Download PDF - COINAtlantic

SeaSketch11 th International Symposium for GIS and Computer Cartography for Coastal Zones ManagementDespite MarineMap's strengths, it was costly to deploy and maintain for new planning initiatives. With a$500,000 gift from Esri, and matching funds from the New Zealand Department of Conservation, last October,2012, we finished initial development of SeaSketch (www.seasketch.org), a global Software as a Service GIS platformdesigned for Marine Spatial Planners and Ocean Resource Managers who need to engage partner agencies andstakeholders in decisions about ocean resources (see Figure 1).SeaSketch takes the strengths of MarineMap, addresses its shortcomings, and introduces a host of new cuttingedgefeatures (http://goo.gl/3jWd9). Because SeaSketch is Software as a Service, it is less expensive, easier to maintain,more feature-rich, and faster to deploy than either a custom public engagement portal or desktop application. Inthe project dashboard, Project Managers can invite users, organize them into groups, assign groups different permissions,configure data layers, set up spatial discussion forums, and begin developing plan elements (i.e. uses, such asMPAs, shipping lanes, etc., that users would place) and surveys. Project Managers can also receive metrics on howstakeholders are using the project, which are sharing plan elements with each other, and how ideas are emergingthrough the planning process. SeaSketch also leverages agencies’ investments in their and other data atlases by directlypulling in their published map services, which ensures that the data being used in SeaSketch are the mostcurrent data published by the agency.One of the major new features of SeaSketch is the spatial discussion forum, a new technology that ties togetherstakeholder collaboration and spatial data. SeaSketch is the first and only planning platform to contain this type offorum. Users of the forum can interact in real-time, as though they were face-to-face, and they may also use theforum in a more traditional way by leaving a message and rechecking the discussion later. Participants record andshare planning ideas in their forum messages and tie certain views of geospatial data to messages. Other participantsretrieve those views as map bookmarks. Additionally, the forum represents a record of how participants shared ideasand reached consensus, allowing process facilitators to understand group dynamics as well as allowing later study ofthe decision-making process.Agencies that are already beginning to use SeaSketch include the New Zealand Department of Conservation, theMarine Planning Partnership for the North Pacific Coast (MaPP), the Northeast Regional Ocean Council, the GreatLakes Wind Collaborative, NOAA, UNEP, and the nation of Antigua and Barbuda. SeaSketch has already beennominated for a Katerva Award given its potential (http://katerva.org/2012-nominees/marine-map-sea-sketch/).GeoDesignWe find that one of the core reasons there is so much interest in MarineMap and SeaSketch is because of the GeoDesignworkflow inherent in each. With GeoDesign, one can explore any potential spatial plan and, by iteratingthrough sketches and analytical evaluations, learn about the potential consequences of designs using science-basedmetrics. For example, stakeholders used MarineMap to draw prospective MPA networks and discover how welldesigns met science and policy guidelines for ecosystem protection and minimizing economic impacts to fisheries.Iterative sketching and evaluation of MPA designs allowed stakeholders to question and understand the scientificinformation and advice reflected in the analytics. In some cases, stakeholders lobbied for the implementation ofplans that did not meet science guidelines. In most cases, however, plans submitted for implementation met theminimum science guidelines. Furthermore, public scrutiny of the science used in the MLPAI lead to the collection ofbetter data and the development of better models for use in MarineMap.Unlike many optimization modeling tools and approaches common to marine spatial planning projects (e.g.Marxan), the GeoDesign workflow of MarineMap and SeaSketch does not prescribe solutions based on stated goalsand objectives. Rather, the workflow lets users sketch any arbitrary plan and compare it to others with science-basedmetrics. Any sketch may be shared with other users and incorporated into spatial designs. Therefore, prospectiveplans designed through this approach may be well supported by science (e.g., plans may conform to science guidelinesreflected in SeaSketch analytics) or they may be completely unsupported by science. In this way, we encouragethe use of scientific information and advice while giving stakeholders the ability to express any arbitrary opinion oridea.82