NOAA Medium Resolution Shoreline
Overview
Spatial Aggregation and Extents
Data Formats & Availability
Data Details
For More Information
Overview
NOAA's Medium Resolution Digital Vector Shoreline is a high-quality, Geographic Information System-ready, general-use digital vector data set created by the Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA) Division of NOAA's Office of Ocean Resources Conservation and Assessment. Compiled from hundreds of NOAA coast charts, this product comprises over 75,000 nautical miles of coastline (nearly 2.5 million vectices), representing the entire coterminous United States of America. Alaska, the Hawaiian Islands, Puerto Rico, and all other interests and territories of the United States are not included in the collection.
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 SEA. Generally, for these shoreline sections (EC80_06, GC80_05, and GC80_06), 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.
The product is designed for use by a broad audience and is available through this service. Potential users include government agencies, universities, research institutions, and individuals in the private sector. Digital files are available in ESRI shapefile format.
These digital geographic boundary files are available for download from this site. Please refer to the full documentation file prior to using these data.
Spatial Aggregation and Extents
The Medium Resolution Digital Vector Shoreline incorporates the entire conterminous United States coastline as four major regions, each of which has a number of sub-regional (shoreline section) files. Each of these files in-turn were developed from a series of NOAA nautical charts. All charts have been edge-matched such that adjoining arcs connect, regardless of original nautical chart scale. Some arcs are "truncated" at the edge of the NOAA chart and the digital files contain some "estimated" vectors.
The image below identifies the locations of each sub-regional (shoreline section) file within the Medium Resolution Digital Vector Shoreline.
The four major regions comprising the digital shoreline are:
- The East (Atlantic) Coast, ranging from the United States-Canada Border at the St. Croix River to Florida Bay and the Florida Keys.
- The Gulf of Mexico Coast, extending from northwest of the Florida Keys to the United States-Mexico border at the Rio Grande River at Brownsville, Texas.
- The West (Pacific) Coast, extending from the United States-Mexico Border at Tijuana to the United States-Canada Border along the Straits of Juan de Fuca.
- The Great Lakes Coasts, including all five lakes in their entirety and the St. Lawrence River/Seaway to Ogdensburg, New York.
- Atlantic (East Coast) Section
- EC80_01 -St Mary's Inlet Florida to Little River Inlet South Carolina.
- EC80_02 -Little River Inlet South Carolina to Cape Henry Virginia.
- EC80_03 -Chesapeake Bay.
- EC80_04 -Chincoteague Inlet Virginia to Block Island Sound Rhode Island.
- EC80_05 -Point Judith to St. Croix River.
- EC80_06 -St Mary's River, Florida to Florida Bay (including the Florida Keys.)
- Gulf of Mexico Section
- GC80_01 -Padre Island TX to Bayou Choupique, LA
- GC80_02 -Lake Calcasieu, LA to Atchafalaya Bay, LA
- GC80_03 -Point Au Fer, LA to Barataria Pass, LA
- GC80_04 -Grand Terre Island, LA to Gulfport, MS, incl. the Chandeleurs Islands.
- GC80_05 -Biloxi River, MS to Chassahowitza Reefs, FL
- GC80_06 -Chassahowitza Reefs, FL to Flamingo, FL
- Pacific (West Coast) Section
- WC80_01 -Semiahoo Bay, WA to Yaquina Head, OR
- WC80_02 -Alsea Bay, OR to Point Sur, CA
- WC80_03 -Point Sur, CA to U.S./Mexico Border
- Great Lakes Section
- GL80_01 -Lake Superior
- GL80_02 -Lake Michigan incl. Lake Winnebago, WI.
- GL80_03 -Lake Huron incl. North Channel, and Georgian Bay.
- GL80_04 -Lake Erie incl. Detroit, St. Clair, and Niagara Rivers, and Lake St. Clair.
- GL80_05 -Lake Ontario incl. St. Lawrence River to Ogdensburg, NY
Data Formats and Availability
The data are available in ESRI shapefile format.
Data Details
Source and Currency
The coastline data contained in this compilation are taken directly from the most up-to-date coast charts available at the time (1988-1992). Edition dates are provided as part of the descriptive information (.ATR) files. Master sheets of each of the charts were scanned and captured using CAD and GIS heads-up digitization techniques.Resolution
The compilation map scale is nominally 1:70,000. This scale is based on the population of arcs and the various scales of the sourced charts. NOAA National Ocean Service Coastal Series Nautical Charts, from which this data is taken, are published at scales between 1:50,000 to 1:100,000. Actual source document scales ranged from 1:10,000 to 1:600,000, with the majority concentrated at 1:80,000 and 1:40,000.
The resolution of the compiled data minimum adjacent vertex spacing is maintained at five meters ground distance.
All data are stored as single precision floating point numbers in a spherical coordinate system. Units for the x and y axes are decimal degrees of longitude and latitude, with longitudes represented as negative values. The controlling horizontal datum is North American Datum 1983 (Geodetic Reference System 1980). The controlling vertical datum is the North American Vertical Datum of 1929 (NAVD29) and references the mean high or mean higher high shoreline position on the published Nautical Charts.
Accuracy
The spatial data were derived directly from master copy National Ocean Service's coast charts. These charts are advertised to meet or exceed current National Map Accuracy Standards. When plotted as a hard-copy product to the appropriate source chart scale, the digital information supplied should meet or exceed these standards.
For More Information
For additional information about the Medium Resolution Digital Vector Shoreline please contact;
NOAA, NOS Special Projects
1305 East-West Hwy, 9th FL, N/MB7
Silver Spring, MD 20910
phone: (301) 713-3000
e-mail: Robert.Wilson@noaa.gov
fax: 301-713-4384
