Connecting Land and Sea Data
The Federated Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure (MSDI) Pilot is an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Innovation Programme initiative that aims to enhance the understanding and uptake of MSDI and demonstrate the power of Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable (FAIR) data in the context of the marine environment.
The latest phase of the pilot (phase four), entitled “Connecting Land and Sea for Global Awareness,” is being sponsored by the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore, NOAA in the U.S., the Canadian Hydrographic Service and the U.K. Hydrographic Office, and involves the participants MEDIN and OceanWise Ltd.
Phase four aims to build on the success of the first three phases: an initial MSDI concept development study, the Maritime Limits and Boundaries (MLB) Pilot, and the development of a more generic Arctic Spatial Data Pilot.
The various data inputs will be tested for land-sea interoperability and the sources assessed against the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework Marine Maturity Index (IGIF-M) and Operational Framework (IGIF-H) recently published by the UN Committee of Experts on Global Geographic Information Management (UN-GGIM).
It is hoped the pilot will leverage the IGIF and promote the benefits of FAIR principles, with the aim of improving how data sets are managed and shared by data holders. Outputs from the pilot will include lessons learned and identification of gaps to inform the development of relevant OGC and International Hydrographic Organization standards.