CoastBase: an information system for easier access to dispersed marine databases

CoastBase was an EU-IST project aimed at developing and testing an information system to access dispersed and heterogeneous marine and coastal data and information through an internet-accessible, multilingual, interoperable architecture. In contrast to the centralised databases, CoastBase relies on a �virtual� or mediated approach, that allows one to leave both data and metadata at its original location, and overcomes the problem of updating the database and metadata catalogues. This paper describes the main functions, such as catalogue search, data access, download and manipulation as well as the available data sets. The advantage for this kind of approach for marine and coastal planners and researchers is shown in the test case scenarios given.