About the BalticRIM Data Portal

The BalticRIM Data Portal, was designed in order to create new MSP approaches for MCH integration. The BalticRIM Data Portal established a supportive structure to facilitate collaboration within an MCH-MSP community of practice. The Data Portal has supported the need for a shared digital geodata infrastructure to support the identification of cross-border cultural heritage phenomena during the BalticRIM project. It also shows how underwater and coastal cultural heritage often have a strong land-sea connection. From a capacity building perspective, the BalticRIM Data portal furthermore contributes to the ongoing mutual learning processes across national and organisational borders within the organisational setups of MCH and MSP.
In the closed working environment of the Data Portal (the "Case studies” interface), project case study data has been stored and displayed, serving as an arena to exchange data and insights across borders enabling discussions on how to manage MCH values in the context of MSP. The digital features facilitated shared understandings and the development of concepts fitting into maritime spatial plans and processes. This part can only be accessed if a password is granted.
Besides supporting the case studies, the portal serves as a means for communicating project results to a broader audience. The publicly available part displayed by the pan-Baltic view (the “Panbaltic" interface) presents central characteristics of the national underwater and coastal cultural heritage across the Baltic Sea Region. These pages include the promotion of some of the broader blue growth perspectives as pan-Baltic legacies or specific sites of cultural and touristic significance.

Features of the BalticRIM Data Portal - www.balticrimdataportal.eu

The basic design addresses the need for providing an online service with various possibilities for the users. The advantage of the system is that it enables quick and easy access to the data in a web browser, and the user does not need special GIS software or GIS knowledge. The main features of the interface include three parts: a navigation bar, a selection tool, and the interactive map in the right side, as shown in figures below. The BalticRIM Data Portal displays subsets of maritime cultural heritage data published by national data providers through OGC open geospatial standards – WMS and WFS – and includes UCH data as well as land-based MCH in the coastal areas. Metadata are collected, stored, and managed in the database, and metadata tables are available for the datasets. For selected layers, which can be publicly accessible data from other portals or for other layers without restrictions, download functions are included. The BalticRIM Data Portal provides also a closed GIS-based working environment, which allows displaying and discussing sensitive as well as not publicly available data. This supported the co-creation and share of new spatial planning concepts for MCH. Dealing with the cross-border case studies data, the portal enables the sharing of data, the discussion of legislative matters and not least the visualisation and testing of new planning-oriented MCH concepts.

Contact

The BalticRIM Data Portal is maintained by Aalborg University. For further information, please contact: Lise Schrøder, lisesch@plan.aau.dk

About the BalticRIM Project - www.submariner-network.eu/balticrim

The cultural heritage (CH) of the Baltic Sea is exceptionally versatile and well preserved even in a global comparison. To date, these cultural assets are barely included in Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) in the Baltic Sea. The BalticRIM project aims to integrate cultural heritage resource management into MSP in the Baltic Sea, using the opportunity of the ongoing processes driven by the MSP Directive across all Baltic Sea Region (BSR) countries. It will contribute to some lacking dimension of sustainability in the MSP processes in the BSR, thereby closing gaps to support regional efforts and to become an international model of MSP implementation. BalticRIM aims to improve the capacity of regional and maritime cultural heritage (MCH) planning agencies by developing, testing and implementing new planning solutions, innovative ways of public participation as well as sectoral MCH concepts throughout the BSR.