The Value of Marine Spatial Open Data Infrastructures—Potentials of IHO S-100 Standard tο Become the Universal Marine Data Model

• Published in: Journal of marine science and engineering 2020-08, Vol.8 (8), p.564
• Main Authors: Contarinis, Stilianos, Pallikaris, Athanasios, Nakos, Byron
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Best practices; Climate change; Coastal management; Coastal zone; Coastal zone management; Coastal zones; Comparative analysis; Consortia; Data; Data analysis; Data models; Data retrieval; Decision analysis; Decision making; digital government transformation (DGT); Domains; Economic models; Economics; Ecosystem approach to fisheries; Energy industry; Environmental management; Environmental planning; Environmental protection; Exploitation; Habitat loss; Infrastructure; Integrated coastal zone management; International organizations; Interoperability; Marine protected areas; Marine resources; marine spatial data infrastructure (MSDI); Maritime industry; Objectives; Open data; open data platforms; Physical phenomena; Public sector; Resource management; Security; Spatial data; spatial data on web; Spatial planning; Traffic planning; universal marine data model (S-100); Wind power; Working groups; World Wide Web
• ISSN: 2077-1312; 2077-1312
• DOI: 10.3390/jmse8080564

Marine spatial “open” data infrastructures (MSDI) have a significant economic and societal potential for coastal nations and their realization is driven by the evolution of the International Hydrographic Organization’s (IHO) S-100 data model for facilitating marine domain interoperability and the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) best practices for spatial data publishing on the Web. The recent European directive on open data and the re-use of public sector information, known as the “Open Data Directive” is a key driver towards the establishment of “open” MSDIs among other spatial data infrastructures. The paper discusses possible data architectures for the MSDIs, examines the maturity of open data platforms that they could be built upon and compares the most prominent marine spatial data models for their applicability in relation to three marine information domains. MSDIs can facilitate the continuous data capturing of spatial-temporal physical phenomena and human activities at sea and coastal areas, the corresponding data analysis and the decision-making for achieving continual improvement in the marine planning and management processes. MSDIs could play a key role in digital government transformation (DGT) for effective data sharing and offering marine services across various stakeholders. The information provided through a MSDI can be used for safe and efficient operation of maritime traffic, exploration and exploitation of marine resources, marine spatial planning (MSP), integrated coastal zone management (ICZM), environmental protection, and naval and maritime security.