Why do land app developers get all the best toys?

Under SeaZone’s HydroView product family, HydroView Now is about getting data ‘now’ – on demand streaming. Two products have been released so far: HydroView Now: Basemap and HydroView Now: Features. And the best news is, they come with a free to use option.

Providing the foundations

HVN: Basemap is a global tile cache of marine elevation and bathymetry features – its delivered as a standard WMTS (web map tile service) via an authenticated API. The beauty of HVN: Basemap – and I say this from a completely unbiased love of the marine environment – is that it has no land content. The land is a transparent mask, enabling users to add the land content of their choice, whether Google Maps, Bing Maps or OpenStreetMap.

Feature of interest

HydroView Now: Features is a global vector dataset of marine features delivered as a standard WFS (web feature service), again via and authenticated API. HVN: Features contains the content you would see in SeaZones HydroSpatial marine vector datasets delivered both as GML or readily symbolised for use in map. Like its basemap companion, HVN: Features is delivered as a cloud-based service to provide elasticity of demand and ensure users get an excellent speed of response.

HydroView Now: Features provides users with definitive worldwide marine reference feature types, incorporating largescale, authoritatively sourced, marine geographic datasets. The content is processed to form a continuous vector layer dataset aligned to the (draft) International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO) S-100 Web Feature Service (WFS) Geography Markup Language (GML) profile.

HydroView Now: Features delivers well over 100 different feature types worldwide, but the flexibility of the service means that you don’t have the expense of purchasing and download a global dataset to access to what you need. So if you need lots of features in a small area, or just a few features worldwide, you only pay for what you use.

Getting started

HydroView Now comes ready to use – all you need is an API key which is available for both evaluation and operation use. Basic keys are available free of charge, with fees only charged when you become a power user. To find out more go to and obtain an API key www.seazone.com

Keiran Millard is Group Manager at SeaZone Solutions in Wallingford, Oxfordshire

About HydroView Now

HydroView Now is a range of web services for marine geospatial data. The service content is developed and managed by SeaZone, working with partners Europa Technologies and SnowFlake Software to deliver the services. More information can be found at www.seazone.com

About SeaZone

SeaZone Solutions - a part of H R Wallingford - is a world-leader in marine geospatial data and information. SeaZone produces a range of innovative data products which include SeaZone HydroSpatial Base, the first ‘off the shelf’ internationally authoritative digital marine map, and SeaZone TruDepth Grids, providing one seamless layer of best available UK bathymetry. Over 850 organisations across the oil and gas, renewable energy, conservation and public sectors use SeaZone data, software and services to help support decision making in the marine environment and coastal zone.