CIOOS will integrate Canadian oceanographic data from multiple sources to make them accessible to end-users, from researchers, to the general public, to policy makers. Thus, three initial regional associations (RAs) will be established: Pacific, St. Lawrence, and Atlantic. The RAs will collaborate with regional data providers and users to adopt international standards and tools to ensure interoperable data management and dissemination. A national web platform (cioos.ca) will be developed as a central access point to all Canadian data, where visualisation tools will allow data discovery as well as redirection to regional portals.