Coral reefs support an estimated 25% of all marine species, yet they are under immense pressure from climate change and direct human impacts. Accurately mapping reef habitats is inherently challenging, and the data needed to protect them remains fragmented across institutions, geographies, and formats—or has yet to be mapped.
In this webinar, we explore how combining coral reef datasets from many sources on a cloud based geospatial platform can help create a more complete and usable picture of reefs—from local to global scales.
Introduction talk by Associate Professor Chris Roelfsema (University of Queensland), who will share insights on mapping coral reefs from local to global scales.
This will be followed by a live demonstration of the Ocean Data Platform, showing how coral reef maps can be brought together, explored, combined, and contributed to in one place. We will look specifically at some of the sources around Australia together with global maps such as Allen Coral Atlas and put ODP to work.
We’ll close with an open discussion on the challenges and opportunities of building a more connected coral data ecosystem. What data would you like to see on ODP?
What we will cover
· Introduction to Coral Reef Mapping local to global
· Introduction to HUB Ocean’s Ocean Data Platform
· Live demonstration of coral reef data layers
· How to access, combine, and contribute coral data
· Open Q&A
SPEAKERS
Chris Roelfsema: University of Queensland; Gustav Kågesten, Science Director, HUB Oceanand Brian Free, Geospatial Data Analyst, HUB Ocean
Who should join
This session is open to anyone working with coral reef science, conservation and data, including marine researchers, reef managers, NGOs, policy makers and ocean data practitioners.
About the hosts
HUB Ocean is building the Ocean Data Platform aggregating, standardizing and making accessible ocean datasets from partners around the world — accelerating science, conservation and sustainable ocean management.
After registering you will receive a confirmation email with a calendar invite and joining link.
This webinar is part of HUB Ocean's 2026 ocean ecosystem webinar series, exploring the science, data and policy dimensions of the ocean's most critical habitats.