Protecting Our Oceans Using Data Visualization and Digital Technology

VizworX is excited to be working alongside the Digital Technology Supercluster, MDA and Simon Fraser University to help Protect Our Oceans. Through real-time monitoring practices, data visualization, artificial intelligence, and analytics, we will work together to combat illegal vessels and potential harm of our marine ecosystem.

MDA BlueHawk™ provides monitoring services to organizations worldwide. (Image credit: MDA)

Protecting Our Oceans works to detect unreported vessels. These so called “dark” vessels engage in a variety of activities related to illegal fishing, human trafficking and border security.

Overfishing continues to be a major threat to ocean ecosystems, affecting not only local fish populations but also food security and marine economies. Fishing makes up a significant portion of coastal livelihoods and illegal fishing harms those who depend on healthy wild fish populations. By working to stop undetected vessels, we can work to protect and support the wellbeing of our communities, regional economies and ocean habitats. Protecting our ocean ecosystem helps to safeguard the environment and economy for future generations.

Detecting undocumented vessels helps to protect our oceans.

As part of Canada’s Superclusters Initiative, the Digital Technology Supercluster brings together small and medium sized businesses, post-secondary institutions, and not-for-profit organizations to support growth within Canada’s innovation sector. By investing in Canada’s digital technology ecosystem, our country can benefit from new job opportunities, research and other initiatives. The GDP impact for the Digital Technology Supercluster is estimated to be five billion dollars over the next ten years. It is also expected to create over 13,000 jobs over that same period of time.

VizworX is a solutions-based software and development company that thrives on advanced technology. We address specific business challenges for our clients and transform their ideas, data and information into human experiences. We work together with our clients to come up with the best way to approach their problems and we are focused on engaging clients throughout the development process.

“Dark” vessels are a threat to ocean ecosystems, regional economies and human rights.

Protecting Our Oceans incorporates VizworX’s existing knowledge in data visualization. VizworX’s work with Panoptica, a 3D model visualization tool, lends itself to the company’s extensive mixed reality knowledge base, while our past work with the University of Calgary’s Aurora imaging provides experience in global data visualization.

VizworX also worked on the University of Calgary’s Virtual Control Center, which addresses urgent problems for decision making support and the setup of temporary control rooms by replicating control room environments through leveraging analytics and visualizations in virtual reality. Our work on the Virtual Control Center provides vital insight into the monitoring visualization required for the Protect Our Oceans project.

To learn more about the Digital Technology Supercluster and the Protecting Our Oceans please visit digitalsupercluster.ca For more information regarding VizworX, future projects or inquiries, please visit vizworx.com.