The Maritime Limits and Boundaries (MLB) Pilot has been completed.
Click here to view the original Call for Participation information in English and here for the French version.
Summary
Our planet’s oceans are subdivided by international and national laws into many areas and zones. Specific rights, restrictions and responsibilities apply within each of these areas and zones aimed at facilitating the development of the world’s ocean resources while providing for the protection of the marine environment and safety of navigation.
States that adhere to UNCLOS are required to communicate officially the representation of their maritime limits and boundaries. To support the dissemination of this information, the International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO) developed the S-121 Maritime Limits and Boundaries standard. The S-121 standard supports the digital data structure and exchange formats for maritime limits and boundaries.
This OGC interoperability pilot initiative, sponsored by Geoscience Australia, the Canadian Hydrographic Service, Natural Resources Canada and the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, helped to progress the implementation of the S-121 standard. The pilot advanced the implementation of the S-121 data model and architecture, and implemented operational prototypes to support the creation, management, integration, dissemination and onward use of official data for maritime baselines, limits, zones and boundaries. Specifically, the prototypes implemented as part of the pilot demonstrated the ability to support:
- Country level publication, as a national obligation, of their maritime baselines, limits and boundaries
- Standards-based geospatial interoperability between supplier, user and partners, within and across governments, public and commercial users
- Facilitating strategic awareness and operational decision making in the maritime environment supporting good governance and effective and efficient operations
The OGC has a general Memorandum of Understanding with the IHO covering collaboration on development of standards and matters of common interest. Under the MOU the OGC seeks to bridge gaps relating to marine standards with other groups and domains.
Engineering Report
The Engineering Report (ER) details the activities undertaken by participants in the pilot, the data supplied, transformed, and used to demonstrate the pilot’s objectives and the results of the various interoperability tests performed within the pilot. Also documented are the various outputs from the pilot activities, where they are directed, and where updates or clarifications are recommended to external standards or other elements of the broader ecosystem.
Video Results from Maritime Limits and Boundaries Pilot
The MLB Pilot videos have been posted as a playlist on YouTube.
Reference Material
While the deadline for responses to the Call for Participation in English (Version 1.3 20190318 – with clarifications from the March 12th Webinar) / Call for Participation in French has passed, offers of in-kind contributions will still be considered. Please direct inquiries to techdesk@ogc.org.
OGC member representatives wishing to become Observers may join the Portal Project by clicking through the MLB Pilot Observer Agreement.
The clarifications webinar took place on Mar 12th 2019. If you want to access the recording please follow this link.