DSS Example: MarineMap

DSS in Action

MarineMap was designed specifically for California’s Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative and has played a critical role in that multi-year process of planning marine protected areas (MPAs). MarineMap's technology is beginning to be applied to other contexts beyond the MLPA.

In the South Coast Region of the MLPA Initiative, MarineMap enabled collaboration in the creation and evaluation of proposals among 60 stakeholders, 20 scientists, several conservation groups, and 40 California Department of Fish and Game staff. These participants distilled thousands of marine protected area (MPA) concepts and designs into six full proposals.
In the North Coast Region of the MLPA Initiative, which began in 2009, MarineMap has performed the same function. Stakeholders used MarineMap to develop and share ideas for MPAs in the region, and in 2010 they submitted their full proposals.
In the days following the April 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, MarineMap and The Nature Conservancy worked jointly to pull together available information to help TNC Gulf Coast chapters and partners make decisions on the crisis. MarineMap's technology for user-friendly interactive mapping made it possible to develop a web-based mapping application to provide consolidated information for immediate use.

Photo © Peter Taylor

In June 2010, the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution awarded its first Innovation in Technology and ECR Award to the MarineMap partners from UC Santa Barbara, Ecotrust and The Nature Conservancy. MarineMap was recognized as an innovative decision support technology that helps “model complex systems, synthesize often incommensurate information, generate alternative scenarios, understand and integrate differing perspectives, and support stakeholders in analyzing the basis, assumptions, and implications of decisions.”