The system supports the sustainable development and protection of the Black Sea and facilitates the Bulgarian authorities` planning and management activities.

Sofia, 23 May 2017 - At a special press conference today in Grand Hotel Sofia was presented the first in Bulgaria integrated information system for monitoring of the Black Sea. Among the official guests of the event were Mr. Velik Zanchev, Deputy Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, Norway’s Oslo Program Director, Mrs. Anne Lisse Roglidalen, representatives of the marine and IT industry, as well as experts from a number of institutions.

The innovative system is realized by the Consortium “STEMO - ESRI” within the project “Monitoring and Information System of the Black Sea” (KNRIN – 2014/108164 Norway Grants 2009-2014 Monitoring and information System for the Black Sea) with the financial support of the Norwegian Financial Mechanism (Norway Grants) 2009-2014. The system supports the sustainable development and protection of the Black Sea and facilitates the Bulgarian authorities` planning and management activities in this area.

MIS of the Black Sea is developed as a web Geoportal with numerous specialized public GIS applications and back-office GIS with controlled access. The system provides powerful functionality for real-time processing and visualization of sensor data for automatic measurement of sea water and atmospheric air parameters, as well as integration with real-time data services from the European program “Copernicus”. It integrates data from the current information systems in BPI Co. as well as from third-party organizations such as the National Institut of Meteorology and Hydrology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (NIMH-BAS).

With the implementation of the project, BPI Co. makes a big step towards establishing a common spatial infrastructure of the Black Sea and puts into practice the EU Integrated Maritime Policy and Surveillance for sharing and exchanging data for the marine environment and integrated inspection of the marine basins.

The system has extensive capabilities to develop and add new features without any additional processing. Following the successful model of Norwegian system “Barents Watch”, the MIS of the Black Sea maintains strict compliance with international, open standards for data exchange and supports diverse data formats, allowing it to easily increase the amount of information it will provide in the future.

The project is a winner of two special awards for outstanding achievements in the field of geospatial technologies at the 18th World GIS Day and for contribution to the development of eco-friendly modern technologies from “IT Project of the Year” Contest.

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