Tony Giarrusso, senior research scientist at the Center for Spatial Planning Analytics and Visualization (CSPAV), will be a keynote speaker at the Wednesday morning session of the OceanVision2019 Summit.

The title of his talk is Georgia Coastal and Marine Planning: A Policy and Mapping Initiative. His keynote is part of Session IV: Sustainability of Ocean Resources: Marine Spatial Planning.

Giarrusso explains: Georgia’s coastal and offshore resources face increasing pressure from a variety of factors, including onshore development, increasing population, demand for offshore fossil fuels, and climate change.

In order to better plan for and manage these impacts, the DNR Coastal Resources Division and Georgia Tech teamed up to create the Georgia Coastal and Marine Planner, an innovative GIS-based decision-making tool.This session will explore how GCAMP can assist a variety of stakeholders in navigating the complex technical and policy considerations of coastal and marine planning and development in Georgia.

The OceanVision Summit is a gathering of some of the leading minds in ocean and science technology. Participants are gathering at Georgia Tech this week for the summit, co-organized by researchers at Georgia Tech, The Smithsonian Institution, The Georgia Aquarium, and other leading institutions focused on studying and preserving this global resource.

“The goal is to highlight ocean-based science and engineering successes in the areas of resilience, adaptation, mitigation and sustainability and promote scalable solutions across human, climate and ecological dimensions,” their website states.

Giarrusso is also associate director of CSPAV. His teaching, research, and consulting activities focus on GIS-based planning solutions for land conservation, public health, alternative energy, coastal and marine resources, and environmental protection.

His research sponsors have included the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the State of Georgia (DNR and DHR), The Diane Fossey Gorilla Fund International, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, Atlanta BeltLine Inc., and the City of Atlanta.