GIslands 2010 is an International Summer School on Geotechnologies applied to Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) funded by Science, Technology and Equipment Secretary of the Azores Regional Government, and organized by the Geographical Information & Territorial Planning Centre (CIGPT) at University of the Azores situated in the beautiful Azores archipelago in North Atlantic. GIslands 2010 Summer School has selected a diverse and multinational team of lecturers from Spain, Germany, United Kingdom, USA and Portugal, with significant experiences in MSP, Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), GIS, Remote Sensing, Environmental Modelling and Spatial Data Infrastructure. In this 6-day course, lecturers will share their experiences with the students, and all students will present their MSP related research and also learn through theories and hands-on experiences on how to apply Geotechnologies on MSP.

GIslands 2010 Summer School will provide students with:

• An interesting 6-day course to learn about application of Geotechnologies applied to Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) with experienced lecturers;
• The opportunity to network and exchange knowledge among students in the related fields of MSP and applied Geotechnologies;
• The opportunity to publish original papers in ACOREANA Scientific Journal “Special Issue on Marine Spatial Planning”;
• The opportunity to win the 1st GIslands 2010 award;
• A field trip around beautiful São Miguel Island to learn about the history, culture, geology, stunning coasts and diverse marine environment of the Azores.

Why are Geotechnologies important for MSP?

With limited space and quantity in ocean resources, increased pressure on the marine environment has led to competing conflicts among users, and more significantly conflicts between users and the environment. The need to manage human activities and conflicts in the ocean to minimize their impacts on the marine ecosystem, as well as the place-based characteristic of ecosystems, and spatial and temporal development of ocean resources demonstrate the need to analyze the system from a spatial and temporal perspective. Defined by UNESCO, MSP is “a way of improving decision making and delivering an ecosystem-based approach to managing human activities in the marine environment”. Geotechnologies, with the ability to provide decision makers with spatial and temporal analyses on the coastal and marine environments, human activities and the overlapping uses of ocean spaces, are essential to the development of a comprehensive MSP.

Geotechnologies are revolutionizing the management of marine resources. What used to be hidden or inaccessible via traditional methods are now made available through remote sensing, tracking technologies and global positioning systems. These technologies enable the mapping and documentation of ecosystem characteristics for each location such as marine habitats, types of species, living and mineral resources, sea bottom morphology, and environmental condition. The capability of superimposing and analyzing these new data for each location and among various locations ensures a greater alignment with the ecosystem-based approach, which is defined as the overarching principle by the European Commission.