The Caribbean Marine
Atlas (CMA) Project
Ramon Roach
Water Quality Analyst
Marine Research Department
Outline
Caribbean Marine
Atlas
Background
Components
AMA example
CMA Development
Stakeholder meeting
Requirements
CMA National
Coordination
Establishment of group
Identification of training needs
CMA Background
CMA Project part of a global network of initiatives
IOC
Established in 1960
Address scientific uncertainties for environmental management
Improving operational capability for management and sustainable
development
Building capacity in marine science
IODE
Established in 1961
Enhance marine research
Facilitate exchange of data and information
Provide access to data and data products
NODCs and marine libraries
ODINCARSA
Established in 2000
Facilitate capacity building, equipment and operational support at
the regional level
Products and services
CMA Components
Data and Information Distribution System
Interactive, online mapping tool
Collection of GIS data layers (vector and raster)
User defined data frame within AOI
Geographic features (scales, grids, coordinates)
Advanced data control
Layer list (one layer, multiple)
Feature selection
Results tables
Metadata viewing
Links to websites, documents, auxiliary data
Data download
Shapefiles
Attached metadata
Documents, images
CMA Components Cont’d
Thematic Data Structure
Geosphere
Natural hazards
Soil types
Land use
Hydrosphere
Bathymetry
Physical oceanography
Chemical oceanography
Biosphere
Habitats
Marine flora and fauna
Protected areas
Atmosphere
Climate
Weather
Human Environment
Settlements
Infrastructure
Tourism
African Marine Atlas
Example
AMA Project
ODINAFRICA Initiative
1 Year startup
Hosted by IODE
African Marine Atlas
Click to go to website and then click ‘Go to Atlas’
on the left hand menu
Importance of CMA
Local and Regional Data Management for Policy Making
Integrated Coastal Area Management (ICAM)
Data required for planning, implementation, monitoring,
evaluation
Regional scale information availability
Communication with policy makers
Inter and intradepartmental data sharing
Local CMA equivalent
Provide easy access to restricted data
Data quality and metadata standards
Improved data sharing
Data and information warehousing
Communication with public
CMA and local equivalent
Central access point for marine data
Enhance data and data product delivery
Reduce product delivery overhead
Role of IODE
Facilitation and Institutional Strengthening
Capacity building for ocean/coastal data management
Training Workshops
Online training services
Links to resources (software tools, data sources)
Standards development for data descriptions and data quality
control
Training workshops
Metadata standards information
Metadata creation tools
National data infrastructure development
Distributed database technology training
NODC establishment
Equipment funding
Products/services development
Marine atlases
Standard Databases
Online data retrieval services
CMA Project
Development
1st Stakeholder Meeting for the Development of the CMA
Project (October 8-10, 2007)
Regional information gathering workshop
Participants from 9 Caribbean countries
Core initiative with scope for expansion
Workshop Goals
To inform the participating countries of the potential benefits of a
Caribbean Marine Atlas
To identify current national coastal zone management
arrangements
To identify national and regional coastal and marine issues that
could be the focus of the Caribbean Marine Atlas
To identify the national resource requirements of the participating
countries to enable full participation in a Caribbean Marine Atlas
Pilot Project
To prepare a draft work plan of a Caribbean Marine Atlas Pilot
Project, for submission to, and approval by the respective national
governments
Stakeholder Meeting
Regional Stakeholder Exercises
Priority Issues
Cuba
Grenada
Jamaica
St. Lucia
Trinidad
&Tobago
Turks & Caicos
weight
High Priority
Barbados
Primary environmental concerns
Identification of indicators
Identification of Priority
responsible
agencies
concerns
Specific
issues
Countries
Data accessibility
Habitat degradation/loss
Coral reefs
Mangroves
Seagrass
Beaches
Forests
R
R
1N
1R
2N
R
N
2N
1R
2L
N
N
1L
1N
1N
N
N
1N
1N
1N
N
N
1N
1N
2N
R
N
1L
2N
2N
R
N
3L
2R
2R
21
16
18
19
16
Unsustainable exploitation
of natural resources
Overfishing
Sandmining
Destructive fishing
Sediments
(turbidity)
Sewage pollution
(coliform)
Agrochemicals
Oil
Heavy metals
Nitrates/nitrites
Solid waste
BOD/COD
Runoff (storm, grey
water)
1R
2N
2N
1N
1N
3L
1L
1N,R
1N
2L
1N
1R
2L
1R
1N
2N
2N,L
1N
2L
1R
2N
1N
2N
20
14
7
17
1R
3L
1L
1N
1N
1N
1R
19
1R
2N
2L
1R
1R
1L
3L
3L
3L
2L
3L
3L
2N
3L
3L
1L
2L
1L
1N
1N
2N
3L
1N
1N
1N
1N
1N
3R
3R
1N
1N
1N
1N
3L
2L
2N
1L
1N
2N
1N
2R
2N
2R
2N
1R
2R
2N
15
11
10
19
18
17
14
Hurricanes
Tsunamis
Sea level rise
Volcano
Flooding
Earthquakes
1R
2R
1R
1R
3N
1L
1R
1R
1R
1R
1R
1R
1R
1N
3R
1N
2R
3R
2R
1R
1R
1R
2N
1N
1L
1L
1L
2L
3N
2N
20
14
20
3
15
5
Pollution
Medium Priority
Low Priority
Natural hazards
Workshop Conclusions
Regional Priority Issues
Coral Reefs, Seagrass, Mangroves
Overexploitation
Natural Hazards
Beaches
LBS Pollution
Regional Data Access Issues
Most or all essential indicator data collected
(Barbados and Cuba leading)
Data access from data holders tends to be
problematic
Regional Data Management Issues
Little or no data quality control (geographic, range
analysis)
No established metadata schemes
Lack of institutional resources
Personnel and training
Equipment
CMA Requirements
For the Atlas
Identify geographic Area of Interest (AOI) for the Atlas
Agree the topic outline
Gather available data according to the scope of topics, geographic limits
and temporal considerations
Describe metadata and source location URLs
Review gridded datasets for data value ranges
Convert all data to appropriate GIS formats
Shapefiles for vector data
ASCII ArcGrids for gridded data and satellite imagery
Geo-referenced images to accompany most arrays
Clip all GIS files to the AOI
Convert data to required products (e.g. seasonal climatological
grids/contours)
Convert these products to the correct GIS formats
Create a browser interface to the GIS files, with links to the metadata files
and source location URLs
Publish the atlas on the Internet with a interface using static HTML pages
Publish the atlas as an interactive Map Service
Publish the browser-based atlas on DVD for dissemination
Produce a hardcopy publication
CMA Requirements
For the National Atlas Coordinating Group
Identify national teamleader
Identify required training to participate in Atlas project
Detail equipment requirements (and send to IODE secretariat)
Identify if data are available in electronic or paper form
Identify restrictions on use of data
Locate all historical records available nationally
Perform data quality control on data
Conversion of data sets into shapefiles
Import layers into national mapserver system*
CMA Training Courses
Basic Courses
DM 101 Introduction to Ocean Data
Oceanographic measurements (parameters, units, conventions);
programmatic and technical aspects of data collection; data
formats used for ocean data and their special characteristics
DM 102 Ocean Data Collection
Development Building a national ocean data collection from the
World Ocean Database 2005 and other local and published data
sources; basic data analysis with popular software programs
DM 103 Ocean Data Products & Synthesis
Developing a suite of standard and specialized ocean data analysis
products from the national data collection, and the synthesis of
these products with other available analyses in Geographic
Information Systems
Advanced Data Management
DM 203P Geographic Information Systems for Coast & Ocean
Management
An intensive, hands-on tutorial in the use of proprietary (ESRI)
Geographic Information System software to assemble and analyse
coastal and marine data for environmental management purposes
CMA Training Courses
Advanced Data Management Cont’d
DM 203N Geographic Information Systems for Coast & Ocean
Management
This course is the equivalent of DM 203P, with the major
difference that the software used throughout is in the public
domain
Marine Atlas Courses
DM 207 MapServer Application for a Marine Atlas
This course introduces the Data Manager to an open source
software application to build spatially-enabled internet applications
to publish maps and to build an interactive map application
demonstrator for a marine atlas. The African Marine Atlas is used
here as the training model
DM 210 Marine & Coastal Atlases
Practical workshop intended to address the creation of a Marine &
Coastal Atlas for a specific geographic area, including the
construction of the static HTML interface to the GIS data products.
The workshop builds upon the theoretical concepts presented in
prior courses, but it includes the real-world considerations of
exactly where the Atlas will cover, what themes will be included,
and the construction of the actual products for this area
Thank You