The various parts of the database will be the most important component of MAREANO, and will form the basis of a publicly accessible infrastructure for decision support and knowledge of the marine environment. The combination of cross-disciplinary data-gathering, processing and presentation means that MAREANO will act as a pilot project that will show the way ahead for public-sector integrated actions and information dissemination.
www.mareano.no is the first step in the direction of a future-oriented Internet-based information system.
The database will be a dynamic source of user-oriented knowledge about the marine environment, and it will be open to contributions from external sources of knowledge in the public and private sectors, such as the offshore industry’s environmental databases. It will also be possible for local and regional government bodies to adapt their data and information for uploading into the MAREANO database in accordance with standardised procedures, in order to ensure the optimal reuse of quality-assured information.
On the basis of a binding long-term cooperative agreement, a common portal for all environmental and underlying data has been set up and will be managed by the partners in MAREANO. Modern communication technology will give not only users in industry, the authorities and research but also the general public direct access to quality-assured, neutral, reliable knowledge. An example of such knowledge will be charts that combine different types of data to display potential conflicts between vulnerable spawning grounds and planned offshore activities in the Barents Sea. Another is the possibility of combining data on types of seabed, currents and depth in order to identify optimal sites for fish farms in the coastal zone.
www.mareano.no is the first step in the direction of a future-oriented Internet-based information system in which existing knowledge and databases will be made available in the form of electronic position-related information. MAREANO is already a member of the GeoPortal cooperative project. | 
