Dr. Meirion Jones from UK is a Founding Director of the British Oceanographic data Centre. From 1979 to 1996 he was actively involved in developing the IODE system including the design of the IOC General Exchange Format. From 1985 to 2003 he was Chairman of the IOC Group of Experts on the Technical Aspects of Data Exchange and of the IOC/IHO GEBCO Sub-committee on Digital Bathymetry from 1983 to 2003. He coordinated the digitization of the GEBCO paper charts and led the publication of the Centenary Edition of the GEBCO Digital Atlas.