Technical Workshop on Ocean and Coastal Mapping Inventory

By Fran Lightsom Jan. / Feb. 2008

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A comprehensive inventory of ocean and coastal mapping data and activities was the subject of an interagency 3-day workshop in Charleston, South Carolina, in September 2007. The Ocean and Coastal Mapping Inventory will offer a clearinghouse for data and interpretive information, and a registry of completed and projected mapping activities via a single Web portal. The inventory will reduce duplication of mapping efforts and facilitate cooperative mapping activities and data accessibility. The workshop was sponsored by the Interagency Working Group on Ocean and Coastal Mapping (IWG-OCM), which was established in response to findings of the U.S. Ocean Action Plan and the 2004 National Research Council assessment of national coastal-zone mapping and charting activities.

At the workshop, participants identified key user requirements and reviewed existing data systems and inventories before reaching a consensus to use Geospatial One-Stop (GOS) as the tool to build the Ocean and Coastal Mapping Inventory. They also formulated concrete recommendations to move this effort forward. Concurrent working groups, focusing on technical, metadata, and management issues and requirements, outlined a short-term strategy and a detailed list of actions for the next 3 months. In addition, representatives of each agency met to recommend individual agency contributions and discuss commitments to this effort.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was represented by John Haines (Coastal and Marine Geology Program coordinator), Fran Lightsom and Greg Miller (Woods Hole Science Center), Chris Cretini (National Wetlands Research Center), and Dean Gesch (National Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science [EROS]). Dan Sandhaus attended to represent GOS. Haines also serves as a cochair of IWG-OCM. Lightsom was on the workshop planning committee and is continuing to serve on the project-management team for the inventory.

For more information and specific results of the workshop, visit URL http://www.csc.noaa.gov/iwg/.

Interagency Working Group on Ocean and Coastal Mapping (IWG-OCM) Workshop working groups established by the Joint Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology

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Jan. / Feb. 2008

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cover story:
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