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Introduction
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What is the West Coast Ocean Data Portal?
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The `West Coast Ocean Data Portal <http://portal.westcoastoceans.org/>`_ (WCODP) is a project of the West Coast regional ocean partnership, the `West Coast Ocean Alliance <https://www.westcoastoceanalliance.org/>`_ (WCOA). The West Coast Ocean Data Portal is a tool that facilitates geospatial data **discovery** and data **sharing** for people and organizations who work on regional ocean and coastal management, policy, and planning on the West Coast of the United States. You can read more about the West Coast Ocean Data Portal's goals and purpose here: http://portal.westcoastoceans.org/about/.

The West Coast Ocean Data Portal is a unique and valuable resource on the West Coast because it focuses on regional data sets for cross-boundary, multi-discipline, and multi-agency issues such as marine debris, sea-level rise adaptation, ocean acidification, and marine spatial planning.  

The West Coast Ocean Data Portal does not store a copy of data sets or metadata.  Instead, it displays key descriptive information about the data and points users to the original source using the metadata as the "road map."

How to Use this Knowledge Base
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The West Coast Ocean Data Portal Knowledge Base is a *technical* resource for data managers and data partners who would like to participate and share their geospatial metadata, data, and/or web services with the larger community of West Coast ocean data users.

This Knowledge Base describes: 

* Steps to register_ data in the WCODP; 
* Tips, tools, and best practices for developing good metadata_ and `web mapping services`_; 
* Interoperability of `web catalog services`_; and 
* Details about the technology_ behind the WCODP.

This Knowledge Base is *not* a user guide for end users of the WCODP. 

.. _register: /contribute/contribute.html
.. _metadata: /metadata/metadata.html
.. _web mapping services: /webservices/webservices.html
.. _web catalog services: /catalogs/catalogs.html
.. _technology: /technology/technology.html

Questions?
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If you don't find the information you're looking for in this knowledge base or have additional questions, feel free to contact us:

* West Coast Ocean Data Portal Administrator, portal@westcoastoceans.org
* Laura Bliss, Project Coordinator, laura.bliss@westcoastoceanalliance.org
* Andy Lanier, Portal Co-Chair, andy.lanier@state.or.us
* Steve Weisberg, Portal Co-Chair, stevew@sccwrp.org

We also encourage you to email us to find out about training and networking opportunities, as well as to connect with other members of the network to share resources, questions, and ideas.