Development of Spatial Data Infrastructures for Marine Data Management; OGC - IHO Marine SDI Concept Development Study (CDS).

Abstract

This engineering report presents the results of a concept development study on a Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), sponsored by the National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency (NGA) - Maritime Safety Office (MSO), on behalf of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and the IHO MSDI Working Group (MSDIWG), and executed by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). The goal of this study was to demonstrate to stakeholders the diversity, richness and value of a Marine SDI – specifically data, analysis, interoperability and associated IT services - including web services - in addressing needs of the marine domain. The study included an open Request for Information (RFI) with the objective to gather additional information to better support governments, agencies, nongovernmental organizations and citizens, unlocking the full societal and economic potential of the wealth of marine data at local, national, regional or international levels. The RFI results also provide information and insight on the current state of the Marine SDI. In addition to the RFI, a MSDI workshop and roundtable were held to gather additional information from both expert panel members and the audience. This engineering report presents an analysis of RFI, workshop and roundtable responses and interactions which provided in depth information on requirements and issues related to stakeholders, architecture, data, standards of current and a possible future Marine SDI. In addition, this report will serve as the basis for improvement of SDIs’ to support the marine domain. The responses will also be discussed with potential sponsoring organizations that would provide funding opportunities for possible Marine SDI Pilot(s) initiatives proposed for later this year, and in subsequent years. All RFI, workshop and roundtable responses will contribute to Marine SDI(s) moving forward. It will help to achieve greater interoperability, availability and usability of geospatial Web services and tools across different types of marine spatial data uses. In addition, these responses will provide identification of gaps, and definition of core components of an SDI to be referenced by IHO MSDIWG and used to define reference use-cases and scenarios for use in future pilot activities.