Table of Contents

Chapter 1 - Introduction (pages 1-11)

Dawn J. Wright (Oregon State University, USA), Valerie Cummins (University College Cork, Ireland), Edward Dwyer (University College Cork, Ireland)

Coastal web atlas (CWA) development is introduced in this chapter as a relatively new field of technology, driven by a wide range of coastal policy issues such as population pressure and climate change. International interest in CWAs...

Chapter 2 - Coastal Web Atlas Features (pages 12-32)

Elizabeth O’Dea (Washington Department of Ecology, USA), Tanya C. Haddad (Oregon Coastal Management Program, USA), Declan Dunne (University College Cork, Ireland), Kuuipo Walsh (Oregon State University, USA)

A growing number of coastal web atlases (CWAs) for different regions exist around the world. These atlases are developed to meet the needs of a particular organization or audience. Each atlas developer faces the challenge of how best...

Chapter 3 - Coastal Web Atlas Implementation (pages 33-52)

Tanya Haddad (Oregon Coastal Management Program, USA), Elizabeth O’Dea (Washington Department of Ecology, USA), Declan Dunne (University College Cork, Ireland), Kuuipo Walsh (Oregon State University, USA)

Coastal Web Atlas (CWA) design may be based around interactive maps that provide users with access to rich information about the geography of the coastal zone. There are few firm rules about what elements should make up a CWA, or how...

Chapter 4 - Coastal Atlas Interoperability (pages 53-79)

Yassine Lassoued (University College Cork, Ireland), Trung T. Pham (University College Cork, Ireland), Luis Bermudez (Southeastern University Research Association, USA), Karen Stocks (University of California San Diego, USA), Eoin O’Grady (Marine Institute, Ireland), Anthony Isenor (Defense R&D Canada – Atlantic, Canada), Paul Alexander (Marine Metadata Interoperability Initiative & Stanford Center for Biomedical Informatics Research, Palo Alto CA, USA)

This chapter defines the coastal web atlases interoperability problem, introduces interoperability standards, and describes the development of a semantic mediator prototype to provide a common access point to coastal data, maps and...  

Chapter 5 - Overview of Coastal Atlases (pages 80-90)

Dawn J. Wright (Oregon State University, USA), Gabe Sataloff (NOAA Coastal Services Center, USA), Tony LaVoi (NOAA Coastal Services Center, USA), Andrus Meiner (Biodiversity, Spatial Analysis and Scenarios Division, European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, Denmark), Ronan Uhel (Biodiversity, Spatial Analysis and Scenarios Division, European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, Denmark)

This chapter provides a brief overview of various coastal web atlas projects around the world, providing a contextual bridge to the atlas case studies of Chapters 6-14. A summary of the policy context within which many European...

Chapter 6 - Oregon, USA (pages 91-104)

Tanya Haddad (Oregon Coastal Management Program, USA), Robert J. Bailey (Oregon Coastal Management Program, USA), Dawn J. Wright (Oregon State University, USA)

This coastal web atlas case study for Oregon, USA, featuring the Oregon Coastal Atlas (OCA), describes a web site where people interested in coastal and marine information for the Oregon coast can find, learn about, and utilize data...  

Chapter 7 - Ireland (pages 105-130)

Edward Dwyer (University College Cork, Ireland), Kathrin Kopke (University College Cork, Ireland), Valerie Cummins (University College Cork, Ireland), Elizabeth O’Dea (Washington Department of Ecology, USA), Declan Dunne (University College Cork, Ireland)

The Marine Irish Digital Atlas (MIDA) is an Internet resource built in a web GIS environment, where people interested in coastal and marine information for Ireland can visualize and identify pertinent geospatial datasets and...

Chapter 8 - Virginia and Maryland, USA (pages 131-144)

Marcia Berman (College of William and Mary, USA), Catherine McCall (Maryland Chesapeake and Coastal Program, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, USA)

The Chesapeake Bay Watershed, the largest estuary in the United States, spans 62,000 square miles and includes six states and the District of Columbia. A stewardship agreement exists among the three primary states; Maryland...

Chapter 9 - Wisconsin, USA (pages 145-155)

David Hart (University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute, USA)

Simply stated, a coastal web atlas (CWA) is a means of organizing, presenting, and sharing spatial data for the coast. Once in place, a CWA can function as a coastal spatial data infrastructure and a platform for developing coastal...

Chapter 10 - Belgium (pages 156-164)

Kathy Belpaeme (Coordination Center on Integrated Coastal Zone Management, Belgium), Hannelore Maelfait (Coordination Center on Integrated Coastal Zone Management, Belgium)

The Belgian Coastal Atlas was published as a book in 2004, triggered by reporting obligations regarding Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) for the European Commission on the state of the Belgian coast. Initially there was no...

Chapter 11 - Africa (pages 165-170)

Lucy E.P. Scott (United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Global Environment Facility (GEF) Agulhas and Somali Currents Large Marine Ecosystem (ASCLME) Project, Grahamstown, South Africa), Greg Reed (Australian Ocean Data Center Joint Facility, New South Wales, Australia)

The African Marine Atlas, launched in 2007, is an online resource that provides maps, images, data and information that can be used by scientists, students, coastal resource managers, planners and decision makers from institutions...

Chapter 12 - Caribbean (pages 171-191)

Sean Padmanabhan (Institute of Marine Affairs, Trinidad & Tobago)

The marine environment of the Caribbean Region currently faces several threats to its stability and sustainability. Mitigation of these threats requires an integrated management approach at a regional level using the best available...

Chapter 13 - United Kingdom (pages 192-213)

David R. Green (University of Aberdeen, UK)

This chapter briefly examines the origins and evolution of electronic coastal and marine atlases, and online mapping and GIS in the United Kingdom (UK). Beginning with some early examples, such as the UK Digital Marine Atlas...

Chapter 14 - Spain (pages 214-228)

Alejandro Iglesias-Campos (Government of Andalusia, Spain), Gonzalo Malvarez-García (University of Pablo de Olavide, Spain), José Ojeda-Zújar (University of Seville, Spain), José Manuel Moreira-Madueño (Government of Andalusia, Spain)

The Regional Ministry for the Environment of the Regional Government of Andalusia launched the Environmental Geographic Information System of Andalusia (SinambA) in 1984. The main aim then was the development of tools for...

Chapter 15 - The International Coastal Atlas Network (pages 229-238)

Dawn J. Wright (Oregon State University, USA), Valerie Cummins (University College Cork, Ireland), Edward Dwyer (University College Cork, Ireland)

This chapter introduces coastal web atlas (CWA) management and governance issues by way of a summary of the International Coastal Atlas Network (ICAN). ICAN is a newly-founded, informal group of over 30 organizations from over a...

Chapter 16 - Coastal Atlases in the Context of Spatial Data Infrastructures (pages 239-255)

Tony LaVoi (NOAA Coastal Services Center, USA), Joshua Murphy (NOAA Coastal Services Center, USA), Gabe Sataloff (NOAA Coastal Services Center, USA), Roger Longhorn (Info-Dynamics Research Associates Ltd., Belgium), Andrus Meiner (Biodiversity, Spatial Analysis and Scenarios Division, European Environment Agency, Denmark), Ronan J. Uhel (Biodiversity, Spatial Analysis and Scenarios Division, European Environment Agency, Denmark), Dawn Wright (Oregon State University, USA), Edward Dwyer (University College Cork, Ireland)

This chapter summarizes key projects and initiatives that are being implemented on very large scales (national/international) by national governments and commissions to build coastal spatial data infrastructures (SDIs). These include...

Chapter 17 Creating a Usable Atlas (pages 256-266)

Timothy Nyerges (University of Washington, USA), Kathy Belpaeme (Coordination Centre on Integrated Coastal Zone Management, Belgium), Tanya Haddad (Oregon Coastal Management Program, USA), David Hart (University of Wisconsin, Sea Grant Institute, USA)

Knowing user audiences for coastal web atlases is important for designing atlas capabilities that address different user skill levels. This chapter presents guidelines about how to better understand coastal web atlas users, how to...

Chapter 18 Improving a Growing Atlas (pages 267-274)

Tanya C. Haddad (Oregon Coastal Management Program, USA), Declan Dunne (University College Cork, Ireland)

As coastal web atlas (CWA) projects grow over time, designers will have to track and adapt to changes in site activity, user capabilities, and progress in available data and technology. The web server may log all user activity on a...

Chapter 19 Supporting a Successful Atlas (pages 275-287)

Roger Longhorn (Info-Dynamics Research Associates Ltd., UK), Dawn J. Wright (Oregon State University, USA), Kathy Belpaeme (Coordination Centre on Integrated Coastal Zone Management, Belgium)

The content and technical features of coastal web atlases (CWA) were presented in the introductory chapters of the book and the previous two chapters visited user-oriented issues involved in creating and improving a usable atlas...