Giant leap forward for North Sea data sharing

A new data portal signposting page, set up by eight organisations dedicated to sharing offshore information, is a one-stop shop providing easy access to North Sea facts and figures.

The UKCS Data Portals site has been set up by the Offshore Energy Digital Strategy Group (DSG) and signposts to data from Admiralty Marine, BGS GeoIndex, The Crown Estate, The Crown Estate Scotland, European Marine Observation and Data Network, Marine Data Exchange, Marine Environmental & Data Network, and the North Sea Transition Authority.  

Each organisation has agreed to share the information available on their individual sites in one convenient place.

Users will be able to access and cross-refer information that will aid effective decision-making and help to ensure that the North Sea is used to its full potential and environmental rules are followed.

The portal follows a workshop run by the Digital Strategy Group in February this year which highlighted the growing need for access to reliable information. This need is becoming more acute as more industries look to share space in the North Sea.

The site, which went live on 6 November is the first iteration; it is expected that further improvements, including standardising terms, will follow in later updates.