Focus links to photographs of coastline landmarks that help inexperienced sailors learn to recognize coast features. Mission impact diagrams, which display anticipated environmental impacts by military activities, are important to mission planning. Assessing impacts by using only a table was very time consuming and could be confusing. Since 2006, IHPT has been supporting the navy and national military joint staff with geospatially based, color-coded mission impact diagrams. This product, which is used on a daily basis, provides an exhaustive and efficient interface that shows factors relevant for a specific point of interest. Supporting marine research and development is another major objective for the IDAMAR SDI. Several information products have been developed that help scientists perform integrated analysis for a variety of marine disciplines, plan fieldwork, and communicate research results to the public. The Hotspot Ecosystem Research on the Margins of European Seas (HERMES) project is a perfect example of this type of support. More than 50 European partners are working on this project in seven different areas of the European shelf. A project GIS has been set up for each region to share data, coordinate fieldwork, and present results. Geospatial metadata has long been recognized as critical to the full utilization of SDIs by users and administrators. Three key aspects of metadata are data inventory, data search, and data quality. There are other aspects related to metadata that are valuable, but these are the major ones for the IDAMAR SDI. For an organization with environmentally based processes, maintaining a geospatial data inventory is fundamental. Gathering environmental data, especially marine data, can be very expensive. Performing the same measurement twice is a waste of time, money, and human resources, to say nothing of the cost of delays in acquiring necessary information. Currently available sampling methods (e.g., sensors, platforms) do not yet supply data sufficient to completely learn how the ocean works, so needless redundant sampling is a serious problem. Geospatial metadata search mechanisms are more complex than traditional, text-based methods because these methods require dealing with multidimensional (i.e., spatial and attribute) data. Geospatial fact sheets allow fast and objective searches for data of interest. As geospatial databases increase to terabytes in size, metadata becomes even more important. Data quality documentation is necessary to ensure that data can be reused in research and applications. Documentation prevents the use of data with inappropriate quality parameters that would adversely affect the quality of output and the decisions based on that output. Accessing data through RSS In addition to traditional geographic interfaces for accessing data, the IDAMAR SDI also provides access to some technical and scientific data via Really Simple Syndication (RSS). This protocol is useful for accessing data through low bandwidth connections or devices such as PDAs or cell phones. Tide predictions for the current date and the next three days, as well as near real-time data from sea state buoys located off the shore of continental Portugal and Madeira Island (updated every two hours), are disseminated using RSS. Navigation warnings are also issued via RSS. All links to this data are compiled at www.hidrografico.pt/ rss.php, and only an RSS reader is required to obtain this data. Ad hoc independent projects Many projects developed from the IDAMAR SDI have been distributed via CD and DVD. ArcReader is used to explore the information supplied for these projects. Applications have been developed that address maritime safety; assist police investigations; support the numerous activities of the navy; and inform ship sinking crisis management and many other areas of public, commercial, and environmental protection service. Nearshore drift modeling, wave energy systems location, aquaculture structures location, and historical cartography are examples of applications under development. Future Work The IDAMAR SDI is a valuable asset that supports its main mission objectives: ensuring safe sea navigation, supporting the navy's activities, protecting the environment, and contributing to knowledge of the ocean. Ongoing data acquisition activities include converting historical analog data and products to digital format and registering this data in the system. A geospatial portal for better visualization is also being developed. Future enhancements include the implementation of GeoRSS feeds for the dissemination of technical and scientific data and the development of multicriteria geospatial analysis for mission impact diagrams that will improve environmental tactical decisions. For more information, contact Miguel Bessa Pacheco Head of Data Centre Instituto Hidrografico, Portuguese Navy IHPT E-mail: bessa.pacheco@hidrografico.pt Learn More Visit www.esri.com/training to learn more about the instructor-led course GIS Portal Toolkit. www.esri.com ArcUser Spring 2009 21