The ArcGIS Marine Data Model represents a new approach to spatial
modeling via improved integration of many important features of the
ocean
realm, both natural and manmade. The goal is to provide more accurate
representations of location and spatial extent, along with a means for
conducting more complex spatial analyses of marine and coastal data by
capturing the behavior of real-world objects in a geodatabase. The
model
also considers how marine and coastal data might be more effectively
integrated in 3-D space and time. Although currently limited to 2.5-D,
the model includes "placeholders" meant to represent the fluidity of
ocean data and processes.
For users, an ArcGIS data model provides a basic template for
implementing GIS projects (i.e., inputting, formatting, geoprocessing,
and
sharing data, creating maps, performing analyses, etc.); for developers,
it provides a basic framework for writing program code and maintaining
applications. A key advantage of the data model is that it should help
users to take fuller advantage of the most advanced manipulation and
analysis capabilities of ArcGIS, particularly its support of more
complex
rules that can be built into its geodatabases, and of objects with not
only attributes, but behavior. ArcGIS data models also support existing
data standards, so as to help simplify the integration of data at
various
jurisdictional levels (i.e., local, state/provincial, national, global).
Specific goals of the model include:
- production of a common structure, a "geodatabase template", for
assembling, managing, and publishing marine data in ArcGIS. For example:
because UML code is easily converted to an ArcGIS geodatabase, users
can
immediately begin populating the geodatabase rather than having to
design
it from scratch.
- users can produce, share, and exchange data in similar formats
- unified approaches encourage development teams to extend and improve
ArcGIS software
- extending the power of marine GIS analyses by providing a framework for
incorporating behaviors in data, and dealing more effectively with scale
dependencies.
- providing a mechanism for the implementation of data content standards,
such as the FGDC's Hydrography Data Content Standard for Inland and
Coastal Waterways, critical for the Coastal National Spatial Data
Infrastructure.
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