THE PROJECT
WDPA-Marine is dedicated to providing the most comprehensive set of marine protected areas (MPAs) data available.
The main goal of the project was the development of a tool that could combine scientific data with other available information resources like photos, videos or Wikipedia articles, offering a user friendly tool for exploring Marine Protected Areas.
We contributed
- Interaction
- Visual design
- Front-end development
- Backend support
- GIS development
){kind=link}
-
THE CHALLENGE
Users needed to search and access areas using geospatial and metadata filters. Was it possible to reconcile the scientific characteristics of the data with the general public interests in discovering and learning about Marine Protection?
The project also needed a solution to visualise large amounts of data at different scales and with lots of contextual information. -
THE SOLUTION
For the client side we used a combination of Flex technologies and Google Maps APIs that provided a rich and responsive user interface.
The server side, developed by WCMC with our help, is using ESRI products for map creation. SQL server Spatial is used for metadata and geospatial queries. All this is hosted on the Amazon cloud. -
THE RESULTS
We achieved an engaging visualisation that invites people to navigate the world in search of Marine Protected Areas. Thanks to the integration of the information from our database with external resources (images, videos, wikipedia articles, etc), WDPA Marine is a great tool for learning about Marine Protected Areas.
HIGHLIGHTS
-
Multilayered information
We based our front-end development on Google Maps. The map rendering was done by UNEP-WCMC ArcGIS Servers.
-
Multiple datasources
The tool makes an intensive use of different APIs: Flickr, Panoramio, Youtube, Wikipedia..., It is all about giving context to data!
-
Integrated search & filtering
Flex technologies made possible the development of a Rich Internet Application in less than than a month.