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2015 Marine GIS Workshop is Announced

OceanWise has announced that its 2015 Marine GIS Workshop will take place on Tuesday 17th November at the School of Economic Science, Mandeville Place, London. This popular annual, free-to-attend, event is open to anyone with an interest in marine data and GIS as well as new and existing customers, stakeholders, partners and distributors. It gives attendees the ideal opportunity to meet and network with fellow professionals and colleagues and the OceanWise team and opportunity to learn what is new in the marine and coastal sector and discuss/debate topical subjects of the moment in a relaxed environment. Look out on our website for the programme and registration details in early September.

Maritime Toolbar Improvements and Extended Beta Programme

OceanWise has extended the trial period of Maritime Toolbar for Esri following successful beta-testing with hydrographers at Associated British Ports North West region in Barrow-in-Furness. Feedback from the beta-testers has enabled OceanWise to adapt and improve the toolbar, which now contains 31 tools, to include more functionality specific to the requirements of port hydrographers. Some of this new functionality includes the ability to read Bathymetry Attributed Grid (BAG) files directly in ArcMap to create point depths and the ability to produce .xyz/.bag coverage datasets. An official release of the Toolbar will be available on completion of this beta-testing phase. In addition beta-testing is about to start for Maritime Toolbar for Cadcorp SIS 8.0 with our existing customers receiving the first version in the next few weeks.

OceanWise Turns Five

2015 is a big year for OceanWise – having officially turned 5 years old! We have been a little too busy to celebrate properly but all enjoyed our summer family barbeque – a lot more people there this year than just 2 years ago! Business is doing well and we are very proud to work with some big name companies in the maritime sector despite our relatively small size!

We pride ourselves on good customer relationships and want to say “Thank you” to all our customers for making OceanWise a successful business and we look forward to working with you for many years to come.

Preview of Land-Clipped Rasters

Ever since the first paper nautical chart was scanned and georeferenced over three decades ago, the geographic information (GI) community has struggled to use them efficiently within GIS software and map making solutions. This is due, firstly, to the chart being designed for use as a finished map in isolation. It contains as part of the output, printed metadata such as source data diagrams, compass roses, notices to mariners and tidal diamond tables to name but a few. These are usually drawn near the margins or over areas of lesser navigational interest, usually over the top of land features!

In an effort to improve the interoperability of marine and land based data in a GIS system OceanWise is pleased to announce the impending launch of its latest data product, land-clipped Raster Charts. Raster Charts XL (which stands for eXcluding Land) will be available for all UK Waters from Sep 2015. Other areas will be rolled out in due course or can be requested, with delivery being dependent on the number of charts and availability. With the land removed you can combine Raster Charts XL with any third party land mapping data or web service to provide more accurate and comprehensive land mapping than that provided on nautical charts. The familiar look of the nautical chart is retained making the output more useful, accurate and visually appealing to most users. The pricing for Raster Charts XL is the same as for Raster Charts. Existing users will be able to choose between Raster Charts or Raster Charts XL in their next quarterly or annual update.

MEDIN Linked Wrecks Pilot

OceanWise has delivered to MEDIN (Marine Environmental Data & Information Network) a pilot study showcasing the ability to link wreck features across multiple discrete datasets and publish resultant information to the internet. The study aimed to utilise data from MEDIN DAC's (Data Archive Centres) which was then ingested to a relational database, or data-mart, before publishing both the original datasets and the linked datasets via OGC compliant web services. Datasets were linked where foreign key identifiers were present to match duplicate features and represent the links spatially.

The web service layers were tested independently against a typical EIA use case scenario by MarineSpace. For this, OceanWise produced a web map application that allowed basic analysis functionalities. For detailed analysis, WMS and WFS services were supplied that could be consumed by a standard desktop GIS.

A detailed report was produced that explained objectives and methodologies in full and made recommendations to DAC's regarding the way datasets are structured and supplied and to OceanWise regarding the provision of the web services and web application offerings.

The report will be published by MEDIN in the near future and points towards a future where spatial data can be accessed conveniently by anyone and used within a variety of platforms with ease.
Linked Wrecks Pilot Web Application
Linked Wrecks Pilot Final Report

OceanWise Family BBQ

On the 5th of July OceanWise staff, along with their families, made their way to Hayling Island Sailing Club for our Annual Summer BBQ. Great fun was had by all whether kayaking, paddle boarding, sailing or simply chilling on the beach. Some world-class BBQ skills meant that there was a steady flow of delicious food, including some of the biggest steaks ever seen on the Island. Caroline’s incredible Apple Tart was the perfect way to finish and everyone was thankful that she brought two! The abundance of sun (which caught one or two of us by surprise thanks to the deceptive sea breeze), food and fun meant that younger attendees were very tired by the end of the day (as were many of the adults), the hallmark of a good day out. So a big thank you to everyone that contributed to another successful event.

Marine Data Management Course a Success

OceanWise has recently provided its first Marine Data Management Course, on behalf of iMarEST, to 12 delegates at its London HQ in Aldgate House. The course was met with some really positive and useful feedback. At the end of the day we had enthusiastic delegates who were ready to go back to their workplaces and take the first steps towards implementing a Data Management Policy or improving an existing one. Following the course all delegates were given access to our new Learning Management System where they could particpate in discussion forums and complete course activities.

New Partners and Distributors Announced

OceanWise is pleased to announce the appointment of Europa Technologies as a Data Distributor and Value Added Reseller. Based in Cobham, Surrey, Europa Technologies is an award winning company with a wealth of knowledge and experience in providing innovative solutions to its customers. Its viaEuropa service facilitates the consumption of OceanWise data as a service, enabling end-users to consume the data directly into their choice of desktop mapping application or web mapping API.

OceanWise also welcome VietNav, based in Ho Chi Minh City, as our Software and Service Distributors in Vietnam. VietNav specialises in providing marine technology solutions, developing and implementing marine databases and integrated navigation systems. It also offers specific software, hydrographic equipment, charts and publications. It now presents the OceanWise model of Maritime Information Infrastructure to ports and harbours as a productive integrated solution as well as OceanWise Environmental Data Sharing and Publishing (EDSP) “Smart Telemetry” services and systems.

News From Our Distributors

New OceanWise Distributor Europa Technologies has been busy promoting OceanWise digital data products at various UK and international events including the Esri International User Conference in San Diego. Through traditional data supply and its award-winning viaEuropa hosted map service, Europa supports a broad range of technologies to meet the many needs of OceanWise customers. Europa will be exhibiting at the forthcoming series of PSMA roadshow events this Oct/Nov. For further information or to arrange a meeting, please contact Duncan Hill.

Marine Mapping Demos Online

OceanWise has recently released individual online demos for Marine Themes Vector, Marine Themes Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and Raster Charts and our new Raster Charts XL (eXcluding Land) data products. The application of marine data in a web service is an increasingly important requirement for many users, these demos show how map content can be delivered through a web interface either as Web Mapping (WMS) or Tile Mapping (TMS) services. In order to improve ease of access for users, these have been consolidated into a set of web pages under the URL maps.oceanwise.eu. Additional to our main data products demonstrators are available for Electronic Navigational Charts and Wrecks, both delivered as WMS. As well as individual web pages built using OpenLayers the demonstrators are available on our website’s Data pages. These pages provide an illustration of what is available as OGC compliant web services. Please contact us for actual end points for the web services if you would like to trial these in your own desktop and web GIS.

OceanWise leads the re-vitalisation of the AGI Marine SIG

The UK Association for Geographic Information (AGI) is to revitalise the Marine & Coastal Special Interest Group (SIG) after a spell of inactivity. It would be great to hear from any of our newsletter readers who are interested in helping us to revive this SIG. The value that other AGI SIGs, including Insurance & Risk, Systems & Service Suppliers and Asset Management to mention just a few, derive from networking with like-minded colleagues is self-evident with the impressive turnouts at their free evening events. Holding and attending inspiring meetings and talks are all about turning aspiration into opportunities for collaboration, innovation and enterprise. With an abundance of challenges facing the UK Marine sector, it’s particularly timely to initiate some activity and debate. OceanWise has volunteered to lead the way in rejuvenating the SIG at the upcoming AGI GeoCom “Resilient Futures” event to be held on 23rd-25th November at Chesford Grange near Warwick. Contact John Pepper at john.pepper@oceanwise.eu.

OceanWise Newly Weds

OceanWise would like to use this space to congratulate two of the OceanWise team on their recent marriages! Both Richard Farren and Janet Lockey recently tied the knot with their respective partners, enjoying sunny weather and fun with friends and family during celebrations. We wish them all the best for the future.

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© OceanWise 2015. OceanWise Limited is an independent company specialising in marine environmental data acquisition, management, publishing and GIS. Registered in England No. 07206926