Geospatial Evidence and Remote Sensing in Maritime Boundary Delimitation: A Legal Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.67710/jlspa.v1i1.8Keywords:
maritime boundary, law of the sea, remote sensing, geospatial evidence, coastlineAbstract
Maritime boundary delimitation is not only a legal matter but also depends on the quality of the spatial information used to describe the coast and surrounding maritime areas. This article reviews how geospatial data and remote sensing can support maritime boundary delimitation, particularly in relation to the law of the sea. The review draws on scientific literature, international legal instruments, judicial materials, and technical studies concerning maritime baselines, coastlines, satellite imagery, geographic information systems, and boundary determination. The findings show that remote sensing is useful for observing coastal features and shoreline change, while geographic information systems help organize and analyze coordinates, coastlines, maritime zones, and other spatial information needed in boundary studies. However, a coastline derived from satellite imagery cannot automatically be treated as a legally recognized baseline. Its legal relevance depends on several factors, including applicable legal rules, official recognition, positional accuracy, tidal conditions, image resolution, and the time of data acquisition. The issue becomes more complex in areas affected by erosion, accretion, and sea-level rise, where the physical coastline may change over time. This review argues that geospatial technology should be used as supporting scientific evidence within a clear legal framework. Closer integration between maritime law, geodesy, geographic information systems, and remote sensing can strengthen the accuracy, transparency, and legal defensibility of maritime boundary governance.
Downloads
References
Anggadi, F. (2022). What States say and do about legal stability and maritime zones, and why it matters. International & Comparative Law Quarterly, 71(4), 767–798. https://doi.org/10.1017/S002058932200032X
International Hydrographic Organization. (2024). IHO standards for hydrographic surveys (S-44, Ed. 6.2.0).
International Law Commission. (2025). Final report of the Study Group on sea-level rise in relation to international law. In Report of the International Law Commission on the work of its seventy-sixth session (A/80/10, Annex I). United Nations.
Luijendijk, A., Hagenaars, G., Ranasinghe, R., Baart, F., Donchyts, G., & Aarninkhof, S. (2018). The state of the world’s beaches. Scientific Reports, 8, Article 6641. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-24630-6
Oral, N. (2025). Sea-level rise and maritime boundaries: From uncertainty to clarity? International & Comparative Law Quarterly, 74(S1), 163–178. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020589325101152
Pardo-Pascual, J. E., Almonacid-Caballer, J., Cabezas-Rabadán, C., Fernández-Sarría, A., Armaroli, C., Ciavola, P., Montes, J., Souto-Ceccon, P. E., & Palomar-Vázquez, J. (2024). Assessment of satellite-derived shorelines automatically extracted from Sentinel-2 imagery using SAET. Coastal Engineering, 188, Article 104426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2023.104426
Prayogo, L. M. (2021). Comparison of Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) and Sobel Filter methods in Landsat 8 imagery for coastline extraction. Jurnal Perikanan dan Kelautan, 11(1), 16–28. https://doi.org/10.33512/jpk.v11i1.11004
Prayogo, L. M., & Sukoco, J. E. (2021). Study on technical differences in sea boundary determination based on Permendagri No. 1/2006, Permendagri No. 76/2012 and Permendagri No. 141/2017. Jurnal Perikanan dan Kelautan, 11(2), 191–197. https://doi.org/10.33512/jpk.v11i2.11392
Pucino, N., Kennedy, D. M., Young, M., & Ierodiaconou, D. (2022). Assessing the accuracy of Sentinel-2 instantaneous subpixel shorelines using synchronous UAV ground truth surveys. Remote Sensing of Environment, 282, Article 113293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2022.113293
Sánchez-García, E., Palomar-Vázquez, J. M., Pardo-Pascual, J. E., Almonacid-Caballer, J., Cabezas-Rabadán, C., & Gómez-Pujol, L. (2020). An efficient protocol for accurate and massive shoreline definition from mid-resolution satellite imagery. Coastal Engineering, 160, Article 103732. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2020.103732
Snyder, H. (2019). Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines. Journal of Business Research, 104, 333–339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.07.039
Torraco, R. J. (2016). Writing integrative literature reviews: Using the past and present to explore the future. Human Resource Development Review, 15(4), 404–428. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534484316671606
United Nations. (1982). United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Vos, K., Splinter, K. D., Palomar-Vázquez, J., Pardo-Pascual, J. E., Almonacid-Caballer, J., Cabezas-Rabadán, C., Kras, E. C., Luijendijk, A. P., Calkoen, F., Almeida, L. P., Pais, D., Klein, A. H. F., Mao, Y., Harris, D., Castelle, B., Buscombe, D., & Vitousek, S. (2023). Benchmarking satellite-derived shoreline mapping algorithms. Communications Earth & Environment, 4, Article 345. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-01001-2
Wendebourg, M. R. (2023). Interpreting the law of the sea in the context of sea-level rise: The ambulatory thesis and State practice. Journal of Environmental Law, 35(3), 499–507. https://doi.org/10.1093/jel/eqad024
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Luhur Moekti Prayogo (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
