'Voyager' interactive online mapping platform available to ocean users

(Phys.org)—The Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS) has released a flexible, interactive online mapping platform named "Voyager." Available at pacioos.org/voyager, Voyager allows ocean users to dynamically combine, view, download and query thousands of data layers without the need for proprietary software. This powerful, yet easy-to-use interface serves as a decision-making portal throughout the Pacific Islands.

"Voyager allows a diversity of users to interact with ocean and coastal data, whether recent, historical, predictions, dynamic or static, in a map-based interface that is comfortable, understandable and built upon a familiar Google product," explains PacIOOS Director Chris Ostrander. "The ability of a user to interact with many different data sets at the same time, in the same window, makes it easier to inform and make complex decisions. Furthermore, Voyager users can save maps and share visualizations to document their decisionmaking, share their research, and preserve custom maps for future use and distribution."

Voyager was developed in response to requests from researchers, agency staff and the general public. It has grown from an experimental map tool focused on the Hawaiian island of Oahu to a regional system that provides access to dozens of terabytes of data spanning multiple disciplines, geographies and decades. PacIOOS welcomes user feedback to improve services by incorporating other data sources and developing new features.

Based within UH Manoa's School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, PacIOOS is the Pacific Islands regional component of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS). PacIOOS is a partnership of data providers and users working together to enhance ocean observations and develop, disseminate, evaluate and apply ocean data and information products designed to address the environmental, economic and public safety needs of stakeholders who call the Pacific Islands home.