In addition, several data tools are available in the northeast to assist with data access and management, e.g. a map server interface for the Northeast Consortium and use of the
ARC Marine data model to manage sea floor mapping. Other efforts to make data and maps accessible include the Gulf of Maine Spatial Data Project that is designed to integrate and share Gulf of Maine maps and the Gulf of Maine Ocean Data Partnership. One specific example of a distributed data access study was the northern shrimp data project. A variety of software products were used by participants, with some utilizing numerous open source packages such as Map Server, to others based on the “industry-standard” suite of GIS products from ESRI.