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Project SeaSense

Sharing Your Data with Project SeaSense

By opting in to data sharing from your device, you share measurements from your boat with Project SeaSense, a non-profit foundation that gets real-world ocean data to scientists. Your data is pseudonymised: researchers see a code instead of your boat, and they may only use it after identifying themselves and signing an agreement that forbids identifying you.

What data is shared?

Depending on your boat's sensors, the following data may be shared:

Environmental data

Wind speed, wind direction, water temperature, water depth, air temperature, air pressure, air humidity, water conductivity, etc.

Position and time

Where and when each measurement was taken.

Technical metadata

Sensor type, measurement quality indicators.

The data your device shares does not include your name, contact details or account credentials.

Is this personal data?

Yes, and we treat it that way. Even without a name, a series of positions over time can point to one boat. Under European data protection law (GDPR) that makes it personal data, even after we replace your boat with a code. We call this pseudonymised data, and we protect it with the measures below rather than pretending it is anonymous.

Who gets what?

Open data: aggregated only

  • Anything anyone can download is aggregated, for example average values per area and hour, and only for areas where enough boats contributed that no single boat stands out.
  • Aggregated datasets are published under the Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0).

Research access: pseudonymised measurements

  • Researchers can get the individual measurements with position and time, under a code instead of your boat. Each research project gets its own codes, so datasets given to different projects cannot be combined to follow one boat further.
  • The data is free to use for science, but it is not openly downloadable: a researcher must first tell us who they are and which institution they work for, describe their project, and sign our data use agreement before receiving any data.

Internal use

  • Project SeaSense keeps a stable internal identifier per boat to manage data quality, consent and deletion requests. This identifier is never shared with researchers or the public.

What researchers agree to

Before receiving pseudonymised data, a researcher signs an agreement in which they commit to:

  • Process the data in line with the GDPR and only for the research project they described
  • Not try to identify any boat, owner, crew member or berth
  • Not combine the data with AIS, marina records or other sources to identify boats
  • Not share the data with anyone outside their project team
  • Keep the data secure and delete it when the project ends
  • Not publish individual tracks, or locations that point to one boat
  • Tell us immediately if a boat or person was identified by accident, and not use that information
  • Cite Project SeaSense as the source

If a researcher breaks the agreement, we stop their access and may require them to delete the data.

Researchers: how to request access

Tell us who you are and what you need. We reply with the data use agreement and, once it is signed, send the dataset.

What you want to study, and how you will use the data.

Area, period and measurements, e.g. Wadden Sea, summer 2026, water temperature.

Can my data be deleted later?

Yes. If you withdraw consent or request deletion (info@projectseasense.org), we delete the data linked to your boat from our systems and leave it out of every future dataset.

  • Researchers who already received pseudonymised data may keep using it for their project. They cannot link it to you, and the agreement forbids them to try. The GDPR allows this for scientific research, so that published results stay verifiable.
  • Aggregated open data cannot be traced to your boat, so it stays published.

Can this data be used commercially?

The data you share will never be sold.

Project SeaSense is a non-profit organisation. To remain independent and sustainable, we may create derived products for commercial partners for a fee, such as:

  • Regional or route-based environmental insights
  • Validation datasets for models or forecasts
  • High-level summaries or indicators

Important safeguards:

  • Your measurements are never sold
  • Derived products are based on aggregated data and cannot identify individual boats
  • Any income from derived products is reinvested in the foundation's non-profit goals

Who controls the data?

  • You control whether your boat participates, and can stop at any time.
  • Stichting Project SeaSense is responsible for your data (the data controller) and decides who may use it.
  • Researchers receive pseudonymised data only under a signed data use agreement.
  • We do not monetise individual boats, profiles or behaviour.

In summary

  • Your data is pseudonymised: researchers see a code, not your boat
  • Only aggregated data is open to everyone
  • Detailed data goes only to identified researchers who sign an agreement not to identify you
  • You can withdraw at any time

Questions, or want to withdraw? Contact us: info@projectseasense.org

Last Updated: October 27, 2026