Coastal/Marine GI/GIS - A Pan-European Perspective

Abstract

This chapter reviews the status of coastal and marine GI (geographic information) and GIS (geographic information systems) with regard to trans-national projects or programmes wholly or partly funded by the EU Institutions and other international bodies. The chapter examines the degree to which GI and GIS are taken into consideration at planning stages in new pan-EU initiatives for coastal and marine use, such as the current focus on the Baltic and regional planning in the Maghreb (Mediterranean basin) and European participation in various global climate change actions. The chapter concludes with recommendations for national and international GI/GIS organisations, public and private, to ensure that their voices are heard at the highest political level in the European Institutions in the current Information Society debate. Important initiatives are now underway, such as the EC Communication to the Council of Ministers and European Parliament “GI2000: Towards a European Policy Framework for Geographic Information”, the development of the “EGII - European Geographic Information Infrastructure” working document by EUROGI, GISDATA and other pan-European organisations, and the degree to which GI will be covered in the EU’s 13 billion ECU Fifth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, especially for coastal and marine research.