The Government has made clear that offshore developments, such as wind farms, should be located in appropriate places. The consenting process to achieve this requires stakeholder consultation, experience/knowledge, and the application of reliable data.

DECC commissioned Anatec UK Ltd. to develop www.maritimedata.co.uk, a web based GIS data portal.

The main objectives of the development were to provide a means of circulating reliable GIS data to aid stakeholder consultation and decision making.

This project commenced in 2007 with the initial year being focused on preparing a GIS website to allow users to view the data online overlaid on nautical charts.

Phase 2 of the development was carried out in 2008. This focused on expanding the data to cover the entire UKCS, updating existing data and improving the data download capability of the site.

Phase 3 involved incorporating further datasets following completion of the Offshore Energy SEA Environmental Report (2009) which was also commissioned by DECC.

Data is available on the following issues:

• Ports
• Fishing
• Recreational
• Offshore Renewables Sites
• Dredging
• IMO Routeing Measures
• Nautical Charts

Registration to the site and the data it contains is free.