The development of a spatial data infrastructure to support marine spatial planning in Greece

Spatial data infrastructures for cities in developing countries

Abstract. Geo-information techniques have proven their usefulness for the purposes of early warning and emergency response. These techniques enable us to generate extensive geo-information to make informed decisions in response to natural disasters that lead to better protection of citizens, reduce damage to property, improve the monitoring of these disasters, and facilitate estimates of the damages and losses resulting from them. The maintenance and accessibility of spatial information has improved enormously with the development of spatial data infrastructures (SDIs), especially with second-generation SDIs, in which the original product-based SDI was improved to a process-based SDI. Through the use of SDIs, geo-information is made available to local, national and international organisations in regions affected by natural disasters as well as to volunteers serving in these areas. Volunteer-based systems for information collection (e.g., Ushahidi) have been created worldwide. However, the use of 3D maps is still limited. This paper discusses the applicability of 3D geo-information to disaster management. We discuss some important aspects of maps for disaster management, such as user-centred maps, the necessary components for 3D maps, symbols, and colour schemas. In addition, digital representations are evaluated with respect to their visual controls, i.e., their usefulness for the navigation and exploration of the information. Our recommendations are based on responses from a variety of users of these technologies, including children, geospecialists and disaster managers from different countries.

科学合理的海域空间评价单元划分是各类海洋空间监测、评价、规划和管理的基础工作，对于保护海洋生态环境，实现海洋资源的可持续开发利用具有重大现实意义。然而，海洋的流动性、开放性、边界模糊性等特征，导致海洋空间评价单元划分较陆地而言更为复杂、困难。以福建省东山湾为例，提出一种适用于小尺度海域的空间评价单元划分技术方案，通过从化学属性、物理属性、生物学属性三个方面构建海域空间生态属性划分指标体系，进行空间分类评价，运用插值、叠加分析等GIS技术将东山湾划分为67个基本空间评价单元。研究结果不仅能为进一步划定东山湾海洋空间规划提供技术支持，同时为其他小尺度海域生态监测、评价、规划和管理提供科学参考。;For the sustainable development and utilization of marine resources, and protection of marine ecological environment, coastal countries have successively implemented marine spatial planning (MSP). MSP is considered as an important marine management tool, which is an indispensable part of marine ecological civilization construction in China. Scientific and reasonable division of marine spatial units is the basic work of marine spatial monitoring, evaluation, planning and management, which is of great practical significance for the protection of marine ecological environment and the sustainable development of marine resources. However, the characteristics of the ocean, such as mobility, openness and boundary ambiguity, make the division of marine spatial units more complex and difficult than that of land. In this study, we collect a large number of data from environmental monitoring sites in Dongshan Bay. Based on the comprehensive and detailed data which can capture ecological environment status, we propose a technical scheme of spatial evaluation units division which is suitable for fine-scale sea areas. The scheme constructs the index system for the division of marine spatial evaluation units based on the physical, biological and chemical elements. Combined with GIS technology such as interpolation and spatial overlay analysis, Dongshan Bay is divided into 67 basic spatial evaluation units, which is a more accurate and scientific division of marine spatial units. On the basis of marine spatial units, local government can carry out the marine spatial monitoring, evaluation, planning and management. The marine environmental protection strategies and marine exploitation activities can be formulated for the sea areas with different environmental endowments by considering the local conditions. This division approach can not only provide technical support for the MSP of Dongshan Bay, but also can be a supplement of spatial units division approach for marine spatial monitoring, evaluation, planning and management. This division approach is suitable for fine-scale sea areas, but it is also applicable to large and medium-scale sea areas where complete and detailed environmental monitoring data can be obtained. The technical scheme of marine spatial units division proposed in this study has a wide application prospect.

In the wake of the so-called information technology revolution, many stakeholders from the public and private sectors (including citizens) have indeed grown accustomed to the promise and usability of spatial data infrastructures (SDI) for data access, use, and sharing. Analyzing the obstacles as well as the processes and mechanisms of integration and implementation, Spatial Data Infrastructures in Context: North and South investigates the technological and the non-technological aspects of the widespread adoption of spatial data infrastructures. Supporting theoretical issues with empirical studies, the editors pay particular attention to the non-technological aspects of organizational, financial, and legal issues including owner rights, liability, copyrights, and compatibility with precedent and supercedent laws. The authors also highlight the importance of understanding the local environment and circumstances in the process of tailoring the approaches to the conditions that characterize societies of different cultural, institutional, and economic settings. Designed to improve the accessibility, interoperability, and affordability of spatial data, the book focuses on the increasing challenges associated with integrating individuals and organizations into a network to support (1) public authorities and administrations at various levels, (2) thematic user communities, (3) enterprises, and (4) citizen-oriented society as a whole. It addresses the implementation and development of spatial data infrastructures for a wide range of themes, applicable technical standards and protocols, and specific organizational issues unique to data policy. Highlighting the potential for profound changes to the access, use, and exchange of spatial data for citizens, organizations, and geographically related applications, and therefore to the role and interaction of the stakeholders from the public and private sectors, this timely contribution provides new insights into improving our understanding of the increasing relevance, applicability, and value of spatial data infrastructures.

This paper elaborates research prospects in the recent scenario, which identifies the use of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) in the design of interdisciplinary geo-information systems for decision support systems to handle energy linked disasters at different scales for all user groups. The realization of the SDI potential as subsidiary for resolving sustainable local & global energy complications depends on multiple factors including reliable access to well-harmonized information. The work also introduces to an emerging digital geo-information infrastructure and policy framework at global, regional, national and local levels. The concept of SDI as a tool presents the notion for networked SDIs, designed and implemented to serve various specific applications at the national, regional or municipal level. Handling energy linked disasters could be such an application sector. The work illuminates the necessity of the legal and regulatory changes to be done in order to achieve the SDI framework. The work wishes at comprehending role of SDI in providing policy solutions for complex problems embedded with energy linked disaster caused due to conflict over energy issues with a scientific challenge. The work also examines the relationship between competition for energy resources and the inclination for conflict in the coming future taking the argument well beyond issues of energy politics and the significance of oil and gas to the global market, the work offers significant new findings concerning the impact of energy wealth on life and the economies. It also explores the ways attempting to uphold the energy interests in the newly independent states, and the impact of competition on regional security. Believe it or not, conflict is an untapped source for creativity and energy. The paper proposes a prototype with a set of recommended practices in the development of SDI on clear political accountability to its integrity to address the role as a framework for facilitating local and global energy linked disaster. It is discussed that the design and implementation of an SDI model framework can assist the managing agencies to improve the quality of their decision-makings at all level of the activities. This includes the development of a prototype web-based system which can facilitate sharing, access and use of data in energy linked disaster management and especially disaster response.

OGC Catalog Services: a key element for the development of Spatial Data Infrastructures

Marine spatial planning (MSP) has rapidly become the most widely used integrated, place-based management approach in the marine environment. Monitoring and evaluation of MSP is key to inform best practices, adaptive management and plan iteration. While standardised evaluation frameworks cannot be readily applied, accounting for evaluation essentials such as the definition of evaluation objectives, indicators and stakeholder engagement of stakeholders is a prerequisite for meaningful evaluation outcomes. By way of a literature review and eleven practical MSP case studies, we analysed present day trends in evaluation approaches and unravelled the adoption of evaluation essentials for three categories for monitoring and evaluation for plan making, plan outcomes, and policy implementation. We found that at a global scale the focus of MSP evaluation has shifted over the past decade from evaluating predominantly plan outcomes towards the evaluation of plan making. Independent of the scope of the evaluation, evaluation approaches varied greatly from formal and structured processes, building for instance on MSP goals and objectives, to informal processes based on stakeholder interviews. We noted a trend in the adoption of formalised approaches where MSP evaluations have increasingly become linked to MSP policy goals and objectives. However, the enhanced use of MSP objectives and indicators did not result in a more straightforward reporting of outcomes, e.g. such as the achievement of specific MSP objectives. Overall, we found weak linkages between defined MSP objectives, indicators and available monitoring data. While the apparent shift towards a focus on objectives is promising, we highlight the need of fit-for-purpose monitoring data to enable effective evaluation of those objectives. Hence, effective MSP and adaptive management processes require customised and concurrent monitoring and evaluation strategies and procedures. We argue that evaluation processes would also benefit from a better understanding of the general environmental, socio-economic and socio-cultural effects of MSP. Therefore, to understand better environmental effects of MSP, we praise that forthcoming MSP processes need to deepen the understanding and considerations of cause-effect pathways between human activities and changes of ecosystem state through the adoption of targeted cumulative effects assessments.

In 2022, the European Commission adopted the REPower EU package which proposes to further increase the 2030 target for renewables from 40 % to 45 % and revise the Renewable Energy Directive to accelerate permitting. Moreover, the European Offshore Renewable Energy Strategy estimates to have an installed capacity of at least 60 GW of offshore wind and at least 1 GW of ocean energy by 2030, reaching 300 GW and 40 GW of installed capacity, respectively, by 2050, which would require less than 3% of the European maritime space.
 The marine environment is an ecosystem that supports a set of uses and human activities, contributing to economic and social development. Most of the uses and activities require the use of maritime space, either temporarily or permanently, increasing the potential for conflict with existing and traditional marine uses. The European Directive 2014/89/UE establishes a framework for marine spatial planning (MSP) and requires the competent authorities in each Member State to develop national maritime spatial plans, analysing and organizing human activities in marine areas, applying ecosystem-based approach, involving stakeholders, in order to achieve ecological, economic and social objectives. Moreover, this MSP framework not only intends to mitigate possible present and future spatial conflicts but also contemplates the emerging sectors and the most recent technological development in the sea. 
 In the context of the EU-funded SAFEWave project (https://www.safewave-project.eu/), the different National Maritime Spatial Plans in Europe and how the Marine Renewable Energies (MRE) have been considered or integrated in different national plans have been analysed (i.e. Spain, France, Ireland, Portugal and United Kingdom). The outcome of this analysis has identified: (i) the approaches to implementation of MSP plans vary by country and sometimes within countries; (ii) differences in the stakeholder or public involvement in MSP (ii) differences in national MRE targets; (ii) different strategies and priorities for raising the issue of MRE within the national MSP; (iii) for which countries MREs are strategics in their national plans; (iv) conflicts with other uses (i.e. Marine Protected Areas), and mechanisms to solve them; (vi) technical, socio-economic and environmental factors considered for MRE polygons identification in national MSP; (vii) the development of national MSP requires a review of the authorization or concession procedures for the allocation or reservation of areas for MREs. 
 Ultimately, comparing the integration of national plans for marine renewable energy (MRE) into national marine spatial plans (MSP) can inform and guide management strategies, legislation, and policies to support management actions and efficiently plan future MRE deployments.

One of the great challenges faced due to current human demands is to reconcile the conservation of the innumerable natural resources present in the marine realm with the intense development processes occurring in the coastal zones.The latter aspect includes Marine Spatial Planning (MSP), an important management tool created to establish a more rational organization of the use of marine and coastal areas, equalizing the demands of development with the need to protect these ecosystems.Some of the most important international organizationsthe European Union, OSPAR, HELCOM/VASAB, and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)are encouraging MSP at a national level.Another efficient tool is Ecosystem-based Management (EBM), which allows a full arrangement of interactions within the marine realm and effectively integrates science and governance for the management of natural resources.This work aims to propose an integrated analysis methodology using an EBM approach that encompasses environmental variables and current and potential uses, contributing to the implementation of marine spatial planning for the inner continental shelf surrounding the Patos lagoon estuary.Datasets were used to produce the thematic maps, such as surface sedimentology, location of the ecologically important submerged features, occurrence of mineral resources and zoobenthic fauna, with trophic importance and/or endangered.A sedimentological map was initially drawn; it was possible to observe the predominance of fine sand sediments between the coastal zone and the 50 meter isobaths, together with some coarse and medium quartzose sand and shell gravel deposits.The identification of these sedimentological patterns is fundamental in the understanding of the benthic communities, in addition to creating subsidies for the conservation of species.The present study proposes the creation of zones for exclusive use and multiple-use based on the surveys and mapping of the environmental and socioeconomic features of the region.

Effective practice in marine spatial planning: A participatory evaluation of experience in Southern England

Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) offers the possibility of democratising management of the seas. MSP is, however, increasingly implemented as a form of post-political planning, dominated by the logic of neoliberalism, and a belief in the capacity of managerial-technological apparatuses to address complex socio-political problems, with little attention paid to issues of power and inequality. There is growing concern that MSP is not facilitating a paradigm shift towards publicly engaged marine management, and that it may simply repackage power dynamics in the rhetoric of participation to legitimise the agendas of dominant actors. This raises questions about the legitimacy and inclusivity of participatory MSP. Research on stakeholder engagement within MSP has predominately focused on assessing experiences of active MSP participants and has not evaluated the democratic or inclusive nature of these processes. Adopting the Northeast Ocean Planning initiative in the US as a case study, this paper provides the first study of exclusion and non-participation of stakeholders in an MSP process. Three major issues are found to have had an impact on exclusion and non-participation: poor communication and a perception that the process was deliberately exclusionary; issues arising from fragmented governance, territorialisation and scale; and lack of specificity regarding benefits or losses that might accrue from the process. To be effective, participatory MSP practice must: develop mechanisms that recognise the complexity of socio-spatial relationships in the marine environment; facilitate participation in meaningful spatial decision-making, rather than in post-ideological, objective-setting processes; and create space for debate about the very purpose of MSP processes.

Cumulative impact assessments highlight the benefits of integrating land-based management with marine spatial planning

Coastal and marine areas represent an increasingly important and relevant action space for spatial planning. However, to a large extent marine (or maritime) spatial planning has emerged separately from terrestrial spatial planning, constituting its own epistemic community. In particular, previous studies indicate that Marine Spatial Planning often follows an expert-driven resource management rationale focused on sea-use regulation. This paper examines practices of Marine Spatial Planning and Integrated Coastal Zone Management at the German North Sea coast. The paper focuses in particular on the engagement of spatial planners with these practices and their perception of their role therein. We seek to understand what form spatial planning at the coast and at sea currently takes and how this might develop in the future in response to current and anticipated policy developments. We argue for the necessity of a communicative, cross-sectoral approach to spatial planning at sea, providing a spatial vision for the future that extends from the Exclusive Economic Zone to encompass both the coastal waters of the federal states and the land-sea interface in a substantive manner.

As the global climate is changing dramatically, the Westfjords of Iceland are facing a multitude of challenges, including changing weather patterns, sea level rise, and invasive species. In order to cope with the recent climatic changes—many of which present great uncertainties to livelihoods—strategies must be developed to plan and adapt for the future. Iceland has recently launched marine spatial planning (MSP) endeavours, and one of the first planning processes has been conducted in the Westfjords. MSP presents opportunities for authorities, stakeholders, and the public to come together to forge a sustainable path ahead for marine areas that are under increasing pressure from human activities. However, MSP comes with its own considerable challenges as it attempts to engage stakeholders and the general public in decisions about an ‘invisible’ space largely beneath the surface of the sea. In this paper, the uncertainties of the environmental changes will be explored in conjunction with the multitude of societal challenges to coastal and marine planning in the Westfjords to establish Iceland’s unique context for MSP and to make recommendations for its development. Data from the planning documents as well as from semi-structured interviews and a workshop conducted in the Westfjords will be analysed and discussed. The results show both an urgent environmental need to take action to adapt to ongoing climate change effects and a complex societal structure that favours those who already have power and influence over others. Our recommendations include reforming the Icelandic MSP process with a view to strengthening the public participatory channels as well as the transparency, trust, and accessibility of the process.

of fishery resources and degradation of marine biodiversity are attributed to two main reasons, i.e., overfishing and threats from intensified land-based human activities. Marine spatial planning (MSP) can be an important tool to mitigate the above-referred threats thereby conserving the fishery resources and biodiversity. Marine spatial planning is a typical ecosystem approach that can properly demarcate marine resources spatially and temporally to a variety of human activities, and meet multiple economic, social and ecological objectives. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are basic components in MSP for biodiversity conservation and fishery sustainability. Two case studies show how MSP can harmonize multiple uses of marine areas concerned and avoid conflicts; however for protection of some migratory species small or isolated natural reserves are not enough. In order to form a complete ecological system for marine biodiversity conservation and management, MSP needs to be combined with other planning instruments such as spatial planning of coastal zones and pollution control planning of river basins. Furthermore, spatial and temporal landscape ecology should be addressed in MSP to accommodate the fisheries refugia requirements. To this end regional and international cooperation are indispensable, and more researches should be conducted to better understand background status of ecosystem and fishery resources, and relevant management capability in the region concerned.