Maritime Port Authority of Singapore spearheads geospace-sea initiative

It will provide geospatial data for port, marine and coastal planning, and environmental management.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), the Tropical Marine Science Institute from the National University of Singapore and 11 government agencies will develop a new National Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure called GeoSpace-Sea.

The GeoSpace-Sea system will adopt open data standards to promote interoperability for users to integrate and overlay various information to better correlate, analyse and utilise the different geospatial data types. By providing comprehensive and consolidated geospatial data for port, marine and coastal planning, and environmental management, it will support the development of a wide range of applications and allow more holistic planning of a sustainable marine space.

The first phase is slated for launch in Q3 2019 where the GeoSpace-Sea database will be populated with hydrographic data, marine environment data such as coastline details, and habitat data.

After the first phase, user agencies will be able to access a central repository of authorised marine and coastal geospatial data in a single location including viewing the seabed in three-dimension.

The other government agencies include the Building and Construction Authority; Centre for Liveable Cities; Housing & Development Board; JTC Corporation; National Environment Agency; National Parks Board; National Research Foundation; Public Utilities Board; Singapore Food Agency; Singapore Land Authority; Urban Redevelopment Authority.

Future phases of the initiative will be extended to institutes of higher learning and marine science institutes for marine science research. Applications would also be developed for 3D and near real-time coastal and seabed visualisation, and marine models and simulations.