SeaTopic is a Brest based SME created in 2015, to boost innovation in the marine and maritime sectors. It links sound competencies in hydrography and oceanography and provides a frame for applied development in these fields. Since its creation by 5 French and German experts the company has gained recognition for its commitment in the digitalisation process of maritime activities. One example is the exploitation of the new standards delivered by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the IHO (S-100) which opens standard navigation platform in commercial shipping (ECDIS) for environmental and other data beyond classical navigational charts, a revolution that Overheat will exploit.
SeaTopic is follows in key international organisations such as IHO (International Hydrographical Organisation, developing standards for navigation charts), IALA (International Association of Light Houses, specifying maritime web services), EMODNET (European Marine and Ocean Data Network, a holistic data hub).
Through these background activities, SeaTopic became a small but proactive actor of the digital transformation of the maritime sectors: traditional domains (shipping as a whole) and new ones such as the offshore wind industry requiring a seamless logistic service that is based on maritime, aerial and drones components (Interreg project “DIOL“).
SeaTopic is responsible to coordinate the design, development, and tests of the digital “System”” capable of connecting the vessel and rescue teams at sea, in the air and on board. It is all about information sharing, in near real time, and all about using standards: the maritime and aerial sectors are both highly regulated. Overheat addresses interoperability between these two domains, with additional information sources on board such as sensor networks and drones.
Working with partners, the goal is to design the information and communication system that will link the actors at sea and on shore, enable exchange of any type of information to build the complete the shared common situational picture in near real time. As part of this work, SeaTopic will contribute to design the digital port service, working with the partners. BrestPort will host the demo.
Overheat is the follow up of several actions/ projects engaged by SeaTopic to push forward the exploitation of the new IMO/IHO/IALA standards for e-navigation, including web services.