Introducing the International Coastal Atlas Network

Part of the Special Interest Meeting S04. Building Coastal Web Atlases to Support CMSP Goals: Best Practices, Lessons Learned, and Requirements The recently released National Ocean Policy, including the Framework for Effective Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning (CMSP), calls for the development of regional data portals and analytical tools to support comprehensive CMSP. Coastal Web atlases (CWAs) are online information resources that can help build collaborative relationships within and across state, regional, national, and international areas to foster more effective management of coastal and ocean resources and activities. The mission of the International Coastal Atlas Network (ICAN) is to share experiences and to find common solutions to CWA development, increasing awareness of the opportunities that exist for coastal and marine data sharing among policy makers and resource managers This special interest meeting will focus on the identification of best practices and lessons learned from the ICAN community, and will identify common elements that can be used from ICAN and other state and regional efforts to build a geospatial technology support network for regional CMSP. Attendees will be asked to share their knowledge of CMSP-related activities in their geographies, brainstorm on how they can work together within regions, and discuss potential opportunities for future collaborations.