The ODIS “Catalogue of Sources” aims to be an online browsable and searchable catalogue of existing ocean related web-based sources/systems of data and information as well as products and services. It will also provide information on products and visualize the landscape (entities and their connections) of ocean data and information sources. The Catalogue is not an ocean database or metadata repository. The catalogue includes descriptive information such as the URL, title, description, language, point of contact, geographic scope, available technologies for machine-to-machine interaction, keywords, etc. and can be searched on many of these fields. It includes: (A) Bibliographic infobases (catalogues and repositories); (B) Code lists and vocabularies; (C) Data catalogues; (D) Data products; (E) Data systems/portals; (F) Education and training materials; (G) Information on platforms (buoys, sensors, floats, gliders, satellites,…); (H) Information on experts and organizations; (I) Information on projects; (J) Information on vessels; (K) Journals; (L) Manuals, guidelines, standards and best practices; (M) Maps and atlases (geospatial products); (N) Multimedia content; (O) Real-time observing systems; (P) Software (ocean related). ODIS will provide an online catalogue of (ideally) all online data/information sources (and, where possible, metadata on off-line sources as well). Many regional and international programmes and projects have developed online data/information services but there is currently no “one-stop shop” where users are offered an overview and/or common data/information discovery interface.
