The "Ecological Characterization of Otter Island, South Carolina:
A Prototype for Interactive Access to Coastal Management Information"
CD-ROM, is an interactive and versatile information tool that
introduces ecosystem perspectives and supports coastal resource
management. Conventional methods and techniques for conducting
and delivering ecological characterizations were modernized for
this purpose by employing digital data and information technologies.
The product contains Hyper-text Markup Language (HTML)-based documents,
searchable bibliographies, movie clips, and a digital spatial
database, which is accompanied with tools for viewing and querying
the spatial database. Development of this product was also guided
by the long-term goal of distributing over the Internet the same
information and functions that are provided on the CD-ROM. This
paper focuses on the new technology that makes interactive access
to spatial data possible over the Internet.
Ecological characterizations of coastal systems have been conducted
as intensive descriptions of ecosystems since the 1970s and their
results have been published for limited distribution in paper
form only. They have most often been undertaken to assemble before-the-fact
information about ecosystems prior to mining, drilling, or other
resource extraction activities and to plan mitigation strategies
for associated shore zone impacts. Typically, these studies were
structured to include thorough descriptions of physical and biological
systems and to include some information about the economic implications
of such development in coastal areas.
Developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) Coastal Services Center, the South Carolina Department
of Natural Resources, and the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center,
"Ecological Characterization of Otter Island, South Carolina:
A Prototype for Interactive Access to Coastal Management Information",
enhances that earlier conception of ecological characterization,
broadening it to include digital publication of text, images,
bibliographic information, tabular and geographic data, management
protocols and scenarios, and other relevant information. This
product was originally distributed on CD-ROM for review by selected
coastal resource managers throughout the United States. Its principal
purpose is to demonstrate the means and utility of publishing
information synthesis "documents" in digital form, and
to provide a basis for evaluating this approach. The intended
benefits of this effort are to: stimulate improvement, simplify
updating, broaden distribution, and foster wider use of data and
information appropriate to better understand and manage coastal
ecosystems. The secondary goal of the project was to construct
an interactive information tool useful to managing Otter Island.
Although originally distributed on CD-ROM, this prototype was
developed using technology that allows the transfer of data and
information to the Internet. Inter-linking the information contained
on the CD-ROM, and making it accessible with new computer capabilities,
this prototype begins to demonstrate a truly integrated and interactive
data and information capability.
In order to support the managers of Otter Island and to demonstrate integration of geographic information system (GIS) technology with traditional information services, an extensive spatial database for Otter Island and its the surrounding area is included on the CD-ROM. In order to access this spatial data, Environmental Systems Research Institute's (Esri) ArcView Data Publisher software is included on the CD-ROM. This software provides the necessary tools to view and query the spatial database, and allowed the developers of the product to program interactive "management scenarios." This paper discusses the methods for and implications of providing the same access to spatial data over the World Wide Web.
The targeted ecological system, Otter Island, is a 2088-acre (845
ha) barrier and marsh island facing St. Helena Sound on the lower
South Carolina coast. Located in the combined Ashepoo, Combahee,
Edisto drainage basin (ACE Basin), this uninhabited island contains
undisturbed maritime forest and is a refuge to resident and migrating
animals, including several endangered species such as the loggerhead
sea turtle and the American Bald Eagle. Otter Island was purchased
by the state of South Carolina for inclusion in the ACE Basin
National Estuarine Research Reserve and is managed pursuant to
the goals of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS)
and the state Heritage Trust program.
The decision to focus this prototype effort on Otter Island was
a practical one that recognized that the first need was for a
trial or "proof-of-concept" exercise for digital publication
of characterization information. It also recognized that any site
presents limitations and that such capabilities should continue
to be refined and expanded through work at other scales, in other
ecosystems, and in response to evolving management needs.
Because the Otter Island project is publicly funded, it was considered
important to produce a "freely" distributable product.
This meant maximizing the public domain portion of its contents.
But it was also considered important to make the product as robust
and as well-supported as possible. This meant compromising the
desired benefits of free or publicly owned software to gain the
robust performance and consistent support offered by some commercial
software. Thus, it also meant obtaining copyright releases or
distribution licenses for proprietary material.
The Otter Island CD-ROM is, organized around specific "off
the shelf" software that was: licensed for distribution,
provided state-of-the-art capability, and was integrated into
a functional whole. Organization of the information it contains
is therefore modular (interchangeable), and its form is determined
largely by the requirements of chosen software tools. Because
it has become a standard format or language for Internet and World
Wide Web applications, HTML was adopted as a means to organize
text, integrated with graphics and other features, and to link
other self-contained software applications. While the HTML-based
text, images, and links readily transfer to the Web, the interactive
functionality of ArcView does not. Therefore, new methods
and technologies were investigated to provide on the Web, the
full functionality of the spatial database that exists on the
CD-ROM.
Spatial or geographic data are themselves a powerful and convenient
form in which to synthesize and visualize information. However,
geographic data require special software tools to access and preserve
their full potential to relate positions on the earth to measured
or described attributes. Almost 35 spatial data sets are included
that provide useful information to decision makers for Otter Island.
To make this data useable, tools were needed that would allow
users to view, query, and create maps from these spatial data.
Such tools needed to be presented in an easy-to-understand context,
such as a "point-and-click" graphical user interface
(GUI). It was also required that this interface be customizable
so that new tools could be created, or old ones modified to meet
changing needs of resource managers.
Because most of the spatial database for Otter Island already
existed at the prototype's inception, a software package was needed
that could read those databases without additional preprocessing.
It was decided that Esri's ArcView Data Publisher software
provided necessary functionality and averted need for additional
preprocessing. This off-the-shelf software package already offered
base capability to easily automate viewing, querying, and creating
maps from the existing spatial database. Building on those capabilities,
ArcView Data Publisher was subsequently customized, adding
new tools to allow users to evaluate shoreline accessibility,
and to investigate placement of new campsites and hiking trails.
ArcView Data Publisher is produced and licensed for economical
distribution and use with only the data sets included on the CD-ROM.
It is technologically limited to users operating IBM-compatible
personal computers with a minimum 486 Mhz processor and 12 MB
RAM (preferably 586 Mhz processor and 16 MB RAM). Use of ArcView
Data Publisher in this CD-ROM product limits use by non-Windows
(Macintosh and UNIX) users, since it is not available for Macintosh
or UNIX based computers.
Since the CD-ROM was distributed in September of 1996, Esri has
made available new tools, which can be incorporated into a development
environment to provide access to spatial data over the Web. MapObjects,
a suite of OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) automation objects
(programmable and interchangeable objects) can be accessed through
industry standard programming environments such as Visual Basic,
Delphi, PowerBuilder, and others. The MapObjects
controls provide a method to display spatial data, pan and zoom
a map, and query data interactively. Methods are also provided
for vector "overlay" analysis, such as locating endangered
species sites that are within 100 meters of a proposed campsite.
With advances in Object Oriented technologies it is feasible to distribute all of the tools needed to provide a fully functional GIS over the Internet. This functionality can be developed based on the distributed component object model (DCOM), using a combination of ActiveForms and Java. Clients will be able to log onto a server, and have full access to spatial data, with all of the visualization and analysis tools needed to manipulate such data. Clients will also be able to download components, that they may need and incorporate them into their own applications. As Web based technology continues to evolve, distributing and providing access to spatial data will become easier and more common place. The Coastal Services Center will continue to develop these technologies to make information more available to the coastal management community.
For more information visit the Coastal Services Center's homepage at:
or contact:
Jeff Cowen
Jason Marshall
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Coastal Services Center
2234 South Hobson Ave.
Charleston, SC 29405-2413
Ph: (803) 974-6249
FAX: (803) 974-6315
jcowen@csc.noaa.gov
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Coastal Services Center
2234 South Hobson Ave.
Charleston, SC 29405-2413
Ph: (803) 974-6249
FAX: (803) 974-6315
jmarshall@csc.noaa.gov