June 3, 2010

UCSB's MarineMap Consortium Receives National Technology Award

George Foulsham

The U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution has awarded its first Innovation in Technology and ECR Award to the MarineMap Consortium, a group that brings together partners from UC Santa Barbara, Ecotrust, and The Nature Conservancy. The award was presented at the Institute's ECR 2010 conference in Tucson, Ariz.

MarineMap incorporates Google Earth visualization into a web-based tool for participatory spatial planning. MarineMap allows users to draft planning proposals onto a familiar geography, generate real-time reports on prospective social and environmental effects of the plans, and share and discuss their plans with others. In California's Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, MarineMap has been used to extend participation among fishermen, conservation groups, scientists, and the general public in the planning of marine protected areas off the state's coast. Available for download as an open source technology, MarineMap can be used to facilitate spatial planning processes on land or sea.

"We are grateful for this recognition," said Will McClintock, director of the MarineMap Consortium and a project scientist with the Marine Science Institute at UCSB. "We are thrilled to develop a technology that invites the public to the table on important environmental decisions."

The U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution is a program of the Udall Foundation, an independent federal agency based in Tucson. The award was presented to McClintock by Mark Schaefer of the Udall Foundation.

About UC Santa Barbara

The University of California, Santa Barbara is a leading research institution that also provides a comprehensive liberal arts learning experience. Our academic community of faculty, students, and staff is characterized by a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration that is responsive to the needs of our multicultural and global society. All of this takes place within a living and learning environment like no other, as we draw inspiration from the beauty and resources of our extraordinary location at the edge of the Pacific Ocean.