IMIS - Marine Research Groups | Compendium Coast and Sea

IMIS - Marine Research Groups

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De Kustatlas online, Belgium
Period: 2009 till 2012
Status: Completed

Thesaurus terms Atlases; Coastal zone management; GIS
  • Provincie West-Vlaanderen; Gebiedswerking Kust, more, co-ordinator
  • Provincie West-Vlaanderen; Gebiedswerking Kust, more, sponsor
  • Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee (VLIZ), more, partner
  • Provincie West-Vlaanderen, more, partner
  • Vlaamse overheid; Beleidsdomein Mobiliteit en Openbare Werken; Vlaams Ministerie van Mobiliteit en Openbare Werken; Agentschap voor Maritieme Dienstverlening en Kust; Afdeling Kust, more, partner
  • Federale overheidsdienst Volksgezondheid, Veiligheid van de Voedselketen en Leefmilieu; Directoraat generaal Leefmilieu; Dienst Marien Milieu, more, partner
Atlas Purpose

  • Facilitate communication and awareness-raising
  • Provide a contact point for coastal information
  • Help implement the European Recommendation on Integrated Coastal
  • Integrate planning and coastal policy
  • Make coastal indicators visible as policy support instruments

Distinguishing features

  • Initially published as a book (Belpaeme and Konings 2004), then developed as a CWA
  • Designed simply but effectively
  • Uses Flash instead of a web mapping system for its maps
  • Available in four languages

Target Audience

  • General Public
  • Tourists
  • Students
  • Researchers/Scientists
  • NGOs
  • Government/Public Bodies
  • Commercial/Industry
  • Consultancies
  • Coastal/Environmental Managers
  • Decision Makers

Atlas design and usability

  • Focus:

    • Textual content
    • Map content

  • Design:

    • Clear navigation and instruction
    • Access text from maps
    • Single point(s) of access to
    • map/data

  • Map Page:

    • View limited layers
    • View data by theme
    • Combined legend & layer lists
    • Links to internal pages

  • Documentation:

    • Thematic text
    • Metadata


Technology used

  • Data Storage:

    • Locally

  • Other:

    • PHP/HTML web content
    • Flash for interactive maps
    • Downloads available in pdf/xls/gis format.


Functionality/tools available

  • Level:

    • Basic

  • Mapping Tools:

    • Zoom, recentre and full extent
    • View by theme
    • Print/Export maps
    • Download geospatial data

  • Other:

    • Links to coastal indicators for each topic


Data/cartographic information included

  • Geographic Area: Belgium
  • Number of Datasets: 33
  • Topics:

    • Physical Environment
    • Coastal Habitats
    • Imagery
    • Management
    • Human Impact
    • Infrastructure
    • Industry
    • Culture & Heritage
    • Natural Resources
    • Fisheries, Aquaculture & Agriculture
    • Tourism & Recreation


Data issues

  • IPR/Cost:

    • Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
    • Data use restrictions

  • Accessibility:

    • Data sourcing and acquisition
    • Poorly managed, inaccessible data
    • Limited GIS-ready data


  • Quality:

    • Variable/inconsistent data quality
    • Inappropriate data scales
    • Incomparable regional datasets

  • Management:

    • Regularity of data updates
    • Manual upload of data to atlas
    • Resources to source/acquire data


Other challenges

  • Funding for site maintenance
  • Content balance of science and information
  • Product promotion