Electronic data warehouse for marine data: Marine Data Seminar
16 September 2010
An electronic data distribution ‘warehouse’ storing vast amounts of marine and coastal data is seen as the future way to make data accessible.
Enhancing ready access to quality marine data from multiple organisations in Western Australia is now being mooted as a test model for Australia, where information from a variety of sources is collated into a distributed, publicly accessible facility.
Already the new facility has been considered by the sponsors of the symposium – the Western Australian Marine Science Institution (WAMSI), the WA Node of the Australian Oceans Data Network (AODN), iVEC: The Hub of Computing, the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS), the WA Land Information System and the WA Satellite Technology and Applications Consortium (WASTAC).
These organisations and the WA departments of Mines and Petroleum, Transport, Environment and Conservation, Fisheries and Water, and the Environmental Protection Authority, the Fire and Emergency Services Authority, coastal local governments and the National Native Title Tribunal sent delegates to discuss the hows, whys, whats and wherefores of distributed data warehousing using open interoperability protocols.
WAMSI alone has accumulated data from 250 scientists working on 85 projects along the WA coastline. Information covers fisheries management, climate change, ocean weather patterns, biotechnology, ecosystems, oceanography, tides, wave movements, fish numbers, food chains and the management of marine parks – already in its own central facility.
When collated it will be combined with information on ocean monitoring from other sources into the first integrated information bank created by AODN. An atlas about Ningaloo Marine Park with information about tourism, fisheries, population predictions and marine creatures such as whale sharks will be added. Potentially, information from the Department of Transport on boating facilities, harbours, safety devices, dredging, moorings and wharves could be added as well as environmental assessments which are now held by the Environmental Protection Authority.
The electronic information has been gathered from aerial surveys, underwater videos, computerised modelling programs, habitat and benthic maps, acoustic data and their vital metadata.
The idea of amalgamating information hummed as more than 70 people from the State and Federal public sector, independent agencies, universities and local government authorities met at the symposium – Turning data into knowledge: marine data management in Western Australia – to discuss how the facility should be established.
Roger Proctor, head of the information infrastructure of IMOS/AODN, said WA could demonstrate to the rest of Australia what can be done in the marine data management space adding that there was a political will from Federal Government to combine information into an AODN facility with the contribution of States being vital.
“We need to reach a place where data can be harvested by the community and researchers, and involve all the marine community – State and Federal governments, universities and private industry,” he said.
“We need to look at creating a system which can make a huge difference.”
Pictured from left at the seminar were Dr Ben Radford (AIMS), Ralph Talbot-Smith (Department of Transport), Dr Roger Proctor (eMII-IMOS), Murray Dolling (Landgate), Luke Edwards (MC), Peter Ingwersen (WALIS Office) and Rod Nowrejee (EPA).
The Marine Data Seminar was held on September 16 at Technology Park in Kensington, and sponsored by WAMSI, WASTAC, iVEC and WALIS Marine Group. Details of the seminar are now available from the following link.