GIS Files - Background
The following digital geographies are currently available through this site. All digital geographies are available as ArcView shapefiles unless otherwise noted. Click on the geography name to immediately scroll down to a short description. Full documentation and download access is available through the links provided within these descriptions.
Coastal Assessments Framework
The Coastal Assessment Framework (CAF) is a digital spatial framework developed using geographic information system (GIS) technology, which allows resource managers and analysts to organize and present information on the nation's coastal and marine resources. The CAF provides a consistently derived, watershed-based digital spatial framework for managers and analysts to organize and present information on the nation's coastal, near-ocean, and Great Lakes' resources. The Framework is composed of 150 Estuarine (and sub-estuarine) Drainage Areas (EDAs), 54 Fluvial Drainage Areas (FDAs), 324 Coastal Drainage Areas (CDAs), 12 Fluvial components of Coastal Drainage Areas (FCDAs), 11 interior watershed areas (self-contained, grounwater-contributing only, or watersheds draining to outside the U.S.). The CAF encompasses 100 percent of the land area within the coterminous United States of America. The complete CAF geography contains both land and water (near-ocean) components and is available in a variety of compositions as outlined below.
CAF - Coastal (Estuarine) Watersheds - Land only (Image)
This geography contains the land portions of the Coastal Assessment Framework's 150 Estuarine (and sub-estuarine) Drainage Areas (EDAs) and 324 Coastal Drainage Areas (CDAs).CAF - Upstream (Fluvial) Watersheds - Land only (Image)
This geography contains the land portions of the Coastal Assessment Framework's 54 Fluvial Drainage Areas (FDAs) and 12 Fluvial components of Coastal Drainage Areas (FCDAs).CAF - Interior Watersheds - Land only (Image)
This geography contains the land portions of the Coastal Assessment Framework's 11 Interior (self-contained, groundwater-contributing only, or watersheds draining to outside the U.S.) Watersheds.CAF - National Coastal Assessment Framework - Land only (Image)
This geography contains the land portions of the Coastal Assessment Framework (Coastal, Upstream, and Interior components).CAF - Total Watersheds - Land only (Image)
This geography contains the land portions of the Coastal Assessment Framework (Coastal, Upstream, and Interior components) dissolved to the whole watershed level (no Coastal nor Upstream delineations remain) as described above.CAF - Complete Coastal Assessment Framework - Land and Water (Image)
The complete Coastal Assessment Framework (Coastal, Upstream, Interior, and portions of U.S. Watersheds located outside the U.S.), including both land and water components at the hydrologic cataloging unit level. It is the CAF in its more elemental form.
This dataset is maintained by the NOAA Coastal and Ocean Resource Economics Team and is available via the Spatial Trends in Coastal Socioeconomics website (http://www8.nos.noaa.gov/socioeconomics/download/gis.aspx).
Salinity Zones
(Image) The 3-Zone Average Annual Salinity Digital Geography is a digital spatial
framework developed using geographic information system (GIS) technology. These
salinity geographies represent the average annual salinity found in certain
estuaries along the coastal United States of America. The salinity
concentrations used to define the salinity zones were:
- Tidal Fresh (0 - 0.5 parts per thousand)
- Mixing Zone (0.5 - 25 parts per thousand)
- Seawater Zone (25 parts per thousand or greater)
The geographic near-ocean extent of the zones, the shoreline and international
boundaries in the geography come from NOAA's Coastal
Assessment Framework. These salinity geographies cover the entire
Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Pacific coasts of the coterminous United
States of America.
Bathymetry (Estuarine Water Depth)
The National Ocean Service's (NOS) Estuarine Bathymetry is a digital raster compilation of NOS' hydrographic survey data for selected U.S. estuaries. The 70 estuarine bathymetry data sets are available in both 30 meter and 3 arc second resolutions. The gridded bathymetry are an interpolated data set representing the most up-to-date depth sounding information that was available at the time of publication (1998). In a few cases the most up-to-date information was surveyed more than a century ago. Although the original data are the same source data used to create Nautical Charts, these data sets should not be used for navigation. The extent of the bathymetry data for each estuary are defined by the water boundary component of the NOS Coastal Assessment Framework's, Estuarine Drainage Area. Elevations do not extend beyond the high water line.
Google Earth visualization files were added to the site as an available estuarine bathymetry product in July, 2006.
This dataset is maintained by NOAA's NOS Special Projects Office. For more information and data access visit the project website: http://estuarinebathymetry.noaa.gov/welcome.html
National Marine Sanctuaries (NMS) Digital Boundaries
The National Marine Sanctuary Program manages a system of sanctuaries and other managed areas around the country. The legal boundaries of these sanctuaries are defined within the Code of Federal Regulations, at 15 C.F.R. Part 922 and the subparts for each national marine sanctuary. The GIS compatible digital boundary files for each national marine sanctuary are representations of those legal boundaries and are based on the best available data.
These GIS compatible digital files are provided to promote an understanding of the boundaries of each national marine sanctuary. These digital files are not intended and should not be relied upon for use in navigations or legal purposes. For legal questions relating to the digital files, please contact the National Marine Sanctuary Program.
Files are available from NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary Program: http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/library/imast_gis.html
NOAA Water Level Stations
NOAA's National Ocean Service (NOS) maintains a long-term database containing water level measurements and derived tidal data for coastal waters of the United States and U.S. territories. A listing of active and historic water level stations can be obtained through NOAA's Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) website.
http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/
NOAA's National Status and Trends Monitoring Sites
The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science's (NCCOS) Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment (CCMA) has maintained the National Status and Trends (NS&T) Program since 1984. This nationwide program of environmental monitoring, assessment and related research is designed to describe the current status of, and detect changes in, the environmental quality of our Nation’s estuarine and coastal waters. The NS&T Program gauges the spatial distribution and temporal trends of chemical contamination at a national scale, and develops indicators of environmental contaminant exposure.
The data collected by the NS&T Program are provided to regional, federal, state and local resource managers and the public via publications, presentations and a website data portal. The data are used to assess the distribution, concentration and extent of chemical impacts at a given point and over time, and are important for planning future resource management and restoration activities.
Three key components of the program are the Mussel Watch Project, the Bioeffects Assessment regional projects, and the Benthic Surveillance Project.
For more information and data access visit the project website:
http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/stressors/pollution/nsandt
NOAA's Medium Resolution Digital Vector Shoreline
(Image)
The Medium Resolution Digital Vector Shoreline Digital Geography was developed using geographic information system (GIS) technology. it comprises over 75,000 nautical miles of coastline (nearly 2.5 million vertices), representing the entire coterminous United States of America. Generally, 1:80,000 NOAA coast charts took precedence and were used when available. For areas where 1:80,000 charts were not readily available, charts with the next closest higher scale (e.g., 1:60,000) were used down to the highest scale available. Alternately, if higher scale charts were not available, charts of the closest lower scale (e.g., 1:100,000) were used down to the lowest scale. The digital shoreline for Florida was obtained from the state. This digital file was originally created from NOAA nautical charts and was not recreated by the NOS Special Projects office. Generally, for these shoreline sections, the highest scale charts available were used to digitize the shoreline. The resultant average mapping scale for the entire Medium Resolution Digital Vector Shoreline is approximately 1:70,000. Alaska, the Hawaiian Islands, Puerto Rico, and all other interests and territories of the United States are not included in the collection. The product is designed for use by a broad audience, including government agencies, universities, research institutions, and individuals in the private sector. NOTE: It is recognized that this digital geography has a different shoreline source and different shoreline resolution than many of the other digital geographies supplied on this site.
For more information on the Medium Resolution Shoreline data layer view the detailed project description page.
Shellfish Growing Areas
(Image)
The Shellfish Growing Areas Digital Geography was developed using geographic information system (GIS) technology. The geographies are water based with a shoreline resolution of approximately 1:70,000 (based on NOAA's Medium Resolution Digital Vector Shoreline (MRDVS) ). The MRDVS, in turn, is based on NOAA Coastal Series Nautical Charts with scales from 1:10,000 to 1:600,000, with the majority at 1:80,000 and 1:40,000.
Rivers
(Image)
The Rivers Digital Geography was developed using geographic information system (GIS) technology. It is derived from the Environmental Protection Agency's River Reach 1 (RF1) geography. The attributes associated with the geography have been enhanced by the Special Projects Office (NOAA). The digital geographies provided contain only those River Reach segments attributed (by NOS) as appropriate for display purposes (i.e., no 'artificial, 'island', 'shoreline' or 'outlier' arcs). NOTE: It is recognized that this digital geography is not perfectly aligned with many of the other digital geographies supplied on this site. It remains however, the best consistently derived and complete river file for the coterminous United States of America.
Lakes
(Image)
The Lakes Digital Geography was developed using geographic information system (GIS) technology. Primarily it was derived by extracting appropriate digital lines (arcs) from the Environmental Protection Agency's River Reach 1 (one) geography as portrayed in the Rivers digital geography and converting them to polygon topology using a GIS. The attributes associated with these geographies have been enhanced by the Special Projects Office (NOAA). One file, 'gl_lakes_caf', enhances the Great Lakes Region with additional lakes derived from NOAA's Coastal Assessment Framework and also includes several other lakes, including Lake of the Woods in northern Minnesota. NOTE: It is recognized that portions of this digital geography are not perfectly aligned with many of the other digital geographies supplied on this site. It remains however, the best consistently derived and complete lakes file for the coterminous United States of America.
Counties
The County Digital Geography is a digital spatial framework developed using geographic information system (GIS) technology. It is derived from the U.S. Census Bureau's 1:2 million scale county geography. The shoreline, international boundaries, and water (near-ocean) extents in the geography come from NOAA's Coastal Assessment Framework. The geography encompasses 100 percent of the land area within the coterminous United States of America. The Counties Digital Geography contains both land and water (near-ocean) components and is available in a variety of compositions as outlined below.
Counties - Land only (Image)
This geography contains only the land component of the counties digital geography.Counties - Land and Water (Image)
This geography contains both the land and water components of the counties digital geography.
This dataset is maintained by the NOAA Coastal and Ocean Resource Economics Team and is available via the Spatial Trends in Coastal Socioeconomics website (http://www8.nos.noaa.gov/socioeconomics/download/gis.aspx).
States
(Image)
The State Digital Geography is a digital spatial framework developed using geographic information system (GIS) technology. It is derived from the County Digital Geography. County boundaries within each state were dissolved using a GIS. The shoreline, international boundaries and water (near-ocean) extents in the geography come from NOAA's Coastal Assessment Framework. The geography encompasses 100 percent of the land area within the coterminous United States of America.
This dataset is maintained by the NOAA Coastal and Ocean Resource Economics Team and is available via the Spatial Trends in Coastal Socioeconomics website (http://www8.nos.noaa.gov/socioeconomics/download/gis.aspx).
Lower 48 United States Outline
(Image)
The Lower 48 Outline Digital Geography was developed using geographic information system (GIS) technology. It is derived from the County Digital Geography. Boundaries across all states were dissolved using a GIS. The shoreline and international boundaries in the geography come from NOAA's Coastal Assessment Framework. The geography encompasses 100 percent of the land area within the coterminous United States of America.
This dataset is maintained by the NOAA Coastal and Ocean Resource Economics Team and is available via the Spatial Trends in Coastal Socioeconomics website (http://www8.nos.noaa.gov/socioeconomics/download/gis.aspx).
ZIP Codes (ZCTAs)
The ZIP Codes Digital Geographies were developed using geographic information system (GIS) technology. This dataset consists of polygonal boundaries for U.S. Zip Code Tabulation Areas with 2000 Census Block level data presented at the zip code level. The census data and digital geographies are derived from data supplied by Geolytics, Inc.
Zip Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) are a new statistical entity for tabulating summary statistics for the 2000 Census. ZCTAs are approximate area representations of USPS Zip Code delivery area. ZCTAs represent the majority of United States Postal Service (USPS) five-digit Zip Codes for an area (every block has only one ZCTA code). ZCTA's are computer generated based on the location of addresses for the 2000 census, and the boundaries will change over time.
The data and digital geographies are available through the Census 2000
Mapping website maintained by NOAA's Coastal and Ocean Resources Economics
Team:
http://egisws01.nos.noaa.gov/website/stics/census2000mapping/viewer.htm
Land Use / Land Cover (urban enhanced 1990)
The Land Use / Land Cover (urban enhanced 1990) Digital Geography was developed using geographic information system (GIS) technology. This geography was developed using U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) LANDSAT images and aerial photography information from the middle 1970s to the early 1980s. The data were 'updated' using U.S. Census Bureau information and an Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Land Cover Characterization Database to enhance the characterization of urban areas and better reflect more recent (1990) conditions. The shoreline and international boundaries in the geography come from NOAA's Coastal Assessment Framework. The geography encompasses 100 percent of the land area within the coterminous United States of America. NOTE: An area of coastal Maine is known to have questionable data and much of the original images and photographs are reported to have had limited ground-truthing (especially at the 'type' level, but this geography retains good representation of many land uses (especially urban) at the 'class' level.
Land Use Type/Class - Coastal (Estuarine) Watersheds - Land only (Image)
This geography provides the Land Use Type and Class information for the land portions of Estuarine (and sub-estuarine) Drainage Areas (EDAs) and Coastal Drainage Areas (CDAs) of NOAA's Coastal Assessment Framework.Land Use Type/Class - Upstream (Fluvial) Watersheds - Land only (Image)
This geography provides the Land Use Type and Class information for the land portions of Upstream (Fluvial) Drainage Areas (FDAs) and Fluvial Coastal Drainage Areas (FCDAs) of NOAA's Coastal Assessment Framework.Land Use Type/Class - Interior Watersheds - Land only (Image)
This geography provides the Land Use Type and Class information for the land portions of Interior (self-contained, groundwater-contributing only, or watersheds draining to outside the U.S.) Watersheds of NOAA's Coastal Assessment Framework.Land Use Type - Original GRID format - Land and Water
This geography provides Land Use Type in a GRID format (200 meter resolution) and is only available for the entire US Lower 48. The extent of the geography extends to the near-ocean areas (there is no shoreline feature). Near-ocean waters are attibuted as water. NOTE: As projected digital geographies (Albers Equal Area) they may not be used directly with any of the other digital geographies provided on this site without translations.
