System design and user requirements study (IWICOS)

• Main Authors: Andersen, Henrik Steen, Baldursdóttir, Halla Björg, Berglund, Robin, Gislason, Kristjan, Haajanen, Jyrki, Hafsteinsson, Gudmunður, Hamre, Torill, Jakobsson, Thor, Jonsdottir, Ingibjörg, Kloster, Kjell, Kotovirta, Ville, Lind, Morten, Olaussen, Tor I., Pedersen, Leif Toudal, Saldo, Roberto, Sandven, Stein, Seinä, Ari
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: 2000
• Subjects: Demonstration; Arctic; Northern Europe; Fram Strait; East Greenland; Irridium; Satellite image; Met-ocean; Sea ice; Fishery; Resources; Information system; Greenland
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/7660004; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7660004

The overall objective of IWICOS is to develop a prototype marine information system that will provide a single-entry access to integrated meteorological, sea ice and oceanographic (met-ice-ocean) products in electronic form, and to demonstrate this prototype for a group of users working in fisheries, sea transport, exploitation of marine resources in Northern European waters. As a first part of this RTD project, a user requirements and design study has been undertaken, in the period from January to August 2000. The following recommendations have been proposed: • IWICOS should recognise that the marine user community may have different needs for information, may work in different regions and have different educational background. • The IWICOS system must be able to combine information from different sources in a flexible way. • IWICOS should provide an integrated system enabling users to access and display all information with one system. It is important that users do not have to worry about sources of a given information layer and formats. • It is important that the IWICOS system has a user friendly interface so difficulties with understanding and using the system will not obstruct the application and dissemination of the system. • IWICOS should aim at adopting existing standards for data presentation, e.g. standard colour coding of ice charts and standard symbols for presentation of meteorological information and ensure source independence and seamless display of data from different sources. • IWICOS must disseminate products using standard technologies and standard data exchange formats. • IWICOS must acknowledge the limitations of marine communication systems and the cost of using them and must adopt methods to effectively handle these problems. • IWICOS should provide a range of products with different levels of information, aimed at different user groups. In both demonstration periods a representative set of free products should be prepared and advertised through the IWICOS web site, to raise awareness of ...