1 Title: French marine landscapes maps

Number of pages: 16 Summary: Marine Landscapes are a surrogate to habitat maps which are produced by incorporating biological data from samples to the physical map. They provide a more global vision of our coastal and shelf environment in terms of their main physiographic traits and hence act as a support for national/regional policy and spatial planning. This concept was applied to the French coastal approaches where digital data sets were available. The classification used was that of the UkseaMap project with adaptation to the local physiography; The paper discusses the methodology used to produce a seabed map, mainly relying on data cross-tabulations within a GIS, and deals with both raster and vector data. Problems linked to discrepancies in data resolution are also discussed. Finally an application making use of the landscape map for conservation issues in Brittany is discussed. Reference/citation