. It may not be immediately obvious how Oregon and Ireland may need to be interoperable, but these two mature atlas efforts can be used as a testbed for interoperability. Both provide interactive access to spatial data and metadata via web GIS, use similar technologies (open source Minnesota MapServer running on Apache web services), and contain metadata meeting national/international standards (i.e., FGDC and ISO). This proof-of-concept may then be used to make connections within regional partnerships (e.g., the OCA can use lessons learned in developing a regional network of CWAs with Washington and California, while the MIDA can do the same for building and strengthening atlas networks with the UK, Belgium, and other parts of Europe). The prototype is therefore envisioned as a seed application, a template of sorts that can be used by many others and develop further from there. <br/> <br/>Description: Workshop Proceedings http://hdl.handle.net/1957/4282 Title: Report of HURL Cruise KOK0510: Submersible Dives and Multibeam Mapping to Investigate Benthic Habitats of Tutuila, American Samoa <br/> <br/>Abstract: Cruise KOK0510 consisted of three Pisces V dives to the submerged flanks of Tutuila, American Samoa, specifically the coral reef platform of Taema Bank, and the submerged caldera forming Fagatele Bay and Canyon. In addition, a night-time program of Sea Beam 210 bathymetric mapping was conducted along the north side of the island to fill in a data gap from previous multibeam surveys in that region. Night-time deployments of the RCV-150 were also planned, but could not commence due to mechanical difficulties with the ROV. The overall objectives of the cruise were the characterization and groundtruthing of underwater features previously mapped in sonar, and for areas below the reach of SCUBA, the estimation of the amount of live bottom, the species identification of fish and invertebrates, and the assessment, where possible, of benthic change within the coral reefs encountered. These observations were made toward an ultimate goal of groundtruthing previous benthic terrain maps (geo) made in the region, as well as informing the preparation of future benthic habitat maps (biogeo). Research questions guiding the objectives include: (a) What are the significant deep-water coral reef habitats, relative to the territory’s coastal ecology and current initiatives for sanctuary management (i.e., areas of 20% or greater coral cover as mandated for protection)? (b) Where are these critical habitats located, and with what major species are they associated with? (c) Which habitats appear to be “biological hotspots” (e.g., areas of high biodiversity), and what are the implications for coral reef conservation and management? For example, which sites should be deemed of special biologic significance (such as a no take zone within a pilot marine protected area)? All three dives were extremely successful with a cumulative bottom time of 18 hours and identification at both sites of 32 species of invertebrates and 91 species of fish, at least 9 of which are “new records” for American Samoa. The base of extensive live bottom for Taema Bank (coral cover of 20% and greater) was identified at a depth of 36 m. Alternating sections of carbonate reef and basalt were observed at~185-220 m depth along the west walls of Fagatele Canyon, and large, grooved mass-wasting scarps were noted at ~300-400 m depth near the base of the south central wall of Taema Bank. No evidence of eutrophication or slurry from Pago Pago harbor was seen on the south side of Taema Bank. Sea Beam mapping on the north flank of Tutuila revealed 3 new cones that will eventually be added to the Scripps Biogeosciences Seamount Catalog (EarthRef.org). Subsequent benthic habitat maps that may be created with the aid of these data should be of great use for ongoing studies by the American Samoa Government’s Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources (DMWR), the Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary (FBNMS), the American Samoa Coastal Management Program, and the National Park of American Samoa (NPAS); including the selection of sites for habitat class designation and protection (e.g., no-take marine protected areas, a major American Samoa initiative), development of marine park monitoring protocols, and general understanding of species composition and abundance. In addition, we were pleased to have 2 local secondary school teachers join the cruise as observers. These teachers were recently involved in a marine science workshops co-funded by the Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary and the American Samoa Coral Reef Advisory Group, and will be using selected videos, photos from the cruise, and perhaps some of the GIS data sets, directly in their classrooms. Local media coverage of the cruise included a radio interview and an article in Samoa News (facilitated by Nancy Daschbach of FBNMS and Peter Craig of NPAS). <br/> <br/>Description: Available also from http://dusk.geo.orst.edu/djl/samoa/hurl/KOK0510cruise_report.pdf