The Northeast Ocean Data Portal was established by NROC in 2009, and provides free, user-friendly access to expert-reviewed interactive maps and data on the ocean ecosystem, economy, and culture of the northeastern United States.
NROC updates the Northeast Ocean Data Portal Work Plan annually. The purpose of the work plan is to guide activities that support the maintenance and enhancement of the Northeast Ocean Data Portal overall, with particular focus over the next year.
2021 Northeast Ocean Data Portal Work Plan
Previous Work Plans
- 2020
- 2019
- Priority data identified in Northeast Ocean Plan Chapter 3
- Data updates and maintenance described in Northeast Ocean Plan Chapter 4
About the Annual Work Plan
The activities described in the work plan pertain to four main categories:
- Regional ocean data priorities
- Application development
- Maintenance of web/IT infrastructure
- Communication and engagement
Section 1 identifies and organizes regional ocean data priorities and presents a plan for advancing them. Within each of more than ten ocean data themes, the work plan describes each dataset currently available on the Portal, its current status, its recommended update schedule, and any dependencies. Dependencies refer to the collaboration and coordination required to manage large datasets under each theme. The Portal is reliant on Federal, state, and stakeholder-derived data or data products, and in order to adhere to the data maintenance and update schedules proposed below, the Portal Working Group needs certainty in receiving data from these sources and reliability in the timing of data delivery. For example, if a data provider changes the location of its web services or there is an interruption to the provider’s web service delivery, there should be a system in place to notify the appropriate Portal contacts. Lastly, this section describes focal entities, processes, and timelines for stakeholder review and input on each ocean data theme.
Section 2 describes development tasks needed to maintain critical Portal functions such as the Data Explorer and Theme Maps, and other tasks that may be needed to enhance existing tools and provide upgrades to tool functionality.
Section 3 describes the tasks relevant to Portal web/IT infrastructure maintenance.
Finally, a Communication and Engagement work plan is included in Section 4.