Aug 28, 2025
Today the Portal Working Group launched a new user interface, reorganized content, and updates to the back-end technology to the Northeast Ocean Data Portal that enhance the overall user experience. The last time the site was updated in such a comprehensive way was 2017.
The redesigned site launched after many months of planning and coordination with Northeast Regional Ocean Council participants and Portal users. The Portal Working Group held webinars to get user feedback and show progress along the way. Many more ideas for Portal improvements were shared from the user community, and the Portal Working Group will continue working to implement as many new and refined features and functions as possible. Use the contact@northeastoceandata.org email to get in touch with us with any questions or feedback on the new site.
The newly redesigned site includes five main components:
Topic pages describe the Portal’s 17 main categories of data, including 8 Marine Life & Habitat Topics and 9 Human Dimensions Topics. Each Topic page provides key information about data updates, data sources and providers, subtopics, data considerations, data status, examples of data, and links to view the data in the Data Explorer.
The Data Explorer interactive map enables Portal users to visualize any combination of data from the 17 Topics. The maps show the richness and diversity of the ecosystem and illustrate the many ways that humans and environmental resources interact.
Most of the data layers that are viewable on the Data Explorer are also available to use on other platforms such as desktop GIS. The Get Data page provides links to either download databases hosted by the Portal or access the data from external sources.
In coordination with US federal agencies, the Portal provides data to inform public review processes for selected agency actions pertaining to the Northeast region. The Agency Actions pages provide centralized access to these resources, which can be used by individuals and organizations when submitting public comments.
Check the Updates page for information about changes to the Portal’s data resources and Agency Actions pages. Subscribe to the Portal newsletter to receive periodic email summaries of updates.