Shapefile of Historical shorelines for Fire Island and Great South Bay, New York, derived from previously unpublished National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 1834-1875 topographic sheets

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Shapefile of Historical shorelines for Fire Island and Great South Bay, New York, derived from previously unpublished National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 1834-1875 topographic sheets
Abstract:
Topographic sheets (t-sheets) produced by the National Ocean Service (NOS) during the 1800s provide the position of past shorelines. The shoreline data can be vectorized into a geographic information system (GIS) and compared to modern shoreline data to calculate estimates of long-term shoreline rates of change. Many t-sheets were scanned and digitized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and are available on the NOAA Shoreline website (https://shoreline.noaa.gov/data/datasheets/t-sheets.html). However, some t-sheets were not scanned by NOAA and are only available via the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The data included within this data release were previously unavailable or not published in digital format. These data were produced to provide a more comprehensive record of shoreline position for Fire Island and Great South Bay, New York, to aid geologic and coastal hazards studies. This data release includes previously unavailable georeferenced t-sheets and digital vector shorelines for the Fire Island and Great South Bay, New York, coastline from 1834, 1838, and 1874/1875. The original t-sheets were scanned by the NARA-authorized vendor and sent to the Unites States Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center (USGS SPCMSC) as non-georeferenced digital raster files. Upon arrival at the SPCMSC, USGS staff performed the following procedures: rasters were georeferenced, projected to a modern datum, and shorelines were digitized to create a vector polyline depicting the historical shoreline position. The t-sheets included in this data release are: 1) T-479a, T-479b, T-1 (Parts 2 and 3) (1834); 2) T-58 (Parts 1 and 2) (1838); 3) T-1374a, T-1374b, T-1375a, T-1375b (1874); and 4) T-1402 (1875). All shorelines, including the ocean-facing barrier island shoreline, back-barrier island shoreline, mainland and islands were digitized. Please read the full metadata for details on data collection, dataset variables, and data quality.
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    Terrano, Joseph F., Smith, Kathryn E.L., Bendik, Kirsten J., and Vargas, Joseph M., 20200520, Shapefile of Historical shorelines for Fire Island and Great South Bay, New York, derived from previously unpublished National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 1834-1875 topographic sheets: U.S. Geological Survey Data Release doi:10.5066/P9LMOCJ0, U.S. Geological Survey, St. Petersburg, FL.

    Online Links:

    This is part of the following larger work.

    Terrano, Joseph F., Smith, Kathryn E.L., Bendik, Kirsten J., and Vargas, Joseph M., 20200520, Historical Shorelines for Fire Island and Great South Bay, New York (1834 to 1875): Georeferenced Topographic sheets and Vector Digital Data: U.S. Geological Survey Data Release doi:10.5066/P9LMOCJ0, U.S. Geological Survey, St. Petersburg, FL.

    Online Links:

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -73.231359
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -72.521127
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 40.882578
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 40.614440
  3. What does it look like?
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Beginning_Date:
    Ending_Date:
    Currentness_Reference:
    ground condition
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Vector Digital Data Set (Polyline)
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?
      This is a Vector data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):
      • String (112)
    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?
      Grid_Coordinate_System_Name: Universal Transverse Mercator
      Universal_Transverse_Mercator:
      UTM_Zone_Number: 18
      Transverse_Mercator:
      Scale_Factor_at_Central_Meridian: 0.9996
      Longitude_of_Central_Meridian: -75.0
      Latitude_of_Projection_Origin: 0.0
      False_Easting: 500000.0
      False_Northing: 0.0
      Planar coordinates are encoded using coordinate pair
      Abscissae (x-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 0.6096
      Ordinates (y-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 0.6096
      Planar coordinates are specified in Meter
      The horizontal datum used is D_North_American_1983.
      The ellipsoid used is GRS_1980.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.0.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257222101.
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    Fire_Island_Shorelines.shp Attribute Table
    Table containing attribute information associated with the data-set. (Source: USGS)
    Year
    4-digit year in which the imagery was collected. (Source: USGS)
    Range of values
    Minimum:1834
    Maximum:1875
    Date
    Date the topographic sheets were created, using the "MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM:SS" format. If t-sheets covered multiple years, the end date was used. If no month and day were available, 01/01 was used. The selected time was 3:00:00 PM for use in later shoreline change analyses. (Source: USGS)
    Range of values
    Minimum:01/01/1834 3:00:00 PM
    Maximum:01/01/1875 3:00:00 PM
    Notes
    Additional information about the processing steps, describing how the t-sheet was georeferenced and digitized. (Source: USGS) Information about the attributes
    T_sheet
    Topographic sheet identification number (Source: USGS) Topographic sheet identification number. T-sheets with multiple parts are noted with "_Part_#".
    Shape_Leng
    System-generated attribute field, which was automatically created by ArcGIS to indicate the feature length. (Source: Esri)
    Range of values
    Minimum:23.390049
    Maximum:49669.671709
    Shoreline
    Shoreline classification used to separate ocean-facing barrier island shoreline, back-barrier island shoreline, mainland and other small island shorelines. (Source: USGS) Shorelines classified as "Ocean shore", "Back-barrier shore", "Mainland", and "Island" based on a visual assessment.
    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
    The entity and attribute information provided here describes the tabular data associated with the dataset. Please review the detailed descriptions that are provided (the individual attribute descriptions) for information on the values that appear as fields/table entries of the dataset.
    Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation:
    The entity and attribute information were generated by the individual and/or agency identified as the originator of the dataset. Please review the rest of the metadata record for additional details and information.

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
    • Joseph F. Terrano
    • Kathryn E.L. Smith
    • Kirsten J. Bendik
    • Joseph M. Vargas
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
    Acknowledgment of the U.S. Geological Survey, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, as a data source would be appreciated in products developed from these data, and such acknowledgment as is standard for citation and legal practices. Sharing of new data layers developed directly from these data would also be appreciated by the U.S. Geological Survey staff. Users should be aware that comparisons with other datasets for the same area from other time periods may be inaccurate due to inconsistencies resulting from changes in photointerpretation, mapping conventions, and digital processes over time. These data are not legal documents and are not to be used as such.
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Attn: Joseph F. Terrano
    Researcher III
    600 4Th Street South
    St. Petersburg, FL
    USA

    727-502-8047 (voice)
    727-502-8182 (FAX)
    jterrano@contractor.usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

Shoreline data are considered a crucial element in performing change analysis for erosion and accretion studies and for tracking shoreline movement over time. T-Sheets were georeferenced and digitized to document the short- and long-term changes of select study areas along the Fire Island, New York, coastline. Digitized shorelines from the t-sheets provide an accurate and measurable change in shape, area, and shoreline movement over short- and long- term periods.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
    Date: 2020 (process 1 of 2)
    T-sheet maps created for the Fire Island, New York, coastline from 1834 to 1875 were located by the United States National Archives (NARA) staff. An authorized vendor was then contracted to scan the requested topographic sheets: T-479a, T-479b, T-1 (Parts 2 and 3), T-58 (Parts 1 and 2), T-1374a, T-1374b, T-1375a, T-1375b, and T-1402. T-sheet georectification methods can be found in the accompanying t-sheet metadata. To digitize the shorelines, the georeferenced t-sheets were added to ArcMap 10.6.1. Using the ArcMap editor toolbar, the ocean-facing barrier island shoreline, back-barrier island shoreline, mainland, and islands were digitized based on a visual assessment of shoreline locations within the imagery at a scale of 1:1500. For consistency, some small islands and creeks were not digitized, since they were not necessary for the shoreline change analysis.
    Date: 13-Oct-2020 (process 2 of 2)
    Added keywords section with USGS persistent identifier as theme keyword. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: VeeAnn A. Cross
    Marine Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA

    508-548-8700 x2251 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    vatnipp@usgs.gov
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

  1. How well have the observations been checked?
    No formal attribute accuracy tests were conducted.
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
    A formal accuracy assessment of the horizontal positional information in the dataset has not been conducted.
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
    A formal accuracy assessment of the vertical positional information in the dataset has either not been conducted or is not applicable.
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    Dataset is considered complete for the information presented, as described in the abstract. Users are advised to read the rest of the metadata record carefully for additional details.
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    Digitized shorelines were checked to ensure they were continuous lines with no overlap. Shorelines were checked for dangles (or extra line segments), which were removed, when necessary. The shorelines were split into foreshore, backshore, mainland, and islands based on a visual assessment. Small islands and creeks were not digitized as they were not necessary for this study. Larger creeks and rivers were digitized as much as necessary to ensure a complete shoreline for later use within shoreline change programs.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
Access_Constraints: None
Use_Constraints:
The U.S. Geological Survey requests to be acknowledged as originator of the data in future products or derivative research.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Attn: Joseph F. Terrano
    Researcher III
    600 4Th Street South
    St. Petersburg, FL
    USA

    727-502-8047 (voice)
    727-502-8182 (FAX)
    jterrano@contractor.usgs.gov
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?
  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
    This digital publication was prepared by an agency of the United States Government. Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at the U.S. Geological Survey, no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data on any other system, nor shall the act of distribution imply any such warranty. The U.S. Geological Survey shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and (or) contained herein. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof.
  4. How can I download or order the data?

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 13-Oct-2020
Metadata author:
Joseph F. Terrano
U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Science Center
Researcher III
600 4Th Street South
St. Petersburg, FL
USA

727-502-8047 (voice)
727-502-8182 (FAX)
jterrano@contractor.usgs.gov
Metadata standard:
Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
This page is <https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/catalog/spcmsc/Fire_Island_shoreline_metadata.faq.html>
Generated by mp version 2.9.50 on Tue Sep 21 18:18:49 2021