The data provided by a variety of countries and instititions first must be converted to digital format and then be referenced to a common reference system.

The data sources cover a wide range of topics including topography, near shore bathymetry, surface hydrology, glaciology, vegetation, cultural features and human impacts.

A challenging task is to semantically integrate the data from a diverse range of disciplines and institutions. The source data is mapped to consistent semantics using the SCAR Feature Catalogue.