Information System as a Tool for Marine Spatial Planning: The SmartSea Vision and Prototype

Abstract

Planning the use of marine areas requires support in allocating space to particular activities, assessing impacts and cumulative effects of activities, and generic decision making. The SmartSea project studies the Gulf of Bothnia, the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea, as resource for sustainable growth. One objective of the project is to provide an open source and open access toolbox for marine spatial planning. Here we present a vision for the toolbox and an initial prototype. The vision is based on a model of information system as a meeting point of users, information providers, and tasks. A central technical requirement for the system was found to be a data model and related database of spatial planning and a programmable map service. An initial prototype of the system exists comprising a database, data browser/editor, dynamic tile map service, web mapping application, and extensions for a desktop GIS.