Conclusion
Coastal GIS at the turn of the century
Darius Bartlett(l), Cindy Fowler, Roger Longhorn, Francois Cuq,
Lionel Loubersac
(1) University College, Department of Geography, Cork, Ireland
djb@ucc .ie
The final session of CoastGIS'99 took the form of a panel discussion,
led and chaired by Darius Bartlett with contributions from Cindy Fow1er, Roger Longhorn, Francois Cuq, Ron Furness and Lionel Loubersac.
This was followed by a wider discussion of topics and issues raised,
and included several interventions and commentaries ftom the floor.
What follows is an edited transcript of the main points raised. While
based on the verbal contributions from those named, editorial responsibility rests entirely with the session chair.
Darius Bartlett
Several interesting themes have come out of this conference, of which
the most significant are probably those relating to coastal data. This
topic has been addressed from a number of perspectives, and speakers
have examined definitions of data: semantics, the design and use of
data dictionaries, semiotics (that is the symbolism or meaning) of data;
and also metadata and standards. Clearly these are al~ areas where there
is much research activity, and where a lot of peoples' thinking is focused
at the moment.
Related to the foregoing, a second important topic raised in many presentations has been the question of interoperability. This concept extends
weIl beyond the technical dimension, and several other types of working
together were discussed. For example we heard about institutional
interoperability, that is helping institutions and people interact. This
is a particularly important issue because, amidst our many and diverse
professional or disciplinary interests, the one thing we aIl share is a
concern with integrated coastal zone management. We may approach
the issue from different starting points but, if we are to achieve this integration, somewhere along the line we have to find ways of getting aIl
the different interest groups and stakeholders at the coast talking the
same language. In other words, we are looking at, or for, interoperability at the level of the personnel involved, and also interoperability
of the data we are collecting and using. A number of presentations and
discussions addressed this last, particularly through examination of
data exchange standards.
307
Coastal GIS at the turn of the century
Darius Bartlett(l), Cindy Fowler, Roger Longhorn, Francois Cuq,
Lionel Loubersac
(1) University College, Department of Geography, Cork, Ireland
djb@ucc .ie
The final session of CoastGIS'99 took the form of a panel discussion,
led and chaired by Darius Bartlett with contributions from Cindy Fow1er, Roger Longhorn, Francois Cuq, Ron Furness and Lionel Loubersac.
This was followed by a wider discussion of topics and issues raised,
and included several interventions and commentaries ftom the floor.
What follows is an edited transcript of the main points raised. While
based on the verbal contributions from those named, editorial responsibility rests entirely with the session chair.
Darius Bartlett
Several interesting themes have come out of this conference, of which
the most significant are probably those relating to coastal data. This
topic has been addressed from a number of perspectives, and speakers
have examined definitions of data: semantics, the design and use of
data dictionaries, semiotics (that is the symbolism or meaning) of data;
and also metadata and standards. Clearly these are al~ areas where there
is much research activity, and where a lot of peoples' thinking is focused
at the moment.
Related to the foregoing, a second important topic raised in many presentations has been the question of interoperability. This concept extends
weIl beyond the technical dimension, and several other types of working
together were discussed. For example we heard about institutional
interoperability, that is helping institutions and people interact. This
is a particularly important issue because, amidst our many and diverse
professional or disciplinary interests, the one thing we aIl share is a
concern with integrated coastal zone management. We may approach
the issue from different starting points but, if we are to achieve this integration, somewhere along the line we have to find ways of getting aIl
the different interest groups and stakeholders at the coast talking the
same language. In other words, we are looking at, or for, interoperability at the level of the personnel involved, and also interoperability
of the data we are collecting and using. A number of presentations and
discussions addressed this last, particularly through examination of
data exchange standards.
307