BLAST Bringing Land and Sea Together 1 Hirtshals, 16 September 2010 Evert Flier, Director of the Norwegian Hydrographic Service

Background Technological development New user groups 2008 – Danish National Survey and Cadastre Improve cooperation between hydrographic offices in the North Sea region Other organisations included Land and climate change aspects added Project approved summer 2009 by Interreg IVB Norwegian Hydrographic Service lead partner 2

3 Norway Digital National geographic infrastructure Aims to enhance the availability and use of quality geographic information among a broad range of users. All institutions make their data available to other partners Cooperation and standardisation 600 partners

The Harmonised Coastline Project 4 Aims to give seamless data over sea and land in order to tackle the challenge of existing products with different definitions of the coastline

What is BLAST? A regional project under the Interreg IVB North Sea Region Programme Project period: Total budget: 6.3 million euros 16 main partners, one sub-partner and six associated partners from seven countries around the North Sea: Governmental organisations Private companies Universities 5

Overall Aim: Provide new and innovative solutions for the harmonisation and integration of marine and terrestrial geographical data. Improve maritime safety and integrated coastal zone management and planning – in the context of climate change. 6

7 Land and Sea ModelNavigating the North Sea Maritime Traffic Harmonisation Climate Change in the Coastal Zone Four BLAST work packages

Why Bringing Land and Sea Together? North Sea nations handle geographical data independently Little integration of land and sea data Lack of collaboration between different countries Collaboration on national, regional and local level can be improved Increasing pressure on coastal areas Threat of climate change and accelerated sea level rise 8

BLAST Characteristics Combining skills Applying Modern Project Philosophy Network of organisations 9

Combining Skills Mariners Hydrographers Surveyors Geodesists IT professionals Spatial planners 10

Applying Modern Project Philosophy Land and sea approach Transnational approach International standards Service-based architectures Cooperation Public results 11

Network of Organisations Mapping Agencies Hydrographic Offices Coastal administrations Geological surveys Universities Local communities Private companies 12

How Does BLAST Support the Interreg IVB North Sea Region Programme? Six Principles of Assistance: Transnational cooperation Innovation Sustainable development Territorial cohesion Equal opportunities Additionality 13

Sustainable Development Environmental Economic Social 14

Territorial Cohesion Assure that the same specifications and procedures for geospatial and navigational data and applications are implemented across borders. 15

16

Thank you for your attention 17 BLAST is supporting a clean, safe, attractive and sustainable future North Sea region.