Many of these technologies can be used to support the development of a marine data framework. However, the key to linking these together to create the Virtual Data Centre is the Internet. The Internet provides a range of capabilities that can be built on or modified to support the marine data managers and data users needs.
One of the benefits of establishing a marine data framework on the Internet is that there are major international consortiums already looking after the development of Internet protocols and standards. The marine data management community does not need to be concerned with this process, instead simply takes advantage of improvements as they are introduced.
When the use of Internet technology is mentioned, there are often concerns from groups that have limited or no Internet connections. At first glance these concerns would appear to be valid. However, it is important to realise that Internet technologies do not need to operate across networks. A connection to the Internet is not needed to benefit from Internet technologies. For example, many CD-ROMS today are built using HTML and include a web browser to enable viewing of the CD on any hardware platform. Many of the technologies that provide the unifying framework of the Internet are free and many of the underlying applications such as web browsers are also free.
8. Benefits of Using the Internet
The Internet provides a physical structure and a series of standards and protocols that can be used to build systems without needing to fully understand the underlying complexities. This enables developers to introduce sophisticated applications that they know will operate across the network (or Internet) environment. An example of this type of sophisticated application is the Interactive Image Spreadsheet (IISS). The IISS has been developed by the National Aeronautical Space Administration (NASA) as a tool to provide access to the massive volumes of satellite imagery through a web browser. The development has been described as a tool that provides to satellite images, what spreadsheets have done for numbers.” (Computer World Australia October 2, 1998 Vol. 21, No. 14)
By using Internet based technologies, a new marine focussed information management framework can be developed that addresses the needs of developing countries, without the need for different software. In other words, applications created in developed countries will not need to be modified to operate in developing countries if they are built using common and open standards. The use of Internet based technologies will provide a benefit to the whole marine community. It will reduce the gap between data centres by providing a single environment for the development of computer systems, reducing development costs and increasing software and data compatibility.
If this path is followed there will be a significant reduction in the technology gap between the capabilities of developed and developing countries. This is a further reason to look at the adoption of such a paradigm by the global marine community.
