News

McClintock Speaks at WhaleFest and the World Whale Conference

Will McClintock — 2013-01-29T18:33:05Z

At the World Whale Conference, Will McClintock joined Erich Hoyte, Roger Payne, Philip Hoare, Dylan Walker, Mike Tetley, John Fanshaw and Duane Raymond in discussing a variety of topics around whale conservation. At the subsequent WhaleFest, McClintock was interviewed and offered his thoughts on a host of subjects. Follow the links below for more information:

For more information about WhaleFest visit Planet Whale.

Technology that May Change the Landscape of Marine Planning

Will McClintock — 2013-01-24T11:59:59Z

An article by MIT student Dayna Rumore nicely describes how SeaSketch may be used to facilitate marine spatial planning (MSP).

SeaSketch Version 1.0 Launched

Will McClintock — 2012-11-09T15:40:25Z

On October 31, 2012, we officially launched SeaSketch version 1.0, our software service for ocean planning. Creating a web-based application for collaborative geodesign has never been easier. Here are a few of our initial projects:

Marine Spatial Planning for the Hauraki Gulf. In support of the New Zealand Department of Conservation, the Auckland Regional Council, and the Waikato Regional Council, throughout 2013 SeaSketch will be used by stakeholders to determine future uses of the Hauraki Gulf. An article announcing SeaSketch's role in New Zealand is available here.
Marine Management in the HIgh Seas. In support of the United Nations Environment Programme - World Conservation Monitoring Center, SeaSketch will be used to address sustainable fisheries management and biodiversity conservation of deep -sea living marine resources and ecosystems planning in the high seas ("Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction"). Here's a link on UNEP-WCMC's work to date focused on the high seas.
Protecting and Restoring Key Marine Habitats. In support of a new NOAA cross-agency Habitat Blueprint strategy, SeaSketch will be used in a planning workshop in Petaluma, California, November 7-8, 2012, involving NOAA programs with habitat conservation missions. In the workshop, staff will display various programmatic, habitat, and other data layers, markup spatially explicit comments on the map, and take notes on the discussion in the forum. More information on the Habitat Blueprint initiative is available here.
Global Assessment to Identify Ocean Acidification. In support of the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, SeaSketch will be used to support an integrated, spatial assessment of the potential chemical, biological and human dimensions of ocean acidification. A description of the project is available here.

SeaSketch to be Announced at Esri International User Conference

Will McClintock — 2012-07-11T14:25:00Z

As part of the plenary session at the 2012 Esri International User Conference in San Diego, California, Will McClintock and Chad Burt will unveil SeaSketch. The first version will be implemented for use nationwide by New Zealand's Department of Conservation in September, 2012. Using a sample project in collaboration with the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, McClintock and Burt will present a live demonstration of how SeaSketch can be used to redesign shipping lanes in the Santa Barbara Channel to reduce blue whale strikes and minimize costs to shipping industries.

SeaSketch is "Software as a Service" (SaaS) that may be used to rapidly develop new projects for any kind of collaborative spatial planning. SeaSketch implements a "geodesign" approach to spatial planning, allowing anyone with a common web browser to sketch prospective management plans and receive real-time analytical feedback on the consequences of designs.

Update: a video of the presentation may be viewed here.

SeaSketch for Transboundary Marine Mammal Management

Will McClintock — 2012-05-25T21:10:00Z

In a workshop that brought together marine resource managers, planners and other experts from Aruba, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, France, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, the Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Norway, Canada, Columbia, the United Kingdom, Barbados, and the United States, McClintock shared how SeaSketch can be used to explore options for corridors designed to protect marine mammals with special focus on humpback whales, sperm whales and dolphins. Using SeaSketch as a platform to share, gather and analyze geospatial information, nations participating in this exercise could potentially collaborate to develop innovative spatial management plans to reduce human impacts on key migration corridors. After SeaSketch is launched in August, the group will create a SeaSketch project as a proof-of-concept and a potential means to tackle the challenge of designing spatial management plans for migratory species.

Dr. McClintock presents "Designing for our Oceans" at CSU

admin — 2012-01-22T08:00:00Z

Dr. McClintock will present the essential features of two web-based applications developed for collaborative GeoDesign, and illustrate how web-based GeoDesign technologies will transform citizen engagement with ocean use and management in the near future.

Event details are available at: ciapps.csuci.edu/events

Dr. Will McClintock presents at the GeoDesign Summit

Will McClintock — 2012-01-06T17:40:00Z

Will McClintock presented a case for using GeoDesign in marine spatial planning. GeoDesign allows non-technical users to sketch spatial plans (e.g., marine protected areas, aquaculture sites, restoration sites, transportation zones) and receive automated feedback on the consequences of such designs (e.g., ecosystem protection, energy potential, economic impacts).

Watch a video of Will's presentation here.

An article that covers the GeoDesign Summit does a nice job of contextualizing Will's presentation.

GeoDesign technology at Eye on Earth Summit

admin — 2011-12-05T08:00:00Z

Abu Dabi, UAE - The Eye on Earth summit, held December 12-15, 2011, will address the crucial importance of environmental and societal information and networking to decision-making. Dr. McClintock's presentation on collaborative GeoDesign technology will focus its use for world-wide Marine Spatial Planning, and future implementations of the next generation planning tool SeaSketch.

Further information on the summit is available at www.eyeonearthsummit.org.

Dr. William McClintock to present at ICCB

admin — 2011-11-29T17:42:55Z

The Society for Conservation Biology's International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB) is recognized as the most important international meeting for conservation professionals and students. ICCBs are the global venue for presenting and discussing new research and developments in conservation science and practice.

Dr. McClintock will explain collaborative GeoDesign technology as used for Marine Protected Area planning in California, and how it will be implemented in New Zealand using the next generation planning tool called SeaSketch.

MarineMap Consortium Receives National Technology Award

admin — 2010-06-04T07:00:00Z

The U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution has awarded its first Innovation in Technology and ECR Award to the MarineMap Consortium, a group that brings together partners from UC Santa Barbara, Ecotrust, and The Nature Conservancy. The award was presented at the Institute's ECR 2010 conference in Tucson, Ariz.

MarineMap incorporates Google Earth visualization into a web-based tool for participatory spatial planning. MarineMap allows users to draft planning proposals onto a familiar geography, generate real-time reports on prospective social and environmental effects of the plans, and share and discuss their plans with others. In California's Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, MarineMap has been used to extend participation among fishermen, conservation groups, scientists, and the general public in the planning of marine protected areas off the state's coast. Available for download as an open source technology, MarineMap can be used to facilitate spatial planning processes on land or sea.

"We are grateful for this recognition," said Will McClintock, director of the MarineMap Consortium and a project scientist with the Marine Science Institute at UCSB. "We are thrilled to develop a technology that invites the public to the table on important environmental decisions."

The U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution is a program of the Udall Foundation, an independent federal agency based in Tucson. The award was presented to McClintock by Mark Schaefer of the Udall Foundation.

Marine Protected Areas Get a Boost from New UCSB Web-Based Program

admin — 2009-07-29T07:00:00Z

This is what can happen when marine life and geospatial scientists collide: You get a smart, easy-to-use Web-based program that one day soon might help protect the world's fragile marine ecosystems.

William McClintock, a project scientist at UC Santa Barbara, and other researchers from UCSB's Marine Science Institute, have created MarineMap, an internet mapping and decision-support system for designing marine protected areas (MPAs). McClintock and his team developed the program in cooperation with the Nature Conservancy, Ecotrust, and Farallon Geographics. McClintock is director of the MarineMap Consortium.

For now, stakeholders in the new system will have to be content with using it to study the California coast. But McClintock and his team hope that soon this powerful tool, which allows users to draw lines on maps to sort out potential MPAs, will help scientists provide guidance to policymakers who will map protected areas for marine life around the world.

Read the rest of this article at msi.ucsb.edu