EcoGIS - GIS Tools for Ecosystem Approaches to Management

Related Efforts

Several related efforts external to EcoGIS are crucial for the future success of EcoGIS:

Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) Tools Network

The EBM Tools Network brings together an active group of EBM Tools developers and practioners. The Network sponsors monthly tool demonstrations and keeps the EBM tool community up-to-date on the latest news, funding opportunities, and opportunties to meet and collaborate.

Integrated and Sustained Ocean Observing System (IOOS)

The coastal component of IOOS is a national effort concerned with the effects of the ocean-climate system and human activities on coastal ecosystems, living resources, and the quality of life in the coastal zone. This component is conceived as a federation of regional observing systems nested in a federally supported national backbone of observations, data management, and modeling.

IOOS observational data will be an important input into EcoGIS in the future. Our staff will be following the development of IOOS and ensuring that the needs for Ecosystem Approaches to Fisheries Management are represented.

For more information on IOOS, please visit the NOAA IOOS office.

Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Marine and Coastal Spatial Data Subcommittee

The FGDC Marine and Coastal Spatial Data Subcommittee (MCSD) coordinates the acquisition, development, use, sharing, and dissemination of marine and coastal spatial data financed in whole or in part by Federal funds.

The following data are currently under the purview of the subcommittee: hydrographic data, including all nautical charting and bathymetric data; shoreline data; marine cadastral data; coastal remote sensing data; and benthic (ocean floor data).

These data are all important to ecosystem approaches to fishery management, and EcoGIS staff will participate in the MCSD to encourage national standards and coverage for these data types.

NOAA Enterprise GIS Architecture

The NOAA Enterprise GIS Architecture is in the initial stage of development and strives to meet the following objectives:

Provide a single point of discovery and access to NOAA's distributed spatial data holdings
Set data, metadata, GIS application interoperability, and IT architecture standards to enable data sharing, collaboration, new and enhanced services to the public, and internal operational efficiencies.

The NOAA Enterprise GIS Architecture will establish GIS as a critical tool that will support all of NOAA's mission goals.