The Electronic Atlas is an exhaustive cartography of the spatial-temporal distribution of the fishing effort in the appropriate study Areas (ASA) using different tools to estimate the fishing effort by direct and indirect way. In the Mediterranean ASAs the effort estimation was achieved on board the vessels and by daily vessels registers at the local auction, combined with fishermen interviews. In the North and Irish Sea fishing effort was estimated via Vessel Monitoring System VMS and over-flight data collected by local fisheries authorities. In a parallel way, the effort was estimated by means of an indirect method counting side scan sonar trawl tracks.
Atlas CD contains two elements: TNTAtlas, that is an easy-to-use free map viewer, and the maps themselves. TNT Atlas provides an interface that allows users to navigate around maps, zoom in and out, activate/deactivate layers for better vision, consult databases associated to map elements (points, vectors&) and calculate areas, distances, etc directly on maps.
This viewer is automatically installed on users HD the first time Atlas CD is loaded. Once the viewer has been installed, user can load Atlas from a single .atl file directly on CD s root when needed. Contains of CD can be copied to HD in order to improve visualization speed, the only requirement is to maintain original folder names and hierarchy.
Internal organization of Atlas has been designed in order to allow user navigate freely across different maps but always inside a single study zone, to prevent accidental losing of geographical orientation. Besides, all zones have a common design (same color for terrain, similar gradient bars, same legend type&) in order to show an integrated external aspect. All maps are georeferenced in WGS84 Datum.
Navigation: When Atlas is loaded, Home Level screen appears showing a map of Western Europe with a tridimensional representation of Ocean Relief. User can choose one of four study zones (north Sea, Irish Sea, Catalan Sea and Adriatic Sea) by clicking on their geographical position with Hyperindex Navigation tool activated. In this screen there is also a title bar with direct links to Response web site and help files. These help files will be always accessible to user a click away from navigation bar.