Federated Marine SDI 2023

For more information please contact innovation@ogc.org

Federated Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure (FMSDI) Pilot 2023 – Connecting Land and Sea for Global Awareness

Globally, we are currently facing many rapidly changing environments such as climate, computing, space commercialization, and economics, to name a few. One of the significantly important aspects of these environments is our changing oceans and coasts, and correspondingly the diverse data associated with them, such as the sharing and exchange of
data between land and sea systems, changing ports and shipping lanes, coastal changes due to storms, sea level rise, and many more. To better understand, adapt, manage, mitigate, and prepare for all these coastal and
marine changes, OGC is currently conducting the Federated Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure (FMSDI) Pilot Project 2023 that spans science, economics, logistics, and geospatial solutions while promoting the principles of Finding, Accessing, Interoperating, and Reusing (FAIR).

FMSDI Pilot 2023 has three threads, each with the goal of making Marine Spatial Data Infrastructures more powerful and user-oriented. Existing data will be used more effectively, and new concepts, such as Digital Twins, will be tested in different areas.

Thread 1: Digital Twin of Land and Sea Interfaces – Singapore

Thread 1 will develop and demonstrate the Digital Twin concept in the context of a land-sea scenario in Singapore. The focus is on evaluating and exploring existing OGC, IHO, UN-GGIM, and ISO standards and guidelines. Since the areas of land and water are traditionally separated organizationally, integrating data concerning land, sea, and their interfaces at the coast poses a challenge. With approximately 30% of Singapore’s land mass being less than 5m above sea level, data integration and analysis of “what if” scenarios within the Digital Twin are a top priority for Singapore and other organizations such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Thread 2: Digital Arctic Connecting Land and Sea – Canada

Thread 2 also addresses data integration issues in the context of Digital Twins, but this time for the Arctic. With the loss of sea ice in the Arctic, continuing ocean warming, stronger winds and currents, and accelerated shoreline erosion affecting Arctic communities, efficient data usage and analysis is of the utmost importance for Canada.

Thread 3: Integrating Land & Sea for Various Use Cases – Caribbean.

Thread 3 of the project will use the warmer climates of the Caribbean to investigate how data developed primarily for navigation at sea can be used in other ways. The goal is to better understand the data situation in the Caribbean and improve data integration. The pilot will invest in local capacity building and explore the potential of marine data in expanded sea-land contexts.

*Technical Architecture of the FMSDI Pilot 2023 (three threads and their cross relationships*)

The OGC Federated Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure Pilot 2023 will be conducted under OGC’s Collaborative Solutions and Innovation (COSI) Program. To learn about the benefits of sponsoring an OGC COSI Program Initiative such as this, visit the OGC COSI Program webpage.

This initiative builds on the result of the OGC FMSDI Pilot Phases one, two, and three, which ran from September 2021 to January 2023. These pilots built on the works of prior OGC COSI Program initiatives, such as the Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure Concept Development Study, the Maritime Limits and Boundaries Pilot, and the Arctic Spatial Data Pilot.

Sponsoring Organizations

The following OGC Member organizations sponsored the OGC FMSDI Pilot 2023. The sponsors provide interoperability requirements, cost-share funding, and geospatial data required to run the scenarios.

Call for Sponsors

Given the multi-phased approach of this pilot, it is still possible to join the pilot as a sponsoring organization. To learn more about the benefits of sponsoring an OGC COSI Program Initiative such as this, visit the OGC COSI Program webpage. If you are interested in sponsoring the pilot, please contact innovation@ogc.org for more information.