Baltic Sea Bathymetry Database Working Group

Responsible for http://data.bshc.pro/.

The Baltic Sea Bathymetry Database (BSBD) is an effort to, in one place, gather and distribute bathymetry for the areas of all Baltic Sea countries.

Measuring bathymetry is mostly a national duty for each country, primarily because the production of nautical charts lies within each state’s responsibility. But many use cases span over country borders.

The portal offers free, homogeneous Baltic Sea bathymetry data from “official” sources: All Baltic Sea national hydrographic offices under the umbrella of the Baltic Sea Hydrographic Commission.

OGC services for downloads or use of the bathymetric models as background in GIS systems is also provided.

Terms of Reference

(Approved by the 15th conference 21 - 23 September 2010)

The BSBD-WG shall:

Study issues related to the access of high density bathymetric data for the entire Baltic Sea area.
Identify and study the possible differences of existing regulations concerning depth data in the Member states.
Develop proposals for specification of common harmonized datasets including a common application schema for bathymetry.
Develop proposals concerning storage, maintenance, exchange and distribution of the bathymetric data. A concept of a “virtual” database and distribution by metadata, view and download services in line with the Inspire directive should be studied.
Consider the work and results of the former BSHC Working Group “Baltic Sea Bathymetric Grid”.
Develop proposals for the further steps to establish the database.

Complete Terms of Reference and Rules of Procedure

Portal Specification

The portal specification used for the work can be found here: Specification V1.0