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Launch of the Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union in 2007 served as important factor that stimulates consolidation of coastal and marine information to support policy implementation. Policy's action plan provides approaches for maritime governance, research and planning relevant to information. In particular, roadmap for maritime spatial planning stimulates development of coastal and marine GIS. Article reviews the current general status of coastal and marine systems and puts them in the context of the policy actions. Main focus is on formation of geospatial information platform for integrated assessment and ecosystem-based management of coastal and marine areas. Recent developments in data, indicator and information systems are summarized in European perspective: better characterization of maritime space and marine ecosystems, development of GMES Marine Core service and related in situ data collection; data harmonisation, interoperability and access, promoted by Shared Environmental Information System principles.

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This chapter summarizes key projects and initiatives that are being implemented on very large scales (national/international) by national governments and commissions to build coastal spatial data infrastructures (SDIs). These include SDI efforts in the US and Europe that are closely related to ICAN, and as such are of great value to its mission of developing interoperable atlases, providing along the way solutions for the integration of not only technologies, but people, institutions, and institutional objectives.

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