The initiative improves policy development, coastal and ocean protection and trend detection
The European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet), an online portal that brings together and harmonises marine data and metadata from various sources within Europe, has counted on Altia Group, through Bilbomática, an Altia Company, to be part of the new information service centralised into one single portal.
The portal provides quick access to reliable and accurate data and information. It is a visual tool for policy and legislation development and for coastal and ocean protection, as well as for understanding trends and anticipating future changes.
Specifically, we have focused on: project implementation by carrying out a requirements analysis, understanding the needs and objectives to determine the geographic information system’s specific requirements; design of the technical architecture that defines the system’s structure, including the choice of platform (database, servers and appropriate software technologies); user interface design; and development of the map viewer used to display, analyse and manage the geographic data of the EMODnet network.
We have also contributed to geospatial data management, data integration and the development of geospatial web services, as well as the portal’s maintenance and updating.
“Bringing together data and observations from various sources into a single portal, processing them according to international standards and making this information available in a user-friendly and simple way so that it can be used by researchers, policy makers, private industry and public administrations has been a great challenge,” said Óscar Fernández, head of Altia’s European Services Unit. “The magnitude of the project and its impact in terms of saving time, investment and effort, as well as accuracy for research purposes, strengthen our position in data visualisation and management,” said Fernández.
Data centralisation and cartographic visualisation
For a decade, more than 120 organisations have been involved in EMODnet, collecting observations and data from various sources under international standards and making it available for third parties to use. This integrated data collection philosophy has benefited policy makers, scientists, private industry and public administrations, reducing costs and efforts and improving the accuracy of marine research, as well as opening up new avenues for innovation.
The project involves the centralisation of this entire marine data service, integrating it all into a single portal with a common map viewer that provides easy access to view and download marine data on different topics, including the marine environment and human activity.
The portal consolidates the role of EMODnet as an operational European in situ data service and a relevant player in the European marine data ecosystem.