The Use of Spatial Fusion and WAP to Provide Support Information for Marine Environment Sustainability
Michael Sutherland, Sam Ng'ang'a, Aldino Campos, Sue Nichols
ABSTRACT
Marine resources are vulnerable to exploitation and are ever increasing in value to the welfare of countries, regions and communities. Living marine resources, although renewable, do not produce infinitely and must be subject to sustainable usage if they are not to suffer total depletion. Non-living marine resources such as oil and gas (among others) are non-renewable and are well established as having significant economic value, but also have to be managed so that negative impacts on marine ecosystems are negated or minimized.
The notion of sustainable development has been identified by many as the most central issue for the future of the human race. The static view of sustainable development focuses on the preservation and use of current resources in such a manner that the needs of future generations are not compromised. A dynamic view of sustainable development focuses on the development of more opportunities for future generations.
Whether one takes a static or dynamic view of sustainable development, there is always the need for accurate and up-to-date information (on many levels) about the resources that currently exist, the environment within which those resources exist, as well as on the users of those resources. Information on (but not limited to) living resources, bathymetry, spatial extents (boundaries), shoreline changes, marine contaminants, seabed characteristics, water quality, and property rights all contribute to the sustainable development and good governance of marine resources.
CARIS Spatial Fusionis one of the applications that integrate and distribute geographically referenced information through the Internet. Complementing it withthe Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) can result in the ability to obtain real-time hydrographic data and also retrieve relevant coastal and marine information over the web. The ability to distribute and view spatial information has quickly shifted from a desktop application (fat client) to a browser-based architecture (thin client). Web-enabled mobile devices can therefore be used to view real-time updates of marine spatial information.
This paper will examine the use of Spatial Fusion and WAP to collect and process hydrographic data into information that can be used to aid in decision-making relevant to the sustainable development of marine environments.
Key Words sustainable development, coastal boundaries, ocean boundaries, marine cadastre, ocean mapping, information value
Michael Sutherland is a PhD student in the Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering and is developing global models regarding the need for marine boundary information in coastal and ocean management.
Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering
University of New Brunswick
P.O. Box 4400, Fredericton, NB, E3B 5A3
, 506-451-6812
Sam Ng'ang'a is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering and is developing software tools for visualizing 3D marine boundary information in coastal and ocean management.
, 506-447-3259
Aldino Campos is a M.Eng student in the Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering and is developing software that utilizes digital based information to accomplish ship navigation.
, 506-447-3397
Dr. Sue Nichols is a professor in the Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering concerned with property rights issues on land and at sea. She has also been involved in research on national spatial data infrastructures in the US and Canada since 1990.
, 506-453-5141