INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN OCEANOGRAPHY (ITO-98) GOA, INDIA 12-16 OCTOBER 1998

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) have been used thoroughly during the past decade for the development of several applications in various fields of science. The ability of GIS to access different types of data, together with the improvement of the software platforms, have established a powerful tool in the hands of the scientists. Oceanography, which is one of the highly multi-disciplinary earth sciences, has been involved in the GIS applications quite recently.

The National Centre of Marine Research of Greece, following the modern challenges and also the European Union recommendations has initiated the use of GIS within the framework of the EU MAST-III ELOISE Metro-Med project. Metro-Med collects data from the fields of Physical, Geological, Biological and Chemical Oceanography. The variety and the amount of data gathered either in the field or after the laboratory analyses is very large. In an effort to organize, analyze, compare and finally to explore the dataset, we have utilized the Arc/Infoâ GIS platform for the development of an application named "Metro-Med GIS".

The task involves the collection of background information for the work area, that is the Thermaikos gulf in NW Aegean sea, a marine area of 2°x 2°. The layers introduced to Arc/Info concern not only the marine region, but also the whole drainage basin of the gulf, that is, an area many times larger. Background information involve the hypsography, the river network, the cities, the road network and other, obtained by maps of various scales. The layers deriving from Metro-Med activities, up to this moment, are the bathymetry, the oceanographic stations network and a collection of satellite LANDSAT images. The digital bathymetry of Thermaikos gulf is analyzed with the Arc/Info tools, revealing the morphological features of the sea-bed. The "Metro-Med GIS" aims at connecting the Arc/Info platform with a data base, which is developed in parallel, giving access to all the stored analytical data.

[ITO - 98] [Welcome] [1998 - Internetional Year of the Oceans] [Objectives of ITO-98] [Plenary Lectures] [Technical Sessions] [Commercial/Corporate Presentation] [Exhibition/Demonstration] [Ocean IT CDROM] [Awards/Financial Assistance] [Fees / Charges] [Souvenir] [Post Symposium Event] [International Scientific Programme Committee] [Organizing Committee] [Schedule] [Scientific Programme Summary] [The Host] [Travelling / Accomodation] [Registration Forms] [Abstracts]

"to continously improve our understanding of the seas around us and to translate this knowledge to benefit all"

Copyright© National Institute Of Oceanography, Goa,India,1998
updated on 7th July'98