July 13, 2007

Coastal Mapping Experts to Meet at OSU

By David Stauth, 541-737-0787

CORVALLIS, Ore. - A group of marine scientists from the U.S., Ireland,
United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark and Africa will meet at Oregon State
University on July 16-20 to create and discuss new programs in marine
and coastal mapping, and emerging "informatics" technology that merges
science with advanced computing systems.

The workshop, funded by the Office of International Science and
Education of the National Science Foundation, will build on the efforts
of a similar workshop held last year at the University College Cork in
Ireland.

"This is the beginning of what we hope will be a long-term partnership
and exchange of both students and faculty," said Dawn Wright, professor
of geosciences at OSU and expert in marine mapping technology. "There's
a growing public awareness of the critical state of our coastal zones
and fisheries, and we believe that experts in geographic information
science have much to contribute to improved management practices,
decision making and hazard assessments."

Worldwide, Wright said, about 20 percent of the people on Earth live
within a few miles of a coastline, many of which have severe management
or natural hazard concerns. Coastal mapping, geographic information
systems and informatics technology are powerful tools that could be used
to better address some of these concerns, she said, but are often not
implemented as fully as they could be into management and policy
decisions.

Wright was the co-organizer of both the Irish and U.S. conferences on
this topic, along with the Coastal and Marine Resources Centre at
University College Cork. Experts in many nations, Wright said, see a
need to make coastal resource data and information available via
interactive online atlases, along with more advanced geographic
information system tools and procedures.

Some of that work is already well under way in Oregon, with creation of
the Oregon Coastal Atlas, at http://www.coastalatlas.net. It has been
operational now for four years, and is the primary interactive map, data
and metadata portal for Oregon coastal resource managers and planners.

The launch last year of a similar atlas and program in Ireland positions
that country as one of the European leaders in web-based access to
coastal and marine information, Wright said.

Many participants in the OSU conference will also attend the 2007
Coastal Zone conference on July 22-26 in Portland, Ore., which will
attract 1,000 people from federal, state and local governments,
academia, non-profit organizations and private industry.

About the OSU College of Science: As one of the largest academic units
at OSU, the College of Science has 14 departments and programs, 13
pre-professional programs, and provides the basic science courses
essential to the education of every OSU student. Its faculty are
international leaders in scientific research.