Building Coastal Knowledge and GI

[i]Thematic Conference “Building Coastal Knowledge and GI ”[/i] 13th - 17th June 2006 Cork, I reland Key issues for the practical implementation of ICM objectives are the availability and easy accessibility of appropriate data and information relevant to coastal management and planning. Building coastal knowledge and geographic information (GI) requires attention at different levels of development, from data collection and analysis to data management and distribution. This conference will look at Irish and European examples in which coastal knowledge and GI are being built in some of the key areas relevant to coastal practitioners: the Water Framework Directive, Inshore Seabed Mapping, and Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning. Policy has a significant impact on the focus of coastal and marine research across Europe. It sets goals for data collection, management and distribution, as well as for management of environmental resources. During this conference the policies which are driving significant research and their influence on coastal GI in Europe will be examined for each of the key areas. In order to meet goals which are set by government policy, new state of the art techniques in data collection, analysis and management must be explored and developed. The collection of data should be done scientifically and comprehensively in order to establish a solid base on which to build. Efforts should be made in the development of techniques to quickly process raw data and investigate means of continuous updating. The methodologies used in conducting data analyses should ensure an integrated approach to consider a broad range of potential influences. Sharing coastal knowledge and information once it is built requires the development of useful comprehensive tools to disseminate that information, taking advantage of modern technologies to do so. This conference will provide examples of ways in which the technical state of the art is being developed, in Ireland and across Europe, to meet these challenges for each of the key areas. Case studies will also be presented to demonstrate how coastal knowledge and GI are effectively improving in the different key areas, tying in the policy drivers with the technical state of the art. A field trip in Cork Harbour will provide attendees with first-hand experience of the regional and local initiatives relevant to the conference themes. There will also be a discussion on the challenges faced by the coastal GI community, focusing on the cross-cutting issues identified in the conference. On the ECO-IMAGINE web site ( http://www.gisig.it/eco-imagine), you can find: - the general overview of the conference - the draft schedule of the conference - the registration form We are glad to inform you as well that, after the success obtained in Nice, a ESRI Award is organised also within this Conference. All the participants interested in applying for the ESRI Award can find detailed information on the ECO-IMAGINE web-site. Finally, we are pleased to inform you that some Marie Curie grants are available for supporting the participation of early stage and more experienced researchers in the conference. The call for grants and the forms to be filled in are available on the above-mentioned web-site (deadline for application: April 21st, 2006).