The Centre for Oil Spill Preparedness and Marine Environment has already made good progress in the development of the new national map solution, in cooperation with Keep Norway Beautiful and with project assistance from the Norwegian Coastal Administration. The new map solution will keep all the current functions in the cleaning portal (Ryddeportalen), such as to adopt a beach, register areas with litter and cleaning campaigns. To volunteer beach cleaners, the map solution will be a motivation and facilitate good communication in the cleaning activities.
«The cleaning portal is primarily aimed at the volunteer beach cleaners. The new map solution will still be a tool for them, but also for managers, the waste industry and researchers. The goal is to create a tool that will make the coast cleaner,” says project manager Anja Meland Rød.
For the public administration, the intention is to make beach cleanups more effective. The map solution should be a tool that provides an overview of needs and activities in various areas, and it should be possible to get data, produce statistics and make analyses.
«It is also important that the tool enables coordinated cleaning activities by making it easier to organise the work, and making it possible to prioritise work tasks. Public administration has a particular need to do a good job of coordinating the beach cleanups,” Anja says.
Prototype ready 1 September
In September, the protptype will be ready for demonstration and testing, and the different users will be invited to participate in the work. The tool will come in two versions, one field solution and one web solution. This enables the users to register and work with the tool in the field, both in and out of range.
«The sum of all functions and possibilities in the tool will provide us with more and better knowledge of marine litter in Norway. In addition, it will provide for more efficient and coordinated efforts. This is an exciting project, and the staff at the Centre for Oil Spill Preparedness and Marine Environment is really looking forward to launching the prototype this autumn. It is really motivating to develop a tool that is based on a familiar concept, but will be developed further. And there is also room for some new tricks,” Anja laughs.