CoastGIS’99: geomatics and coastal environment
Introduction
Everywhere in the world, the coastline is increasingly becoming the subject of interest and attraction. A great number of activities have sprung
up along the coastal fringe, as well as in the coastal waters, and conflicts
of interest have broken out between business concerns, recreational
activities, and the need to draw up environmental protection measures.
An increasingly rigorous legal framework has been established in order
to limit or constrain by law the various activities and thus ensure their
safety and sustainability. The manner in which these regulations have
been defined depends very closely on the historical and cultural background of each country and discrepancies appear especially near the
coastline. Nevertheless, general outlines can be identified.
Traditionally, the terrestrial part is mainly governed by local and
regional authorities. The marine part is under the control of central
government agencies which implement a sectoral management. As
long as different activities remain low-key, they may be treated separately. However, once activities start proliferating, the division of responsibilities creates an excessive number of rules and regulations, an
overlapping of various authorities, and an incompatibility between
regulations, as well as their non-application. The gradient organization
of the marine environment is not conducive to clear and consensual
boundaries. As a result, management decisions often lead to new geographical limits. A sense of balance is thus not attained.
Attempts are currently being made to set up an integrated management
of coastal zones. The search for consensus and legal or contractual harmonisation means that the different environmental, socio-economic
and administrative approaches must be analysed and the parties involved
(politicians, managers, scientists, professionals, associations) must have
access to a global overview of the situation.
Because of extensive overlapping between zonings, conventional methods
using paper have turned out to be useless. The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and multi-media tools are likely to contribute
greatly to this field as regards the storage and dissemination of georeferenced data and associated text. They will also help in analysing
spatial relationships and in setting up an integrated management of
coastal zones.
In this study, carried out within the context of the French coasts, an
inventory has been made of the main types of data available in terms of
administrative, regulatory or management boundaries or zonings. It takes
into account the comparison between land and sea evolutions, the historical changes in regulations, the modalities of geographical transcription
and diffusion as well as other emerging needs. The technical specifications linked to the generation, structuring and management of geo-referenced data and associated data within a GIS have been analysed using
the Arclnfo and ArcView softwares. Some application examples in
progress using GIS are presented. A methodology to disseminate information via an intranet Web-GIS coupling is also proposed.
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Introduction
Everywhere in the world, the coastline is increasingly becoming the subject of interest and attraction. A great number of activities have sprung
up along the coastal fringe, as well as in the coastal waters, and conflicts
of interest have broken out between business concerns, recreational
activities, and the need to draw up environmental protection measures.
An increasingly rigorous legal framework has been established in order
to limit or constrain by law the various activities and thus ensure their
safety and sustainability. The manner in which these regulations have
been defined depends very closely on the historical and cultural background of each country and discrepancies appear especially near the
coastline. Nevertheless, general outlines can be identified.
Traditionally, the terrestrial part is mainly governed by local and
regional authorities. The marine part is under the control of central
government agencies which implement a sectoral management. As
long as different activities remain low-key, they may be treated separately. However, once activities start proliferating, the division of responsibilities creates an excessive number of rules and regulations, an
overlapping of various authorities, and an incompatibility between
regulations, as well as their non-application. The gradient organization
of the marine environment is not conducive to clear and consensual
boundaries. As a result, management decisions often lead to new geographical limits. A sense of balance is thus not attained.
Attempts are currently being made to set up an integrated management
of coastal zones. The search for consensus and legal or contractual harmonisation means that the different environmental, socio-economic
and administrative approaches must be analysed and the parties involved
(politicians, managers, scientists, professionals, associations) must have
access to a global overview of the situation.
Because of extensive overlapping between zonings, conventional methods
using paper have turned out to be useless. The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and multi-media tools are likely to contribute
greatly to this field as regards the storage and dissemination of georeferenced data and associated text. They will also help in analysing
spatial relationships and in setting up an integrated management of
coastal zones.
In this study, carried out within the context of the French coasts, an
inventory has been made of the main types of data available in terms of
administrative, regulatory or management boundaries or zonings. It takes
into account the comparison between land and sea evolutions, the historical changes in regulations, the modalities of geographical transcription
and diffusion as well as other emerging needs. The technical specifications linked to the generation, structuring and management of geo-referenced data and associated data within a GIS have been analysed using
the Arclnfo and ArcView softwares. Some application examples in
progress using GIS are presented. A methodology to disseminate information via an intranet Web-GIS coupling is also proposed.
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