Geoinformatics for Marine and Coastal Management

This book will provide a timely and valuable assessment of the current state of the art in applying geoinformatics tools and methods to management of marine areas. Its focus is on the cutting-edge coverage of a wide spectrum of activities/topics that constitute the complex socio-ecological system of sustainable coastal management. The book presents a comprehensive overview of the field, covering key issues and debates, and specific case studies illustrating real-world applications of the technology. A follow up to the previous two books on Marine and Coastal GIS, and based on the CoastGIS 2015 Conference, this book will be a useful addition and value to coastal zone managers.

Darius Bartlett is an earth scientist and geomorphologist by training, has been teaching and researching at the interface between GIS and coastal zone science and management in the Department of Geography at the University College Cork in Ireland for over a quarter-century, and is a past director of the department’s MSc in GIS and remote sensing and the MSc in applied coastal and marine management taught programs. As a corresponding member of the Commission on Coastal Systems of the International Geographical Union, he helped establish the CoastGIS Biennial Symposium Series, in partnership with Ron Furness (then at the Australian Hydrographic Office and chair of the International Cartographic Association’s Commission on Coastal Mapping), and hosted the first meeting as a collaboration between the two organisations in Cork in 1995 (the 12th meeting in the series was held in Cape Town in April 2015). He is the co-editor of Marine and Coastal Geographical Information Systems (with Dawn Wright, Taylor & Francis, 2000) and GIS for Coastal Zone Management (with Jennifer Smith, CRC Press, 2005).

Louis Celliers is employed by the CSIR in a dual role as a principal researcher in, and heads up the Coastal Systems Research Group of the Natural Resources and the Environment Business Unit. He completed his graduate (BSc Agric) and postgraduate studies (MSc Agric) at the University of Pretoria in 1998, followed by his PhD in marine ecology at the University of Natal, South Africa in 2001. The responsibilities of his portfolio include the integration of coastal and marine science with management of the coastal area by the three spheres of government in South Africa. His research interests and profes- sional development strongly favour an approach that guides, integrates and translates good science to the benefit of society through the maintenance of natural systems. His main research interests, and focus of his published work, are in the area of integrated coastal management, coastal governance and institutions and science to policy process for the improvement of coastal and marine management.