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Application of GIS and Web technologies for Danube waterway data management in Croatia Jadranka Pecar-Ilic * , Ivica Ruzic Division for Marine & Environmental Research of the Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Bijenicka 54, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia Received 3 May 2006; accepted 3 May 2006 Available online 15 June 2006 Abstract The paper gives a general description of the Danube waterway data management in Croatia at both national and Pan-European levels. For these purposes, we initiated the development of a specialized geographic information system (GIS), the so-called River IS, which provides efficient waterway related data management for the Croatian part of the Danube River. In addition, Croatian activities in the Pan-European programme Consortium Operational Management Platform River Information Services (COMPRIS) and INTERREG project data warehouse for the Danubewaterway (D4D) are described. Focusing on how to solve the major problems identified by ‘‘GIS Forum Danube’’ expert groups, we present our solutions for two important D4D project objectives. The first project objective concerns preparation of national GIS data of the participating countries in the world geodetic WGS84 coordinates as well as checking the transnational compatibility of GIS data. The second important project objective concerns the development of a commonly agreed catalogue of object types and their attributes necessary to describe waterway related data. For example, the conversion of the Croatian national geographic data into Inland ECDIS digital navigation maps is described. Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Danube waterway; Croatian part of the Danube River; Enviromatics; Environmental informatics; Geographic information system; GIS Forum Danube; COMPRIS; D4D project; Inland ECDIS; Object catalogue Software availability Name of software: River IS; Croatian Inland ECDIS maps Developer: Division for Marine and Environmental Research Contact address: Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Bijenicka 54, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia Tel.: þ 385 1 4561140 Fax: þ 385 1 4680117 E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] Hardware required (for users): Intel Pentium IV with running Microsoft IE (>6.0) Software required (for users): Autodesk MapGuide Viewer (>6.0); Seven Cs AG & Co. KG Inland ECDIS Viewer Program language: Java and ASP Availability and cost: River IS e restricted (CRORIS project); Croatian Inland ECDIS maps e free from CRUP Web (http://www.crup.hr/eng/index.php) 1. Introduction 1.1. Inland navigation and environmental protection Recognizing the importance of Corridor VII of the Trans- European Transport Network (TEN-T), the Danube countries signed, in Rotterdam on September 6, 2001, a Memorandum of understanding for further development of transport net- works in the region. The main objective is to improve inland navigation as a sustainable, environmentally friendly and so- cially acceptable means of transport between the Rhine and the Danube countries. Management of river navigation is * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ385 1 4561140; fax: þ385 1 4680117. E-mail address: [email protected] (J. Pecar-Ilic). 1364-8152/$ - see front matter Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2006.05.003 Environmental Modelling & Software 21 (2006) 1562e1571 www.elsevier.com/locate/envsoft

Application of GIS and Web technologies for Danube waterway data management in Croatia

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Environmental Modelling & Software 21 (2006) 1562e1571www.elsevier.com/locate/envsoft

Application of GIS and Web technologies for Danubewaterway data management in Croatia

Jadranka Pecar-Ilic*, Ivica Ruzic

Division for Marine & Environmental Research of the Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Bijenicka 54, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Received 3 May 2006; accepted 3 May 2006

Available online 15 June 2006

Abstract

The paper gives a general description of the Danube waterway data management in Croatia at both national and Pan-European levels. Forthese purposes, we initiated the development of a specialized geographic information system (GIS), the so-called River IS, which providesefficient waterway related data management for the Croatian part of the Danube River. In addition, Croatian activities in the Pan-Europeanprogramme Consortium Operational Management Platform River Information Services (COMPRIS) and INTERREG project data warehousefor the Danube waterway (D4D) are described. Focusing on how to solve the major problems identified by ‘‘GIS Forum Danube’’ expert groups,we present our solutions for two important D4D project objectives. The first project objective concerns preparation of national GIS data of theparticipating countries in the world geodetic WGS84 coordinates as well as checking the transnational compatibility of GIS data. The secondimportant project objective concerns the development of a commonly agreed catalogue of object types and their attributes necessary to describewaterway related data. For example, the conversion of the Croatian national geographic data into Inland ECDIS digital navigation maps isdescribed.� 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Danube waterway; Croatian part of the Danube River; Enviromatics; Environmental informatics; Geographic information system; GIS Forum Danube;

COMPRIS; D4D project; Inland ECDIS; Object catalogue

Software availability

Name of software: River IS; Croatian Inland ECDIS mapsDeveloper: Division for Marine and Environmental ResearchContact address: Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Bijenicka 54,

HR-10000 Zagreb, CroatiaTel.: þ 385 1 4561140Fax: þ 385 1 4680117E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] required (for users): Intel Pentium IV with running

Microsoft IE (>6.0)Software required (for users): Autodesk MapGuide Viewer

(>6.0); Seven Cs AG & Co. KG Inland ECDISViewer

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ385 1 4561140; fax: þ385 1 4680117.

E-mail address: [email protected] (J. Pecar-Ilic).

1364-8152/$ - see front matter � 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2006.05.003

Program language: Java and ASPAvailability and cost: River IS e restricted (CRORIS project);

Croatian Inland ECDIS maps e free from CRUP Web(http://www.crup.hr/eng/index.php)

1. Introduction

1.1. Inland navigation and environmental protection

Recognizing the importance of Corridor VII of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), the Danube countriessigned, in Rotterdam on September 6, 2001, a Memorandumof understanding for further development of transport net-works in the region. The main objective is to improve inlandnavigation as a sustainable, environmentally friendly and so-cially acceptable means of transport between the Rhine andthe Danube countries. Management of river navigation is

1563J. Pecar-Ilic, I. Ruzic / Environmental Modelling & Software 21 (2006) 1562e1571

a field of great economic importance, which is in differentways directly connected to environmental protection and riverbasin management. For example, river traffic systems dependdirectly on hydrometeorological conditions and hydrologicalcharacteristics, whilst having the capability to significantly in-fluence the water quality within a navigable river basin.Timely information about momentary water levels is impor-tant for the needs of river traffic as well as for the protectionagainst flooding at very high water levels. Special attentionis paid to environmental protection by providing traffic andtransport information for an efficient calamity abatementprocess.

There is ample experience of establishing efficient environ-mental communication and knowledge management betweenthe bodies of environmental community to support the pro-cesses of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD).The aim of the WFD is to ensure that all European waters,these being groundwater, surface or coastal waters, are pro-tected according to a common standard (European Commis-sion, 2000). In this context, Environmental Telematics andInformatics (Enviromatics) represent the field of scientific re-search and technical activities that integrates all ICT ‘‘means’’needed to acquire and manage temporally and spatially refer-enced environmental data in order to produce, manage andcommunicate environmentally relevant information, as definedby Pillmann (2002). For example, Uslander (2005) has givena brief analysis of the existing IT recommendations for theWFD implementation strategy and encouraged the need to de-velop a common IT Framework Architecture comprising dif-ferent views (organizational, process, data and functional).After presenting the representative functions of operationalwater body information systems for the thematic and cooper-ation layers, he concludes with a summary of the future IT de-velopments required to efficiently support the WFDimplementation. For example, WFD-specific tools includetools for data acquisition, storage, exploration, visualization,decision support, spatial analyses, reporting, simulation andmodelling, etc.

Such ICT experience could be of great interest for theestablishment of common inland waterborne transport man-agement as well as communication. Use of Information andCommunication Technology (ICT) is crucial for the develop-ment of different applications, systems and services for trafficor transport processes according to the standards of theEuropean Union, the UN/ECE and the Rhine and DanubeRiver Commissions for navigation.

1.2. River information services

In 1998, the European Union initiated the development ofthe concept of River Information Services (RIS) that describesall kinds of information services for inland navigation. RISconstitutes a concept of harmonised information services tosupport traffic and transport management in inland navigation,including interfaces to other transport modes. At the request ofthe European Ministers of Transport, RIS according to Euro-pean recommendations shall be installed along the main

waterways by the end of 2005. A suitable framework for theinternational exchange of RIS related information has to be es-tablished (European Commission, 2005a). This declarationwas recently supported also by the new RIS Directive 2005/44/EC (European Commission, 2005b).

European Union research support can be found in eachphase of RIS progress. Several research and development pro-jects focused on RIS initiatives have worked continually on thetechnological and ICT developments, system integrations,standardization, international cooperation and networking(European Commission, 2005a). For example, the Pan-Euro-pean project Consortium Operational Management PlatformRiver Information Services (COMPRIS, 2005) is a FP5Programme that started in 2002. COMPRIS deals with thePan-European standardization and piloting of RIS, which isa prerequisite for full installation of RIS on all navigablewaterways. Project results include standards for RIS technolo-gies such as Notices to Skippers (NtS), Inland Automatic Iden-tification System (AIS), Inland Electronic Chart Display andInformation System (Inland ECDIS), Electronic Ship Report-ing (in cooperation with the Electronic Reporting Interna-tional, ERI working group), etc., as described in COMPRIS(2005). Another example is the INTERREG project data ware-house for the Danube waterway (D4D), which set the firstmilestone in the exchange of waterway related data betweenthe competent authorities. D4D project can be considered asthe first step in fulfilling the requirements of the EuropeanMinisters of Transport from the Conference in Rotterdam,2001 (Via donau, 2002).

The ‘‘GIS Forum Danube’’ is regarded as the perfect plat-form for managing projects such as COMPRIS and D4D. The‘‘GIS Forum Danube’’ aims at more intensive exchange ofgeographic data and closer cooperation in terms of waterwaymanagement along the Danube River. The ‘‘GIS Forum Dan-ube’’ was founded in 1997 as a trilateral working group by thewaterway directorates from Germany, Austria and Slovakia.Since 1999 the Group has been accepted by the Danube Com-mission as a Working Group (Danube Commission, 2005).Hungary joined in 2000, Croatia in 2002 and finally Romaniaand the Ukraine in 2003, while Serbia & Montenegro andBulgaria joined in 2004. Finally, Russia became a memberin 2005. Croatia actively participates in activities of the‘‘GIS Forum Danube’’ as well as in expert groups of thetwo mentioned projects.

The purpose of this paper is to give a general description ofthe Danube waterway data management in Croatia at both na-tional and Pan-European levels. As we are conducting our re-search activities for the purposes of the Croatian national jointproject as well as for similar activities within the D4D expertgroups, the paper will also explain our solutions to the mainproblems concerning efficient waterway related data manage-ment. At the national level, we initiated the development ofthe River IS, which analyses and provides all the necessarytypes of information, so that presentations such as maps, sta-tistical reports, time series diagrams and others could be ob-tained in due time. Some examples of the Web applicationfor temporal and spatial presentation illustrate the main

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functionalities of this information system. The main emphasisis placed on our research how to solve the major problemsconcerning the D4D project objectives, as identified by the‘‘GIS Forum Danube’’ expert groups. As the first projectobjective, the conversion of the Croatian national geographicdata into Inland ECDIS digital navigation maps is described.The second D4D project objective concerns development ofthe commonly agreed D4D object catalogue for the Danubewaterway data management. The Croatian catalogue of objecttypes and their corresponding attributes has been prepared asan illustration of these proposals.

2. Danube waterway data management in Croatia

Since 2000, we have been conducting our research activi-ties for the purposes of the special joint project between theRudjer Boskovic Institute (RBI) and the Croatian Ministryof the Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development (CMSTTD),earlier Croatian Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport andCommunications (CMMATC). The aim of the project is to de-velop a specialized geographic information system (GIS) forsurveillance of the Croatian segment of the Danube and DravaRivers (i.e., River IS ). Since 2003, this work has continued aspart of the CROatian River Information Services (CRORIS)project (CMMATC and via donau, 2003). The aim of this pro-ject is to involve Croatia in the RIS system development.CRORIS will be developing independently but with expertand institutional cooperation with COMPRIS.

Later on, the Inland Navigation Development Centre(CRUP, 2005) was formed with the main aim to render projectmanagement services in the development and modernizationof inland navigation by utilizing the latest technical

achievements. Signing the contract between CRUP andCMSTTD in May 2004, Croatia officially started with the de-velopment and implementation of RIS (CRUP, 2005). CRUPbecame coordinator of this important and complex project,and we participate in CRORIS as its partner. We also activelyparticipate in the work of expert groups for similar activitieswithin the D4D project.

2.1. CRORIS project

The CRORIS project will develop knowledge of how to in-tegrate RIS into relevant commercial and administrative pro-cedures in Croatia, as well as implement a test section alongthe Croatian stretch of the Danube of about 140 km (CRUP,2005). Due to its integration in relevant Pan-Europeanresearch and development activities, the RIS concept will bestandardized and harmonised at the European level. Nationalactivities of CRORIS and cooperation with international pro-jects are presented in Fig. 1. RIS architecture and associatedEuropean standards are under development in close coopera-tion with COMPRIS programme, D4D project and interna-tional working groups ERI and NtS. Local infrastructure willbe build and the corresponding information systems will be es-tablished for Croatia at a national level by Rudjer Boskovic In-stitute (RBI) and CRUP. Necessary transnational dataexchange will be organized within D4D and a new DANewBEData project initiated in 2005. Implementation within CRORISnational activities will be integrated with relevant internationalactivities according to the IRIS Master Plan (see Fig. 1).

The main beneficiaries of the CRORIS project will includethe customs, ship-owners, shipmasters, harbormasters, andothers directly or indirectly involved in transportation of goods

Fig. 1. National activities of CRORIS project and cooperation with international projects.

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and passengers on Croatian waterways. The CRORIS projectwill have two main phases (CRUP, 2005). The first phase con-cerns research and development and comprises all activitiesthat are necessary to prepare harmonised full installation andoperation of RIS in Croatia. This phase also ensures coopera-tion and close alignment of RIS development activities withCroatia’s neighboring countries. The second phase focuseson full installation of RIS on the Croatian part of the Danubeand Drava Rivers. The main goal is to develop and implementinformation services for all relevant actors at the governmentallevel (Ministry of Internal Affairs, port authorities, etc.) and atthe commercial level (ports, ship operators, shippers, etc.).

2.2. Main functionalities of the River Information System(River IS)

We initiated the development of the River IS as a specializedgeographic information system that provides various dataabout the Croatian part of the Danube River, data about thesurrounding objects, values of parameters measured at mea-surement stations, dynamic data about the river profiles andwater levels as well as other data relevant to river navigationsurveillance. This specialized information system will be com-plex and based on the Integrated Information System architec-ture for temporal and spatial presentation of complex data(Pecar-Ilic et al., 2002), which will possess the characteristicsof both the Geographic Information System (GIS) and Data-Base Management System (DBMS). For example, Denzer(2005) has shown that for complex environmental problemsdifferent methodologies can be an option while developinga new information system, for instance modelling, decisiontheoretic approaches, artificial intelligence, geographical anal-ysis, statistics and many more. He discussed how different En-vironmental Information System (EIS) and EnvironmentalDecision Support System (EDSS) tools can be integrated ina generic way, showed a number of integration strategiesand gave some examples of EU-funded projects.

A high level view on our River IS involves sharing informa-tion among various user groups of the River Information Sys-tem, such as the Ministry of the Interior, Customs’ Offices,Harbor Masters’ Offices, skippers and other authorized userswith their respective access rights as specified by CRUP(2005). The most important requirements concern provisionof automatic data access and processing, as well as their tem-poral and spatial presentations. Based on the performedWEBeGISeDBMS integration, it is possible to analyse allthe necessary types of information, so that presentationssuch as maps, statistical reports, time series diagrams andothers could be obtained in due time (Bec et al., 2003; Pe-car-Ilic and Ruzic, 2004). To develop this River IS, the Ob-ject-Oriented (OO) approach, which includes iterative andincremental development, was applied. Major components(packages) of the River IS architecture were formally de-scribed at the highest level using the concepts and diagramtechniques of the standard Unified Modeling Language(UML) (Bec et al., 2003). Some River IS packages have al-ready been developed. They enable the following: display of

a river map, longitudinal profile and transversal profiles ofa river together with the displayed water levels, positions ofmeasurement stations on river banks and displays of parametervalues, waterway signs and marks on the map, etc. (Pecar-Ilicand Ruzic, 2003, 2004). Nevertheless, some IS packages stillneed to be developed (e.g., if activated, the alarms with theirdescriptions).

To develop interactive and dynamic Web applications, theXML-based approach using modern object technologies hasbeen chosen (Pecar-Ilic and Ruzic, 2003, 2004). The AutodeskMapGuide� was used as Internet GIS. It consists of the fol-lowing modules: MapGuide� Server (enables dynamic accessto digital maps as well as to ODBC data sources through theInternet and Intranet), MapGuide� Author (for creation ofdigital maps), and MapGuide� Viewer (for presentation ofmaps). Spatial and attribute data were managed by Oracle�

ORDBMS. Microsoft� family products such as Active ServerPages (ASP), ASP.NET, ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) andADO.NET were also applied. Additionally, for efficient appli-cation development, supporting eXtensible Markup Language(XML) technologies such as eXtensible Stylesheet LanguageTransformation (XSLT), Xpath and Scalable Vector Graphic(SVG) were applied.

Web application enables the following functionalities (Becet al., 2003; Pecar-Ilic and Ruzic, 2003, 2004):

1. Automatic generation of a digital river navigation mapsand the corresponding reports based on specified userinput;

2. Reporting upon selected objects from the digital map(river navigation marks, water level data, etc.);

3. Automatic generation of reports with average water levelvalues in the form of tables and SVG time series diagrams;

4. Automatic display of water level data on digital maps (mo-mentary water levels as well as water levels for a givendate and time).

Some examples of the Web application for temporaland spatial presentation of waterway data are shown inFig. 2aec. The Web application examples include severalsteps for automatic generation of a digital river navigationmap and the corresponding reports based on specified user in-put. In the first step, Web application frames containing thebase map and user input form were created. The base mapconsists of the following layers: the Danube River banks, col-oured river depths, fairway of the Danube River, borders of theBatina place and the corresponding raster background. Fromthe input form, the user can select particular map layers and/or the corresponding reports. In the right frame in Fig. 2a, nav-igation marks, bridge and monitoring station layers have beenselected as well as the reports with bridge chart and informa-tion about the measurements at the station. In the next stepwhen Update Map is started, the new customized map contain-ing selected layers is created, as shown in the left frame inFig. 2a. Besides the common map manipulation operations(e.g., zoom, pan, view distance, etc.), it is possible to select ob-jects on the map such as bridges, monitoring stations or river

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Fig. 2. Web application (a) example of a dynamically generated river navigation map with selected map layers and reports; (b) report with average daily water

levels in the form of a table and a time series diagram for the selected Batina measurement station; (c) digital map of the cross-section profile of the Danube River

below the Batina Bridge.

navigation marks and to generate their reports. In the first ex-ample, after the Batina monitoring station has been selectedfrom the map in Fig. 2a, the corresponding report with averagewater level values in the form of a table and a SVG time seriesdiagram is created (Fig. 2b). The time series diagram containsaverage daily water levels for the current month (January 2004in this example).

In addition by selecting the Batina Bridge from the mapin Fig. 2a, another report with a new interactive map can beobtained where the cross-section profile of the river belowthe bridge is presented, as shown in Fig. 2c. Interactive dig-ital map includes different layers such as river banks, aver-age multi-annual high and low water levels, limits ofnavigation opening (see dashed lines in Fig. 2c), as wellas momentary water level (see arrow pointed on a fullline in Fig. 2c). It is possible to obtain additional more de-tailed information for all objects on such a map from a cor-responding database.

3. Data warehouse for the Danube waterway e D4Dproject

D4D is an INTERREG III B project within the scope of the‘‘GIS Forum Danube’’ (Via donau, 2002; GIS Forum Danube,2004). For its purposes, the ‘‘GIS Forum Danube’’ has definedseveral working packages (WPs) or expert groups. Theseworking packages concern the data warehouse (WP1), soft-ware tools (WP2), geo-related basic data (WP3), models(WP4), infrastructures (WP5), and RIS standards (WP6). Cro-atia is active in all expert groups and we are personally ac-tively involved in WP1eWP4.

One of the main D4D project objectives is to network na-tional GISs and ensure an efficient data exchange between re-sponsible authorities and skippers (GIS Forum Danube, 2004).For that purpose, all waterway related data would be stored ina distributed database (data warehouse) and made available tothe participating countries. This common database will serve

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as a basis for a number of additional applications. In the firstphase, conversion of the geographic data into electronic navi-gation charts (ENC) is planned according to the European In-land ECDIS standard. The Inland ECDIS standard was passedby the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine(CCNR) and is recommended by the Danube Commissionand the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe(UN/ECE). All these Commissions recommend the InlandECDIS standard to be used for exchanging inland navigationrelevant data at the international level. Charts according tothis standard have already been produced before the start ofCOMPRIS and D4D projects for the Rhine River and theupper part of the Danube.

The next phases of the D4D project will involve furtherapplications relating to calamity abatement, ecology, tourism,etc. (GIS Forum Danube, 2004). Good examples are theactivities of the European Environment Agency (EEA) con-cerning distribution of scientific and application-oriented en-vironmental information and implementation of the Webtechnologies for the Environmental Information and Observa-tion Network (EIONET), as described by Pillmann (2002).Such experience could be of great interest for the establish-ment of inland waterborne transport management as well ascommunication.

4. Results of our activities in the D4D expert groups

The first important D4D project objective is that the datawithin the databases should be created in the World GeodeticSystem 84 (WGS84) coordinates according to Hintenaus(2004). However, national GIS data of the participating coun-tries are originally prepared in their respective national coordi-nates. An important precondition for the data exchange ischecking the transnational compatibility of GIS data.

The second important D4D project objective is the develop-ment of a common data model to implement the correspondingdata warehouse (Hintenaus, 2004). National lists of objectsand their attributes have been collected and compared withinthe activities of the ‘‘GIS Forum Danube’’. Commonly agreeddata sets will be used to automatically produce electronic nav-igation charts according to the Inland ECDIS format. NationalGIS data will have to be converted into the D4D database us-ing national converters.

4.1. Development of the inland ECDIS digitalnavigation map

To satisfy the first D4D project objective, accurate trans-formation of the Croatian national HDKS2001 data into theETRS89 system (compatible with WGS84) was necessary.The digital navigation map for the Croatian segment of theDanube River was created from the Danube Commissionprinted maps, which were digitized and geo-referenced usingthe Croatian national geodetic system. During the productionof the Croatian electronic navigation chart (ENC), we dis-covered that the AutoCAD Map software used for the mapproduction did not transform accurately the Croatian national

GIS data into WGS84 coordinates. To this purpose, we de-veloped a correction procedure that can resolve the problemwith errors below the centimetre range (Ruzic et al., 2004).Accuracy of the procedure was tested by several approaches.Firstly, we tested our procedure with available GPS controlpoints, as well as with WGS84 compatible Hungarian dataat the state border between Croatia and Hungary. Secondly,the produced Croatian ENC was also compared with a recentsatellite image (produced by LANDSAT 7) of the DanubeRiver at the CroatianeHungarian state border (see Fig. 3).Good agreement was obtained in both tests. Afterwards,we successfully converted the digital navigation map forthe Croatian segment of the Danube River into the corre-sponding Inland ECDIS format (see Fig. 4). For examplethis Inland ECDIS map comprises the left and right banksof the Danube River, the middle of the waterway with itsdepth and water velocities, river navigation signs and marks,bridges, etc. (as shown in Fig. 4). Croatian Inland ECDISmap for the Danube River can be downloaded for free(CRUP, 2005). Inland ECDIS Viewers are available fromseveral companies but we use the one from Seven Cs AG& Co. KG.

4.2. Development of the object catalogue

For the development of a common data model of theDanube waterway to implement the corresponding data ware-house (Hintenaus, 2004), we proposed a redefinition of similarattributes from the first version of the catalogue of objecttypes. The goal is to reduce the number of attributes to a min-imum and enable more efficient data processing. The Croatiancatalogue of object types and their corresponding attributeswere prepared as an illustration of these proposals (Ruzicand Pecar-Ilic, 2004). Finally, based on the reduced set ofdata, the commonly agreed catalogue of object types and theirattributes was prepared and implemented as a MS Accessdatabase and the corresponding application. In this way, theD4D object catalogue defines the format of all data that maybe exchanged between partner countries within the D4D pro-ject and the ‘‘GIS Forum Danube’’. This object catalogue isorganized in nine object groups, which completely describethe waterway related data (Schedlbauer, 2004). These objectgroups are Reference point, Kilometre marking, Topography,River bottom, Navigation, Constructions, Traffic routes,Hydrography as well as Borders and regions. Each objectgroup includes one or more objects and each object has oneor more corresponding attributes.

At present, the D4D object catalogue is available only inthe English, German, Slovak and Croatian languages. Eachparticipating country will be able to translate the whole D4Dobject catalogue into their national language (Schedlbauer,2004). For example, Fig. 5 presents the functionality of theD4D object catalogue application in MS Access, whichenables the description of object groups, individual objecttypes and their attributes in English as well as in Croatian.The most important parts of this application are the languagedialog box, main dialog box, object group names, object

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names and attribute names (as shown in Fig. 5). In the nextD4D project phase, common data sets will be used to automat-ically produce ENC according to the Inland ECDIS Standard.Additionally, national GIS data will have to be converted intothe D4D database using national converters (Hintenaus, 2004).

5. Summary and conclusions

Following the demands of the European Ministers ofTransport, River Information Services (RIS) pursuant to Euro-pean recommendations shall be installed along the main

Fig. 4. Croatian Inland ECDIS map for the Danube River segment near the mouth of the Drava River.

Fig. 3. Comparison of ENC with the satellite image of the Croatian segment of the Danube River.

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Fig. 5. Description of the object groups, individual object types and their attributes, both in English and Croatian, enabled by the D4D object catalogue application

in MS Access.

waterways by the end of 2005. This declaration was recentlysupported also by the new European Commission RIS Direc-tive 2005/44/EC. The ‘‘GIS Forum Danube’’ is regarded asthe perfect platform for managing projects such as COMPRISand D4D. Croatia actively participates in the activities of the‘‘GIS Forum Danube’’, a member of which it became in2002, as well as in expert groups of these two projects. Toinvolve Croatia in the RIS system development, the CROatianRiver Information Services (CRORIS) project has beenstarted with expert and institutional cooperation withCOMPRIS.

Since 2000 we have been conducting our research activitiesfor the purpose of the Croatian national joint project that willimprove waterway related data management in Croatia. Forthat purpose, a specialized geographic information systemfor surveillance of the Croatian segment of the Danube River(i.e., River IS ) started to be developed and in 2003 it becamea part of the CRORIS project. Based on the performed WEB-GIS-DBMS integration, it is possible to analyse all the neces-sary types of information, so that presentations such as maps,reports, time series diagrams and others could be obtained indue time. In addition, employing the eXtensible Markup Lan-guage (XML) as the format of exchanged data as well as someof the supporting XML technologies (such as XSL, SVG, etc.)in developed applications could help establish the standard forexchanging data between CRORIS, its partners, and the regu-latory bodies.

Our solutions for the two main objectives of the D4D projectare also presented. As regards the first project objective, we de-veloped a correction procedure for transformation of nationalGIS data into WGS84 coordinates. Accuracy of the procedurewas tested by several approaches and good agreement was

obtained in all cases. For example, the procedure was testedwith WGS84 compatible Hungarian data at the Croatian-Hun-garian state border. The produced Croatian ENC of the DanubeRiver was also compared with a recent satellite image (pro-duced by LANDSAT 7) of the region. Afterwards, CroatianENC of the Danube River was successfully converted into thecorresponding Inland ECDIS map, which can be downloadedfor free from the relevant Web site. The second D4D project ob-jective concerns development of the commonly agreed D4D ob-ject catalogue for the Danube waterway data management. Forthat purpose, we proposed a redefinition of similar attributes inorder to reduce their number to a minimum and enable more ef-ficient data processing. The Croatian catalogue of object typesand their corresponding attributes has been prepared as an illus-tration of these proposals. It was accepted by the ‘‘GIS ForumDanube’’ after minor revisions.

A Pan-European COMPRIS Programme has ended(COMPRIS, 2005) and the results have been discussed at thefinal conference in Rotterdam, October 24e27, 2005. CRORISpartners contributed to its success through close cooperationwithin its Working Packages and international working groupssuch as ERI, NtS and Inland ECDIS. Through this cooperationnecessary transfer of know how has been achieved. Develop-ment of RIS activities in Croatia is initiated with respectingrelevant European standards in a harmonised way in coopera-tion with other Danube Countries. This will be continued alsothrough cooperation within the current D4D project and activeparticipation in ‘‘GIS Forum Danube’’ in its Working Pack-ages. National geo-related basic data are collected, softwaretools which will enable their conversion to D4D data ware-house are under development in order to facilitate their ex-change. The implementation of RIS has been initiated by

1570 J. Pecar-Ilic, I. Ruzic / Environmental Modelling & Software 21 (2006) 1562e1571

a new DANewBE Data project, where CRORIS partners willtake an active participation.

Within the COMPRIS Programme, an operational test plat-form was defined and developed. The platform created an en-vironment to test applications and systems. Before the end ofCOMPRIS Programme, applications and systems were dem-onstrated to policy makers and RIS users. A number of dem-onstrations were held on different organizational levels. Someof them are local or national. The great challenge presents thecross-border regional and Pan-European demonstrations(COMPRIS, 2005). The results of these tests and demonstra-tions will be used for Implementation of RIS systems in thefuture (IRIS). Within CRORIS project a number of tests anddemonstrations are planned during 2006.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for financial support and coopera-tion to the Directorate for Inland Navigation of the CroatianMinistry of the See, Tourism, Transport and Development(CMSTTD).

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List of abbreviations

ADO: ActiveX Data Objects.

AIS: Automatic Identification System.

ASP: Active Server Pages.

CCNR: Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine.

CMMATC: Croatian Ministry for Maritime Affairs, Transport and

Communications (until 2004).

CMSTTD: Croatian Ministry of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and

Development (from 2004).

COMPRIS: Consortium Operational Management Platform River

Information Services.

CRORIS: CRO-atian River Information Services.

CRUP: Croatian Inland Navigation Development Centre.

D4D: Data warehouse for the Danube waterway.

DBMS: DataBase Management System.

DANewBE Data: Digitally Advanced New Cross-Border Exchange

of Waterway Data.

EC: European Commission.

ECDIS: Electronic Chart Display and Information System.

EDSS: Environmental Decision Support System.

EEA: European Environment Agency.

EIONET: European Environment Information and Observation NETwork.

EIS: Environmental Information System.

ENC: Electronic Navigation Chart.

ERI: Electronic Reporting International.

ETRS89: European Terrestrial Reference System 1989.

EU: European Union.

FP5: Fifth Framework Programme.

GIS: Geographic Information System.

GPS: Global Positioning System.

HDKS2001: Croatian state cartographic system 2001.

ICT: Information and Communication Technology.

IRIS: Implementation of RIS.

1571J. Pecar-Ilic, I. Ruzic / Environmental Modelling & Software 21 (2006) 1562e1571

IS: Information System.

MS: Microsoft.

NtS: Notices to Skippers.

ODBC: Open DataBase Connectivity.

OO: Object-Oriented.

ORDBMS: Object-Relational DataBase Management System.

RBI: Rudjer Boskovic Institute.

RIS: River Information Services.

River IS: River Information System.

SVG: Scalable Vector Graphics.

TEN-T: Trans-European Network for Transport.

UML: Unified Modeling Language.

UN/ECE: United Nations/Economic Commission for Europe.

WFD: Water Framework Directive.

WGS84: World Geodetic System 1984.

WP: Working Package.

XML: eXtensible Markup Language.

XSLT: eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation.