Initiatives

DNF provides a framework to promote the better integration of all kinds of information with location as the common denominator. It offers the ability to link multiple information sources to a definitive location reference through unique identifiers.

SeaZone is an active member of the DNF Expert Group and is providing further developing base reference information (SeaZone HydroSpatial) to which other objects, features and properties can be linked via topographical and topological identifiers.

Click here for more information on DNF

The aim of Atlantis is to provide integrated base geographic and environmental datasets to better support water management in flooding and water quality for the 21st Century. The initiative involves statutory mapping agencies Ordnance Survey and British Geology Survey, the Environment Agency and the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology.

SeaZone is fulfilling UKHO's obligation to provide detailed offshore bathymetry and other data harmonised with land mapping. Key deliverables include a combined land-sea elevation model to a common datum. The resulting dataset is used for coastal inundation studies and as input to joint river and tidal modelling.

SeaZone and UKHO are working with partners, including the Ordnance Surveys of GB, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, to create marine geographic information that is joined at the coast with land mapping. This requires joining 3D surfaces and topographic areas, together with the development an extended feature catalogue and supporting schema that comply with emerging ISO standards for geographic information. It means resolving the discrepancies between various depictions of shoreline constructions and establishing a single primary maintainer of such information, whilst ensuring that the needs of all users are catered for.

SeaZone's CMIP initiative follows the work undertaken by Ordnance Survey, UKHO and the British Geological Survey during the UK Government's funded Integrated Coastal Zone Mapping Project. Click here for further information on ICZM.

SeaZone is creating a spatial database which supports the growing needs of a wide range of applications unrelated to navigation. The development supports the use of geographic information by end users, as often the data can be made directly accessible (via WMS/WFS etc) or is ready for upload onto their own systems (e.g. ESRI ArcSDE). Furthermore, GIS compatible symbology, marine application software (e.g. to display tidal information) and other supporting documentation and enabling technologies are being developed to users' benefit.

The results of the investment will include topographic mapping that is joined at the land-sea boundary, an essential pre-requisite to building national and international spatial data infrastructures (SDIs), such as that planned for Europe (INSPIRE), and a combined surface model (or DTM) that can be used to support hydrodynamic and other environmental modelling needed to consider coastal inundation.

SeaZone is advising the International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO) on the wider use of hydrographic data and provides expertise on the requirements and best practice for setting up MSDI. The work is provided through SeaZone's participation on the IHO's Marine SDI Working Group (Further information available at the IHO website http://www.iho-ohi.net/english/committees-wg/chris/msdiwg.html)

SeaZone is creating metadata, feature dictionaries and schema compliant with converging standards by bringing together existing knowledge of marine data to create marine topography and associated reference information in a way that is more appropriate to use in information systems, such as GIS. Existing standards for navigational data (e.g. S-57) are inappropriate because they provide detail where it is needed for charting and does not provide detail where it is not.

More general uses of marine information require detail in different areas. An example of where SeaZone is modifying the properties of features that have been captured for charting is in the introduction of a level parameter similar to that used in OS MasterMap, where 1 is below sea bed, 2 is on the sea bed, 3 is supported and 4 is floating. SeaZone and UKHO are working with the international marine geographic community to ensure that standards requested by the UK are compatible in Europe and worldwide.

SeaZone is supporting the greater harmonisation and coordination of marine data in the UK. SeaZone is active on the Resource and Applications Working Group of MEDIN and is developing much of the information that underpins sustainable development, strategic environmental assessment and integrated coastal zone management, all of which are important factors in the forthcoming Marine Bill. SeaZone is highlighting the need to consolidate base reference information that either does not exist or is spread between different agencies, each with a slightly different remit for acquiring it, and leading to inconsistent and often inadequate data being held. The benefits of consolidating this information into a single database onto which other "associated' information can be linked are obvious.