1. Geographic Visualisation of Reporting Information
Marine region / subregion are defined terms in the directive,
with legal consequences (separate management, reporting, …).
The scale is to big for a lot of reporting purposes.
So a generic concept for reporting is needed.
Grid-based Approach (10x10km)
North Sea
Baltic Sea

2. Example: WFD Phytoplankton

3. From Polygons to Raster Cells – Gridding Process
>50 % Approach<
A polygon belongs in total to a cell, if the polygon fills the “water part” of a cell above a certain threshold (e.g. 50%)

4. Adressing Grid Cells
NEA
Marine
Region G NG DE
E11
DE03 U D9
DE02 D8
DE01 D7 D1 MS
Grid
Cell
UID
Each grid cell can seperately adressed by an UID The reporting information is linked to the UID. G F E D C B 12 11 10 9 8 7

5. Compliance between WFD and MSFDWB ID
Eco
Region MS
Type
QE1
QE2
QE3
DE-N1a
NEA DE N1 2
DE-N2a N2 3
DE-N2b 4
UID
Grid
Cell
Marine
Region MS D1 D7 D8
DE01
NEA DE G
DE02 D9 NG U
DE03
E11

6. Result of the gridding Process

7. Other Options: Level of Detail & Monitoring
Point information (e.g. monitoring stations) can overplayed/combined
Level of detail can be increased by:
Use of different transparencies
Use of subgrids with higher resolution

8. Example for D1 Species: Porpoises in the North Sea
Many examples for the combined approach in scientific publications.
World ocean review 2010

9. Process rules for the visualization via a raster
The visualization is based on a uniform raster provided by an European institution (EEA).
Member States have to agree on a common grid.
Every raster cell is addressed by a unique identifier UID.
Information provided in the reporting process is transmitted as tabular data including the UID for geographic reference.
Only raster cells with underlying information available have to be reported.
The raster cells have write permissions given to member states.

10. Open Issues & Concusion
Coverage visualization - two or more classes?
Procedure to grant write access to raster cells
Handling of the shared cells between member states
Maintenance of the base raster
Conclusion
The grid-based approach is an easy way to define an overall European geographical reference system for the MSFD.
Reporting results from different agencies or MS can easily fit together.
It makes no difference whether the data come from a spatial (polygon) or point source. They can be transformed into nearly every grid system by using GIS techniques both with commercial products like ArcGIS or free software.
In most cases the spatial percentage of a polygon on a grid cell and also the attributed data can be expressed as different colours and colour intensities.
For MS with a lot of different assessment areas according to different criteria/indicators the grid based approach can help to consider the spatial variability of (for example) habitats or the distribution of biological communities without defining inadequate subdivisions.