PacIOOS ‘Voyager’ released for all U.S. affiliated Pacific Islands

Oct. 2, 2012 - PRLog -- Honolulu, Hawaii - The Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS) has released a flexible, interactive online mapping platform named ‘Voyager.' Available at www.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 Chris Ostrander, PacIOOS Director.  “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 decision making, 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.  Voyager has grown from an experimental map tool focused on the Hawaiian island of O‘ahu 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 the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, PacIOOS is the Pacific Islands regional component of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS®).  PacIOOS is a partner¬ship 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.