“Ythanview” — Visualizing an Estuary and Virtual Fieldwork at the Ythan Estuary, Scotland, UK

Abstract

This chapter describes an ongoing research project, ``YthanView{''}, toprovide online access and visualization tools for geospatial data andinformation characterizing the Ythan Estuary in northeast Scotland. Theproject addresses requirements for new and innovative ways to store,catalogue, access, and visualize a wide range of terrestrial and coastaldata and information for a small estuarine environment, and to make itmore widely available for teaching, research and consultancy activities.Building upon work currently being undertaken at the University ofAberdeen, to facilitate wider access to estuarine data and informationresources, the project also considers ways to introduce undergraduateand postgraduate students to coastal and estuarine fieldwork, to reducestaff/student contact hours, and to establish closer links with academicresearch and consultancy as part of its aims. Several examplesillustrate the different ways in which visualization can be used todisplay, explore, and communicate geospatial information for anestuarine environment.