Atlas Purpose Facilitate communication and awareness-raising Provide a contact point for coastal information Help implement the European Recommendation on Integrated Coastal Integrate planning and coastal policy Make coastal indicators visible as policy support instruments Distinguishing features Initially published as a book (Belpaeme and Konings 2004), then developed as a CWA Designed simply but effectively Uses Flash instead of a web mapping system for its maps Available in four languages Target Audience General Public Tourists Students Researchers/Scientists NGOs Government/Public Bodies Commercial/Industry Consultancies Coastal/Environmental Managers Decision Makers Atlas design and usability Focus: Textual content Design: Clear navigation and instruction Access text from maps Single point(s) of access to map/data Map Page: View limited layers View data by theme Combined legend & layer lists Links to internal pages Documentation: Thematic text Technology used Data Storage: Locally Other: PHP/HTML web content Flash for interactive maps Downloads available in pdf/xls/gis format. Functionality/tools available Level: Basic Mapping Tools: Zoom, recentre and full extent View by theme Print/Export maps Download geospatial data Other: Links to coastal indicators for each topic Data/cartographic information included Geographic Area: Belgium Number of Datasets: 33 Topics: Physical Environment Coastal Habitats Imagery Management Human Impact Infrastructure Industry Culture & Heritage Natural Resources Fisheries, Aquaculture & Agriculture Tourism & Recreation Data issues IPR/Cost: Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Data use restrictions Accessibility: Data sourcing and acquisition Poorly managed, inaccessible data Limited GIS-ready data Quality: Variable/inconsistent data quality Inappropriate data scales Incomparable regional datasets Management: Regularity of data updates Manual upload of data to atlas Resources to source/acquire data Other challenges Funding for site maintenance Content balance of science and information Product promotion