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A key objective of marine planning is matching the most appropriate ocean use to an ocean
space. Planners need spatial data at multiple scales and dimensions to support this work
and to understand how different activities might be able to share a common ocean footprint.
Traditional maps do a good job of showing features and the extent of ocean activities,
like shipping lanes, but they don't tell the whole story. Because most maps are two-dimensional,
they can leave the false impression that the ocean contains virtually no unused space;
in fact, information about the ocean spans three dimensions and includes the sea surface,
seafloor, water column, and air column. Some ocean activities and their correlating data
apply to several dimensions, meaning that many ocean activities do not intersect at
all.
Ocean planning includes conflict avoidance, so it makes sense to consider ocean data using
the three-dimensional lens. And planners shouldn't forget the fourth dimension: time. Some data
sets only apply to one season or a specific time of day. The data needed for ocean planning
and the metadata that guide their appropriate use can be found at MarineCadastre.gov.