Choosing and Engaging with Citizen Generated Data

The Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, Open Knowledge International and Public Data Lab have published a guide for Citizen Generated Data (CDG) for use by governments, international organizations and others interested in developing, engaging with and supporting CGD initiatives.

The guide describes six (6) steps:

1. Define the goals and scope of the initiative.
2. Clarify what CGD approach is useful for your the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data purpose.
3. Clarify how the participation of people will help,
4. What resources are available to support CGD.
5. Making Citizen Generated Data public.
6. Consider risks, responsible data use and protection.

The guide also has suggested further reading, links to existing CGD tools and  a list of over 200 CGD initiatives.  

Global Fishing Watch

The Global Fishing Watch (GFW) (globalfishingwatch.org) advances ocean governance through increased transparency of human activity at sea.

By creating and publicly sharing map visualizations, data and analysis tools, GFW enables scientific research and drive a transformation in how we manage our ocean.

By 2030, GFW aims to monitor and visualize the impact of ocean-going vessels, both industrial and small-scale, that are responsible for the vast majority of the global seafood catch.

How do they Do it?

Global Fishing Watch makes vessel tracking information available to all through our interactive online map and downloadable data. Anyone with an internet connection can trace the movements of more than 65,000 commercial fishing boats, along with their name and flag state, in near real time: our data shows all activity from 1 January 2012 until 72 hours ago. You don’t need to be an expert to use the platform, any more than you need to know about complex algorithms to use a search engine: it’s aimed at members of the public and journalists as much as researchers, campaigners and governments. Users can create heat maps to see patterns of commercial fishing activity, view tracks of individual vessels and overlay information like the locations of marine protected areas or different countries’ exclusive economic zones (EEZ). General outline of process steps:

1. Harvest vessel tracking data from several automatic identification systems (AIS).
2. Process the data using neural networks to extract relevant fishing activity.
3. Share the results through the interactive map and downloadable data.

 
Figure 1: Map from Global Fishing Watch showing 6 months of fishing activity ending 14 December 2020 in south west Indian Ocean.

Ocean InfoHub Project update

The Ocean InfoHub (OIH) Project aims to improve access to global oceans information, data and knowledge products for management and sustainable development. The OIH will link and anchor a network of regional and thematic nodes that will improve online access to, and synthesis of existing global, regional and national data, information and knowledge resources, including existing clearinghouse mechanisms. The project will not be establishing a new database, but will be supporting discovery and interoperability of existing information systems. The OIH Project is a three-year project funded by the Government of Flanders, Kingdom of Belgium, and implemented by the IODE Project Office of the IOC/UNESCO.

The Ocean InfoHub Project and ICAN, both being projects of the IOC/UNESCO IODE Project Office, have had a number of discussions over the past months to align their efforts for mutual benefit.

OIH attended one of the recent ICAN tech meetings, to present a general overview of the project as well as a presentation of the OIH technical approach, incorporating schema.org.

• ICAN joined the first OIH Steering Group meeting
• OIH has been joining regular ICAN SG meetings
• ICAN has joined the OIH Technical Working group platforms.
• Other ICAN members are invited to join, particularly on the spatial data and maps sub-theme.

OIH and the ICAN tech group are in ongoing communication about some potentially mutually beneficial activities for 2021.

For more information about the Ocean InfoHub Project please contact Lucy Scott: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

About Schema.org

Schema.org is a collaborative, community activity with a mission to create, maintain, and promote schemas for structured data on the Internet. In addition to people from the founding companies (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Yandex), there is substantial participation by the larger Web community, through public mailing lists such as This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and through GitHub.

Since April 2015, the W3C Schema.org Community Group is the main forum for schema collaboration, and provides the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. mailing list for discussions. Schema.org issues are tracked on GitHub.

The day to day operations of Schema.org, including decisions regarding the schema, are handled by a steering group, which includes representatives of the founding companies, a representative of the W3C and a small number of individuals who have contributed substantially to Schema.org. Discussions of the steering group are public.

Schema.org provides a collection of shared vocabularies webmasters can use to mark up their pages in ways that can be understood by the major search engines: Google, Microsoft, Yandex and Yahoo!
You use the schema.org vocabulary along with the Microdata, RDFa, or JSON-LD formats to add information to your Web content.

Some commonly used  item types from Schema.org:

• Event
• Organization
• Person
• Place
• Thing

A full list of all items types can be viewed at this link.

Data is Power

The Five Year (2015-2020) Report of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (https://www.data4sdgs.org/) has been released. The Global Partnership was created 2015 to put the power of data to change minds, policies and lives at the service of sustainable development.

Since 2015 the Global Partnership has learned:

1. Good data takes time: build relationships, change institutions, and learn together.
2. Progress depends upon people: understanding and trust are the keys to good partnerships.
3. Politics drive technical change; political support is critical to sustainable change at scale.
4. Values count: inclusivity and equity must underpin progress on data.
5. Systems not silos: interoperability and openness strengthen systems and increase impact.

A Message from the ICAN Co-chairs

Dear ICAN community,

We have arrived at the end of a difficult 2020, one that deviated wildly from anything we could have imagined a year ago. We hope that you are all well and safe. Despite the disappointment of deferred workshops and other challenges, it is heartening to read of all the good work that continues to be done. We hope you enjoy the news being shared by your colleagues and would love to hear from you and your projects at any time.  

The new year marks the start of the Ocean Decade, an effort that many ICAN community members will be contributing to. As these activities progress, we hope to hear from many of you about efforts that we all can learn from. While it was unfortunate that we were unable to convene in Lisbon in 2020, we are looking forward to partnering with the CoastGIS 2021 conference to continue the ICAN workshop tradition. The CoastGIS team at Raseborg, Finland has been most gracious, and expects to host a hybrid event in September 2021 that will have both in-person and online aspects. We look forward to the opportunity that this presents, and again welcome your ideas and contributions for a successful event.

Wishing you all a safe and healthy 2021,

Kathrin & Tanya

Fair winds, Roger!

As of the end of 2020, Roger Longhorn has retired from the ICAN Steering Group, the IHO Marine SDI WG, and the OGC Marine Domain WG. He is now looking forward to spending more time on his boat than on the computer :)

All the best to Roger on his new adventures!

Ireland’s Marine Atlas

by Adam Leadbetter, Team Leader for Data Management, Marine Institute

Ireland’s Marine Atlas (https://atlas.marine.ie) was initially developed as part of the national reporting for the European Commission’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive on the environmental status of the seas and oceans around the country. At its launch, Ireland’s Marine Atlas included content such as administrative boundaries, protected sites, oil and gas, ocean features, fisheries and aquaculture, marine monitoring, seabed habitats, tourism and leisure, transport, infrastructure, discharge point sources, International Maritime Organization protected areas and current/historical dump sites.

 Figure 1. A screenshot from Ireland's Marine Atlas showing: special areas of conservation) orange hashed); special protected areas (blue hatched); and the survey lines followed throughout the INFOMAR seabed mapping programme (black lines).

Ireland’s Marine Atlas has supported a number of “user stories”:

1.Legislative Reporting to the European Commission

​The Marine Strategy Framework Directive is European Union legislation that aims to protect the marine environment. It requires the application of an ecosystem-based approach to the management of human activities enabling sustainable use of marine goods and services.

Spatial data from Ireland's Marine Atlas has been used in Ireland's​ Marine Strategy Framework Report and Initial Assessment.

Ireland's Marine Atlas also supports the consultation processes making the public aware of Ireland's marine waters, the environmental status of those waters​, and the ongoing human activities in the marine environment.

2. Assessing the Cumulative Impact of Human Activity in the Irish Sea

Maritime Spatial Planning requires the assessment of cumulative impacts in both forward planning and project decision making. Globally, there is an array of existing ecosystem-based methods for cumulative pressure and impact assessment. However there is a general lack of clarity on how these methods can be incorporated into the spatial planning process.

As part of the European Commission’s SIMCelt project on Marine Spatial Planning in the Celtic Seas, the Marine Institute developed a framework for the assessment of cumulative impacts of human activities in the Irish Sea. The approach is to compile data on human activities, interpret the pressures, and use this information to improve our understanding of the cumulative pressures and the impacts.
Maps illustrating human activities in the Irish Sea were produced for this case study using data from Ireland's Marine Atlas.

3. Offshore Renewable Energy

Ireland's Marine Renewable Energy Portal has been developed by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and the Marine Institute in accordance with the requirements of the Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan.

Open data from Ireland's Marine Atlas is used in the Renewable Energy Portal's "Maps" and "Data" sections. The maps section also uses a customised version of Ireland’s Marine Atlas specific to the requirements of the marine renewable energy sector and provides data on:

• Geology and sediments
• Petroleum energy
• Tidal energy resource
• Wave energy resource
• Wind energy resource

Data provided by Ireland's Marine Atlas supports spatial information, visualisation and increased understanding of the marine renewable energy resource.

In addition, it is consistent with the requirements of the Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan by making data and information available to the public and potential developers.

4. Visualising Marine Landscapes

Mapping of visual impacts on marine landscapes typically relies on a combination of GIS and viewshed analysis-based methods.

Research in Queen's University Belfast, funded by the Marine Institute’s Cullen scholarship programme for post-graduate research, has investigated the potential visual impacts and the public attitudes regarding the deployment of offshore windfarms off the west coast of Ireland.

This research used data from Ireland's Marine Atlas and also incorporated data from Failte Ireland and NASA’s Digital Elevation Model.

In addition to these use cases, in 2019 the Marine Atlas content was completely refreshed in order to support the publication of Ireland’s draft National Marine Planning Framework documentation. Work is ongoing to continue the publication of data layers relevant to the Marine Spatial Planning activity in Ireland through Ireland’s Marine Atlas platform.

Technically, the map viewer used in Ireland’s Marine Atlas uses a Leaflet JavaScript mapping framework front-end to access Web Map Services and Web Feature Services from both proprietary (ESRI-based) and Open Source (GeoServer) back-ends.

Each layer in Ireland’s Marine Atlas is described by a full ISO19115 metadata record which is registered either in the Marine Institute’s data catalogue (http://data.marine.ie) or in the Irish Spatial Data Exchange (http://isde.ie). These records are made available to a more general audience through harvesting to Ireland’s Open Data Portal (https://data.gov.ie).

Future development of Ireland’s Marine Atlas will be targeted at closing the gap between the static map-based interface and the presentation of real-time and delayed-mode observational data through Ireland’s Digital Ocean platform (https://digitalocean.ie).

Ireland's Marine Atlas viewer has been part supported by the Irish Government and the European Maritime & Fisheries Fund (EMFF) as part of the EMFF Operational Programme for 2014-2020; the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine; and the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. Ireland's Marine Atlas is operated by the Marine Institute, the State agency responsible for marine research, technology development and innovation in Ireland. Development of the current version of the viewer was undertaken by Compass Informatics Limited.

A video showing the use of Ireland’s Marine Atlas can be seen at

_{[Editor’s Note: An article on the Irish Marine Atlas was last published in the ICAN Newsletter in the March 2012 issue.]}

CoastSnap – Citizen Science for Coastal Observation

By Roger Longhorn

CoastSnap is a global “Citizen Science” project devised to involve citizens in scientific research on the accretion and erosion of beaches. There are several methodologies using cameras and other remote sensing technologies to collect the needed information, but these typically require significant funding, ongoing maintenance, and technical knowledge. CoastSnap eliminates this by engaging the local community and tourists to capture the same images, using a simple installation comprising a holder for smartphones to ensure all pictures are taken from the same angle and position. The photos can be shared via social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook) or email, noting the date and time of the photo. All photo authors will remain anonymous.

The project provides specially designed smartphone holders at fixed “CoastSnap stations” where anyone can place their smartphones to take apicture of the beach from a known, fixed location and orientation. All of these photos will be collected into one large set, to be used by researchers to map the growth or erosion of target beaches.

CoastSnap is a global project, originated by Dr Mitchell Harley of the University of Sydney, where the first CoastSnap station was installed in 2017. Since then, several other countries have joined the CoastSnap network, with currently about 44 stations active across the globe, from Madagascar to Brazil, Spain, Belgium, the UK and the United States. An international platform is under development on which all these stations can be gathered. The representatives of the different stations try to meet annually to exchange ideas and experiences.

The first “CoastSnap station” in Belgium is in Ostend. This location is fitting to start the project in Belgium, being on a well visited tourist location that is also much frequented by local citizens throughout the year. The target beach on this location is subject to many factors that affect accretion, and CoastSnap can contribute to a better understanding of how exactly the beach responds to all those influences. A second station is planned for the coastal community of Koksijde. To learn more about CoastSnap in Belgium visit https://www.kustportaal.be/en/coastsnap-belgium.

To those ICAN members across the globe, consider joining the CoastSnap project.

For more information on CoastSnap progress, contact the CoastSnap Team at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit their website at:
https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/research-and-publications/your-research/citizen-science/digital-projects/coastsnap
 

Some More Atlases for UN Sustainable Development Goals

Andy Sherin
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Several on-line atlases have been developed that are relevant to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Three are highlighted here. Please send examples of other SDG relevant atlases to Andy at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for future articles.

Blue Justice for Small-Scale Fisheries' Commitment

Too Big To Ignore (TBTI) has been promoting the notion of ‘Blue Justice’ through various platforms. One of our most prominent efforts was the registration of Blue Justice for Small-Scale Fisheries as a voluntary commitment to the Ocean Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14). Our pledge joins more than 1,400 other voluntary commitments to save our oceans, all registered on a UN platform. See TBTI Blue Justice full commitments at https://oceanconference.un.org/commitments/?id=29400

Figure 1: The Information System for Small Scale Fisheries (ISSF) is a global collaborative online database providing information on small-scale fisheries (SSF) to help enhance knowledge about this sector and their overall contributions. ISSF is available at https://issfcloud.toobigtoignore.net/

The commitment, which is part of our ongoing 'Blue Justice' campaign, calls attention to the current discourse about Blue Growth/Blue Economy, which poses potential risks to the rights of small-scale fisheries to the fishing livelihoods, which include access to fisheries resources, to coastal and ocean space, and to local, national and international markets. The campaign is urging for the social justice of small-scale fisheries be recognized not only as a basic right, but also an important condition for the realization of the UN Sustainable Goals and implementation of the SSF Guidelines.

 _{[Editor’s Note: TBTI  last appeared in the ICAN Newsletter in the September 2014 issue.]}

Interactive Database of the World’s River Basins

The Interactive Database of the World’s River Basins is one of the tools referenced by Inventory of Business Tools https://sdgcompass.org/business-tools/ . This inventory maps existing business tools against the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Interactive Database of the World’s River Basins database provides a compilation of the world’s river basins developed specifically for corporate disclosure. It features a comprehensive list of river basins worldwide, including their names, boundaries, and other helpful information. http://riverbasins.wateractionhub.org/

Figure 3: Interactive Database of the World’s River Basins

Many companies provide location-specific information in their water reporting. However, they often don’t have a common reference point for the places they talk about. Because of this, they often refer to the same place by different names, or to different places using the same name. This database solves that problem by allowing you to Find Basins by Latitude / Longitude Points and Find Basins by Country.

Figure 4: River Basins from Western Europe mapped in the Interactive Database of the World’s River Basins.

Allan Coral Atlas

Arizona State University’s Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science, the National Geographic Society, Planet, the University of Queensland, and Vulcan Inc. are working to expand the Allen Coral Atlas. With the Atlas, coral conservationists, reef managers and scientists have access to high quality information that has never before been available at this global scale.

The Allen Coral Atlas is built by a dedicated team of scientists, technologists, and conservationists, using one-of-a-kind methodologies, led and funded by Vulcan Inc.

It all starts with 3.7m satellite imagery. With this data in hand, distorting “noise” in the imagery is taken out. Algorithms then correct for the effects of the atmosphere and sun glint on the surface of the water, and then depth is calculated. Next, field data is used to calibrate rule sets before generating a habitat map with machine learning. The resulting map is then displayed on the Allen Coral Atlas website, and the Atlas Engagement team works with scientists, academics, policymakers, and protected area managers to facilitate use.

The Ocean InfoHub Project

By Lucy Scott

The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Ocean InfoHub Project (OIH) is a new initiative to streamline access to ocean science data and information for management and sustainable development.

The OIH will establish and anchor a network of regional and thematic nodes that will improve online access to and synthesis of existing global, regional and national data, information and knowledge resources. The project will center on an openly accessible web platform designed to support interlinkages and interoperability between distributed resources including existing clearinghouse mechanisms. The OIH will first consolidate IOC-associated online resources - including OceanExpert, OceanDocs, the Ocean Best Practices System, the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS), the World Ocean Database (WOD) and Ocean Data Portal (ODP) – extended by partnerships with EurOcean, Marinetraining.eu, EMODNET, and other sources in the IOC ODIS Catalogue of Sources (ODIScat).  The initial focus of OIH will thus be on (i) experts, (ii) institutions/organizations, (iii) research data and information infrastructures and their capabilities and services offered, (iv) projects, (v) research vessels, (vi) education and training opportunities, (vii) funding programs and other opportunities, (viii) documents and publications, (ix) manuals, guidelines, standards and best practices, (xi) metadata catalogue for specific variables and (xii) access to data sets and/or data products relevant to particular program priorities, including spatial data and maps (e.g. the SDGs and Essential Ocean Variables).

ICAN member atlases are invited to make contact with the OIH team, in the hope that one or more atlas projects could participate in a pilot interoperability test with the global OIH, and thus become part of a demonstration exchange of spatial data.

The project will benefit marine and coastal stakeholders across the globe, but its initial focus will be on responding to requests for data products and services from three regions: IOCAFRICA, LAC and the Pacific SIDS to meet their unique user community (thematic and language) requirements. The initial priorities for the Project will be to develop communities of practice for the three pilot regions, as well as to formalize partnerships with other UN agencies and key international partners. A global ODIS (Ocean Data and Information System) architecture will be developed to enable scalable development and interoperability with local, regional and thematic infrastructures. Through these actions, the OIH will enable a digital ecosystem where users, from any entry point, can discover content and services that they require, while also having opportunities to become content creators themselves.

Matchmaking services would be an additional function of the OIH, particularly in support of the IOC Capacity Development strategy. Services would allow study and training or vessel survey opportunities to be identified, a peer-to-peer service would support scientific collaboration, and an automated/self-serve service would allow the search for specific human or institutional expertise. The project will also focus on the transfer of local knowledge, on supporting early career scientists, and on remedying gender disparity by increasing access to information, technologies and opportunities, in line with the IOC’s Capacity Development strategy.

Ultimately, the OIH intends to meet the knowledge needs of national and regional requirements for sourcing marine data and information, as well as to assist countries in their reporting requirements for the Sustainable Development Goals (particularly goals 4,9, 14 and 17), contribute to key aims of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework for disaster Risk Reduction and Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. The OIH will also assist IOC member states to report on ocean science capacities through the Global Ocean Science Report (GOSR).

Funded by the Government of Flanders (Kingdom of Belgium), the project started in April 2020 and will run for three years. The OIH is coordinated by the IOC Project Office for IODE (Oostende, Belgium), building on its 59-year history of supporting member states in the exchange and management of marine data and information.

For more information:

• Ocean InfoHub Project: https://www.iode.org/oih
• ODIScat: https://catalogue.odis.org/

Email Lucy Scott, UNESCO/IOC Project Office for IODE, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.