The marine and coastal community is a gathering place to share the work, tools, and methods of marine researchers and professionals that use GIS. The coastal zones are home to the majority of our global population, and the oceans and seas provide some of the earth's most important and dynamic elements. As the tools marine practitioners use to gather data have become more sophisticated, so have the methods for management of the resulting information. Managing and mapping the 71 percent of our earth that is water presents a unique set of challenges.

From oceanography to hydrography, navigation to defense, from the coastal shoreline to the bathymetric bottom-marine GIS has been adapted and utilized to assist researchers and organizations in achieving their goals. Collaborative efforts are under way to define the ArcGIS Marine Data Model.

Coastal Zone Management
GIS 3D visualization tools allow coastal zone managers to use a variety of data to meet their needs.

Navigation and Charting
The PLTS Nautical Solution can be used to produce a seamless nautical database from existing hard-copy sources.

Oceanography
Researchers, organizations, and professionals are using GIS to develop marine applications to help understand and analyze this dynamic environment.

Ocean Industry
The last few years have seen a rapid development in the technologies applied to ocean survey including the use of GIS.