HELCOM inspires regional discussions on maritime spatial planning data

18 June 2014

New approaches for sharing and creating data on maritime spatial planning (MSP) have been discussed by the representatives of organizations and initiatives in the Baltic Sea region in a targeted session at this week’s Baltic Maritime Spatial Planning Forum in Riga, Latvia. The session was moderated by Project Coordinator Manuel Frias from HELCOM Secretariat.

“There is still much to do in the field of regional data exchange concerning the Baltic Sea even if this activity has been going on for over 100 years, and within HELCOM since the last 40 years. Today’s discussions show that the approach of HELCOM of favouring links to the original data providers via Web Map Service (WMS) and other GIS software tools improves the flow of MSP data in the Baltic Sea area. This approach helps to avoid any outdated data, a risk when copying data to a centralized database,” says Frias.

HELCOM, the co-leader with Vision and Strategies around the Baltic Sea (VASAB) of Horizontal Action “Spatial Planning” in the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, has recently opened a targeted MSP map service to facilitate regional data exchange and browsing.

The Baltic Maritime Spatial Planning Forum takes place on 17-18 June 2014 and it is organized by PartiSEAPate Project, VASAB, as well as the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of Latvia.