Project Status - Active
Start Year: 2006
End Year: Ongoing
Funding Body: US National Science Foundation European Environment Agency Marine Institute

Geographic Area: Global
Local Study Area: Irish coastal zone

Project Co-Ordinator: Ned Dwyer, Dawn Wright (OSU)
CMRC Contact: Ned Dwyer

Website: http://ican.science.oregonstate.edu/home

Abstract

The International Coastal Atlas Network (ICAN) aims to be a global reference for the development of coastal web atlases, which we define as: "...collections of digital maps and datasets with supplementary tables, illustrations, and information that systematically illustrate the coast, oftentimes with cartographic and decision support tools, all of which are accessible via the Internet." O'Dea et al., 2007, Trans-Atlantic Workshop Report 1

The CMRC is one of the founders and there are currently over 50 organisations that are members of ICAN and these come from more than 14 different countries. A key aim of ICAN is to share experiences and to find common solutions to CWA development (e.g., user and developer guides, handbooks and articles on best practices, information on standards and web services, expertise and technical support directories, education, outreach, and funding opportunities, etc.), while ensuring maximum relevance and added value for the end users. Some of the recent achievements of ICAN include the publication of a handbook on how to develop a coastal web atlas and the ongoing development of an interoperability demonstrator showing how CWAs can be linked together.

Since 2006 ICAN has held five international workshops ("Potentials and Limitations of Coastal Web Atlases," Cork, Ireland, 2006; "Coastal Atlas Interoperability," Corvallis, Oregon, USA, 2007; and "Federated Coastal Atlases: Building on the Interoperable Approach," Copenhagen, Denmark, 2008, “Formalizing the Network, Engaging the Mediterranean”, Trieste, Italy, 2009, “Coastal Atlases as Engines for Coastal & Marine Spatial Planning”, Oostende, Belgium, 2011). All workshop proceedings are available on the ICAN website. We expect to hold the next workshop in June 2013 in Victoria, Canada.