The UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) has launched the Seabed Mapping App as part of its Seabed Mapping Services, available via the ADMIRALTY Marine Data Portal.
The UKHO’s portal for a variety of data sets, from the seafloor to the surface, is the ADMIRALTY Marine Data Portal. Included in this are bathymetry, seabed profiles, seabed geology, seabed samples, pipelines, cables, and subsea infrastructure, all of which were gathered in close cooperation with leading experts, governmental agencies, hydrographic offices, and other partners from around the world. In order to support safe, secure, and thriving oceans, it is necessary to make marine environmental data sets more available and accessible for users.
In an iterative process, UKHO experts have been closely collaborating with a range of user groups, including academia, the government, and commercial businesses, to gather their feedback and continuously test and improve the service. Two years ago, the UKHO launched a beta version of the app. The service aids in the launch of upcoming UKHO-led projects in this area as well as the GEBCO Seabed 2030 project.
The UKHO is a member of the Marine Environmental Data and Information Network (MEDIN), a partnership of UK organisations committed to improving access to UK marine data. The new Seabed Mapping App, provides access to extensive UK bathymetry holdings held within our Marine Environmental Data and Information Network (MEDIN) accredited National Data Archive, and download bathymetry data which is freely available under the UKHO Bathymetry Data Licence (similar to an Open Government Licence or OGL).
Guided by feedback from different user groups, the new Seabed Mapping App includes improvements to the interface of the app and added new services, including a web map tile which provides context and helps users identify the data sets they want to download. By providing a visual backdrop and elevating the Digital Elevation Model of the seabed, this helps users to gain a better understanding of the available surveys.
The Seabed Mapping App has also added new filtering tools that adhere to various criteria, such as the survey capturing date and data resolution, to support a more seamless user experience. This has resulted in a much quicker narrowing down of users’ data set searches and a more streamlined download. As part of our extensive work to support the rollout of the most recent MEDIN Discovery Metadata Standard, we have also significantly improved the titles, abstracts, and metadata content across our 6000 data sets. This metadata standard complies with other international conventions like INSPIRE and ISO19115 and is a marine profile of the UK Government Standard GEMINI2. The MEDIN website contains more details on this.
The new Seabed Mapping Service has evolved into a fully functional, digital data archive for the twenty-first century, ensuring that it meets user needs and allowing marine academia, public and private sector communities to access cleansed bathymetry data sets for decisions affecting the marine environment.
View the Seabed Mapping App on the ADMIRALTY Marine Data Portal