12th Steering Committee Meeting of the European Atlas of the Seas

Meeting location: Hybrid meeting, European Commission DG MARE Offices / Teams
Date and time: 1 April 2025, 10:00 to 11:30 CEST

List of actions

Meeting minutes

1. Welcome and Introduction 

Conor Delaney (EMODnet Secretariat) opened the meeting. All participants presented themselves (see the list of participants below). Rémy Denos (DG MARE) stated that the European Atlas of the Seas is a famous tool now that is very much used for ocean literacy.

Perspectives from DG MARE 

Zoi Konstantinou (DG MARE) pointed out that this Steering Committee meeting is special, honouring Chantal Vanhove (DG MARE) who is retiring, for her work and dedication to the Atlas. Chantal took over the work on the Atlas in 2017 and since then, many new map layers, from EMODnet and other data providers were added to the Atlas. Chantal has brought the Atlas into a particularly advantageous position. The objective is to continue to increase the use of the Atlas in education and ocean literacy. In the future, promotion of the Atlas will focus more on the role of EMODnet in bringing marine data to the wider public. Zoi Konstantinou invited participants to share their ideas and needs for map layers. 

Chantal Vanhove explained that it is especially important for the Atlas team to be in contact with stakeholders, especially teachers and the wider public. She has handed over the management of the Atlas to Grigore Rischitor (DG MARE). He shared a message of continuity, stating that the Atlas team will pursue the current work, including the development of the mobile application, implementation of the new monitoring tool, increasing accessibility and expanding the map layer catalogue to new topics.

Approval of the agenda

All participants accepted the agenda of the meeting.

2. Development of the Atlas 

Achieved and ongoing technical developments 

Clara Becares (Bilbomática) presented the latest feature developments of the Atlas (see the related presentation). 

The Atlas team added the ‘My Locations’ tool in October 2024 and the ‘My Notes’ tool in February 2025, which allow users to customize the Atlas to your own use case. This is especially relevant to teachers who want to use the Atlas in the classroom. Clara demonstrated the new tools with an example map on aquaculture. She showed how the My Locations tool can be used to add location data to the Atlas, either by copying the information from a table (e.g. Excel file), or by adding the locations directly within the Atlas. Furthermore, she presented how the My Notes tool enables users to add annotations, like drawings and text, to further customize or highlight features in the existing map layers of the Atlas. The created maps can be saved by users under their ’My Maps’ section linked to their EU LOGIN account.

Tim Collart (EMODnet Secretariat) highlighted that the created maps can be shared with others using the URL of the maps.

Furthermore, the Atlas team has performed several maintenance tasks and feature improvements:

• Three batches of translations were released. The Atlas team continues to work in the Atlas in all 24 official European Union (EU) languages.
• Accessibility has been improved. All images and icons were reviewed, and descriptions were added so that screen reader software can explain them. Buttons and links were clearly named.
• A new Esri navigation map was added.
• The Atlas’ interactive help was updated with information on the ‘My Locations’ and ‘My Notes’ tools.
• A button on the Atlas homepage informs users when new features are available and when clicked, it opens the interactive help for that feature.

Ongoing tasks include the development of the mobile version of the Atlas. The next step is to present the user interface mock-ups to the Atlas team. Once approved, the technical implementation will follow.

Planned features 

Natalia Orio Moreno (Bilbomática) presented the planned features. The first version of the mobile version will be ready in summer 2025. Future work will include the new monitoring tool, translations, minor improvements, bug fixing and maintenance tasks.

Steering Committee Feedback 

A question was asked on whether training for teachers was organised on the new tools. Nathalie Van Isacker (EMODnet Secretariat) confirmed this has been organised. Further information is available under ‘Promotion, Events and Partnerships’ (see section 5 below).

3. Content maintenance and development 

Achieved and ongoing content development

Tim Collart explained that the Atlas team has added five new map layers and updated 165 map layers since the previous Steering Committee meeting (see the related presentation).

An educational game was developed in association with the 2024 EMD in my Country map layer.

A new map layer on Fisheries Local Action Groups (LAGs) was also added to the Atlas and is regularly updated.

A new map layer is under development using data from Mission Atlantic.

The EU Mission Actions map is updated every month.

The EU4Ocean map layers have also been updated in cooperation with the EU4Ocean Coalition. 

The Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) and Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) map layers were updated following user requests.

Tim indicated that the Ferry routes map is the most popular map. The Atlas team receives many comments and requests related to this map, so it has been updated.

The Data provider links for all EMODnet maps were updated. Instead of linking to the EMODnet thematic homepages, they now link directly to the related dataset record in the EMODnet catalogue so that users who wish to do so can download the data.

Twelve new map stories were added to the Atlas and translated into the 24 EU languages.

Proposal for existing content revision 

Tim Collart presented the forward look (see the related presentation). Planned updates include map layers from Eurostat, the Blue Economy Observatory and EMODnet. 

Proposal for new content 

The Atlas team is always on the lookout for new map layers. New maps will be developed using data from the Blue Economy Observatory. A citizen science map will be added using data from EMODnet Physics. Map layers on marine biodiversity will also be added. Please refer to the presentation for the full list of map layers.

Steering Committee Feedback 

Rémy Denos asked how fast and easy or complex the process is for updating map layers. Tim Collart explained that it depends on where the map service is hosted.

• If the map service is hosted by the data provider (e.g. for the EMODnet map layers), updates done by the data provider are included automatically in the Atlas. However, the Atlas legend updates need to be done manually as they require translations.
• For the map layers for which no map service is available (e.g. the Mission Actions map, Eurostat maps) the Atlas team has created a map service from the dataset and processes the updates when requested by the data provider. Updates to map layers from Eurostat data are performed periodically. Sometimes the latest available Eurostat data is sparse (not available for every member state). For these reasons, the year of the data in the Atlas map is one for which data is available for most Member States.

4. Monitoring performance 

Web traffic analysis and trends 

Performance is measured based on several Key Performance Indicators (see the related presentation).

• Atlas web traffic is monitored with Europa Analytics and has been growing progressively. Web traffic in 2024 was estimated at above 80,000 sessions. The Atlas receives on average 1,851 visits per week. There were two peaks of more than 2,500 weekly visits in the beginning of 2025.
• Peaks in web traffic are observed after promotion of the Atlas at events and when online media features the Atlas. The Atlas team also noted an increase in traffic when the new tools were released. This also resulted from internal communication within the European Commission.
• The Atlas is predominantly used by people with a browser configured in English, however there is a diversification trend towards other languages since the Atlas has been translated.
• Most users reach the Atlas via the EMODnet website and the Maritime Forum where the Atlas team publishes the Maps of the Week. Users also find the Atlas through search engines (e.g. Google) and up to 12% of users visit the Atlas by entering the URL directly (or have bookmarked it). The Atlas also receives traffic from the EC Learning Corner, the DG MARE website and articles that included an embedded Atlas.
• The top three most visited maps layers are the Ferry Routes, River and Lakes and Mean Underwater Depth. The map layers on Mission Actions and European Maritime Day in My Country are included in the 10 most popular map layers. Atlas visitors use the wide diversity of map layers available in the Atlas catalogue.
• The Atlas team started tracking the usage of the new tools. In February, 59 users created 112 map layers which increased in March to 71 users who created 135 maps.
• Users can contact the Atlas team via the feedback form on the Maritime Forum. Most requests have been from users who would like to add information to a map (e.g. aquaculture farms that want to appear on the map of EMODnet Human Activities) or who would like to download the map data.

Steering Committee Feedback 

No questions were raised by participants in the meeting.

5. Promotion, Events and Partnerships 

Achieved and ongoing promotion 

Nathalie Van Isacker presented the Atlas communication strategy and mentioned the key audiences of the Atlas.

She explained that an online workshop for teachers on the ‘My Locations’ tools was organised in December 2024 using the Maritime Forum’s B2Match platform. The date and timing were set based on advice from the European Marine Science Educators Association (EMSEA) to optimise the participation of teachers to the workshop. A total of 80 registrations were received from interested participants across 19 countries. Nathalie Van Isacker showed some statistics related to participation in the workshop (see the related presentation). A total of 32 teachers eventually participated in the workshop, which corresponds to the usual drop off rate of online events. Following the general session of the workshop, 10 participants took part in the optional practical exercises. Everyone who registered for the workshop received the presentations afterwards. Participants had a wide diversity of backgrounds (teachers from a primary, secondary, higher education as well as people with another background). 73% of participants were new users of the Atlas. An article on the workshop was published on the Maritime Forum, in addition to an interview with one of the teachers in the workshop.

The Atlas was promoted at several events since the last steering committee meeting (see the presentation for details):

• Science is Wonderful! (key audience: school children, teachers, parents, general public);
• Boot 2025 water sports and boat show (key audience: water sports professionals and enthusiasts);
• European Ocean Days (key audience: ocean literacy professionals, ocean experts, policy makers);
• VLIZ Marine Science Day (key audience: young researchers).

Nathalie Van Isacker highlighted the Atlas’ connections with two projects that allow to disseminate information about the Atlas widely towards target audiences:

• EU4Ocean;
• OceanICU.

She mentioned periodic communication activities, which include the Maps of the week, the Maps of the month and articles on new features or new content (e.g. map stories).

YouTube tutorial videos have been created on the new features, with example use cases for teachers.

New content was also added to the Atlas’ Teachers Corner, including the Blue Economy Challenge game, an Atlas poster and a quiz. She announced the future release of a new Atlas Hide & Seek game on marine biodiversity.

Promotion plan 

Nathalie Van Isacker provided an overview of the upcoming events where the Atlas will be promoted.

• A short Atlas slideshow has been submitted to be featured at the European Digital Ocean Pavilion during the UN Ocean conference.
• EMODnet Secretariat is a co-organiser of the EMSEA conference that will take place on 17-19 September 2025. A workshop is planned on the ‘My Locations’ and ‘My Notes’ tools.

Other planned activities include the continued promotion of the new features, online articles, development of new educational material and support to teachers using the new tools.

The Atlas team will continue to respond to requests from users received via the feedback form.

Steering Committee Feedback 

Susana Campoy Folgoso (Education, Culture and Audiovisual Executive Agency, EACEA) proposed to also share the Atlas via EACEA communication channels. It was agreed that a call would be organised to discuss this.

6. Conclusions and forward look 

The EMODnet Secretariat thanked Chantal Vanhove for the wonderful work carried out together over the past years. Conor Delaney closed the meeting with a positive forward look towards continued development of the European Atlas of the Seas.

List of participants