U.S. Geological Survey
2013
Offshore baseline for Boston coastal region generated to calculate shoreline change rates from Carson Beach in South Boston to Weymouth River on the Massachusetts mainland, and including the Boston Harbor Islands 9Boston_baseline.shp)
vector digital data
Open-File Report
2012-1183
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, MA
U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program
https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20121183
https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2012/1183/
https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2012/1183/data/Boston/Boston_baseline.zip
Theresa L. Smith
Emily A. Himmelstoss
E. Robert Thieler
2013
Massachusetts Shoreline Change Project: A GIS Compilation of Vector Shorelines and Associated Shoreline Change Data for the 2013 update
vector digital data
Open-File Report
2012-1183
Reston, VA
U.S. Geological Survey
https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2012/1183/
Due to continued coastal population growth and increased threats of erosion, current data on trends and rates of shoreline movement are required to inform shoreline and floodplain management. The Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management launched the Shoreline Change Project in 1989 to identify erosion-prone areas of the coast. In 2001, a 1994 shoreline was added to calculate both long- and short-term shoreline change rates at 40-meter intervals along ocean-facing sections of the Massachusetts coast.
The Coastal and Marine Geology Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, has compiled reliable historical shoreline data along open-facing sections of the Massachusetts coast under the Massachusetts Shoreline Change Mapping and Analysis Project 2013 Update. Two oceanfront shorelines for Massachusetts (approximately 1,800 km in total length) were (1) delineated using 2008/09 color aerial orthoimagery, and (2) extracted from topographic LIDAR datasets (2007) obtained from NOAA's Ocean Service, Coastal Services Center. The new shorelines were integrated with existing Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management and USGS historical shoreline data in order to compute long- and short-term rates using the latest version of the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS).
Rates of long-term and short-term shoreline change were computed within a GIS using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 4.3, an ArcGIS extension developed by the U.S. Geological Survey. The baseline is used as a reference line for the transects cast by the DSAS software. The transects intersect each shoreline at the measurement points, which are then used to calculate shoreline-change rates for the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management Shoreline Change Project.
Cross-referenced citations are applicable to the dataset as a whole.
2013
publication date
None planned
-71.047674
-70.874300
42.343552
42.247512
USGS Metadata Identifier
USGS:50bb6b68-8b3c-4e2c-917c-852e97657c5c
None
Erosion
Accretion
Baseline
Transect
Digital Shoreline Analysis System
DSAS
U.S. Geological Survey
USGS
Coastal and Marine Geology Program
CMGP
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
WHCMSC
Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management
ISO 19115 Topic Category
oceans
USGS Thesaurus
geospatial datasets
coastal processes
None
Atlantic Coast
United States
New England
Massachusetts
Boston
None
Public domain data from the U.S. Government are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please recognize the U.S. Geological Survey and the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management as the originators of this dataset.
U.S. Geological Survey
Theresa Smith
Contract Geologist
mailing and physical address
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole
MA
02543-1598
USA
508-548-8700
508-547-2310
theresasmith@usgs.gov
Microsoft Windows Vista Version 6.1 (Build 7601) Service Pack 1; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.3.1.1850
E.R. Thieler
T.L. Smith
Julia Knisel
D.W. Sampson
2013
Massachusetts Shoreline Change Mapping and Analysis Project, 2013 Update
Open-File Report
2012-1189
Reston, VA
U.S. Geological Survey
https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2012/1189/
E.R. Thieler
E.A. Himmelstoss
J.L. Zichichi
A. Ergul
2009
Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 4.0 - An ArcGIS extension for calculating shoreline change
Open-File Report
2008-1278
Reston, VA
U.S. Geological Survey
Current version of software at time of use was 4.3
https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ofr20081278
E. Robert Thieler
James F. O'Connell
Courtney A. Schupp
20010904
The Massachusetts Shoreline Change Project: 1800s to 1994 Technical Report
Reston, VA
U.S. Geological Survey
Administrative Report
http://www.mass.gov/czm/hazards/pdf/sc_technical_report.pdf
http://www.mass.gov/czm/hazards/shoreline_change/shorelinechangeproject.htm
The attributes for these baseline data are based on the requirements of the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) software and have gone through a series of quality assurance procedures.
The baseline segments here were used to generate transects for shoreline change rate calculations using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System software. They do not overlap and are not necessarily continuous.
This baseline file is complete and contains all segments used to calculate shoreline change rates along sections of the Massachusetts Boston coastal region where shoreline position data were available.
A baseline shapefile was constructed in segments positioned offshore from the time series of shoreline positions using standard editing tools in ArcMap v.9.3. The baseline was positioned to conform to changes in the combined orientation of the shorelines alongshore. This was done so that the transects generated by the Digital Shoreline Analysis System software from the baseline, would intersect perpendicular to the general trend of the shorelines.
This process step and all subsequent process steps were performed by the same person - Theresa Smith.
2011
Theresa Smith
U.S. Geological Survey
Contractor
mailing address
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole
MA
02543
USA
508-548-8700
theresasmith@usgs.gov
The Digital Shoreline Analysis System software requires that all features reside within a geodatabase. The baseline file was imported into a personal geodatabase in ArcCatalog v9.3 by right-clicking on the geodatabase > Import feature class. After transects were generated, the entire geodatabase was upgraded to v.10 by right-clicking on the geodatabase and choosing "Properties" from the pop-up window in ArcCatalog v.10. The "Upgrade Geodatabase" button was clicked at the bottom of the General tab in the Database Properties window.
2011
After transects were generated, it was necessary to edit sections of the baseline using the dynamic topology in DSAS that allows edits to the baseline to update the position of transects.
20121010
For publication purposes, the baseline file was exported from a personal geodatabase in ArcCatalog v.10 by right-clicking on the geodatabase > Export feature class.
20121016
The baseline shapefile was projected in ESRI's ArcToolbox (v.10) > Data Management Tools > Projections and Transformations > Feature > Project. Parameters: input projection - NAD_1983_StatePlane_Massachusetts_Mainland_FIPS_2001; output projection - geographic coordinates (NAD83); transformation - none.
20121113
Edits to the metadata were made to fix any errors that MP v 2.9.36 flagged. This is necessary to enable the metadata to be successfully harvested for various data catalogs. In some cases, this meant adding text "Information unavailable" or "Information unavailable from original metadata" for those required fields that were left blank. Other minor edits were probably performed (title, publisher, publication place, etc.). Attempted to modify http to https where appropriate. Added a landing page link as the first link in the identification section. Fixed online link to DSAS cross-reference. The distribution format name was modified in an attempt to be more consistent with other metadata files of the same data format. The metadata date (but not the metadata creator) was edited to reflect the date of these changes. The metadata available from a harvester may supersede metadata bundled within a download file. Compare the metadata dates to determine which metadata file is most recent.
20171010
U.S. Geological Survey
VeeAnn A. Cross
Marine Geologist
Mailing and Physical
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole
MA
02543-1598
508-548-8700 x2251
508-457-2310
vatnipp@usgs.gov
USGS Thesaurus keywords added to the keyword section.
20180720
U.S. Geological Survey
VeeAnn A. Cross
Marine Geologist
Mailing and Physical
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole
MA
02543-1598
508-548-8700 x2251
508-457-2310
vatnipp@usgs.gov
Crossref DOI link was added as the first link in the metadata.
20191118
U.S. Geological Survey
VeeAnn A. Cross
Marine Geologist
Mailing and Physical
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole
MA
02543-1598
508-548-8700 x2251
508-457-2310
vatnipp@usgs.gov
Added keywords section with USGS persistent identifier as theme keyword.
20200908
U.S. Geological Survey
VeeAnn A. Cross
Marine Geologist
Mailing and Physical
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole
MA
02543-1598
508-548-8700 x2251
508-457-2310
vatnipp@usgs.gov
Vector
String
18
0.000001
0.000001
Decimal degrees
North American Datum of 1983
Geodetic Reference System 80
6378137.000000
298.257222
Boston_baseline
Vector reference baselines
U.S. Geological Survey
FID
Internal feature number.
ESRI
Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.
Shape
Feature geometry.
ESRI
Coordinates defining the features.
ID
Field required by the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) software. DSAS uses this value to determine the ordering sequence of transects when the baseline feature contains multiple segments. Individual segments are numbered sequentially alongshore.
U.S. Geological Survey
1
18
U.S. Geological Survey
mailing and physical address
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole
MA
02543-1598
USA
508-457-2350
508-457-2310
Downloadable Data
Neither the U.S. Government, the Department of the Interior, nor the USGS, nor any of their employees, contractors, or subcontractors, make any warranty, express or implied, nor assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, nor represent that its use would not infringe on privately owned rights. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in the use of these data or related materials.
Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
Shapefile
ArcGIS 10
Esri polyline shapefile
This WinZip (version 16.5) file contains a shapefile which includes the offshore baseline for generating shore-normal transects in DSAS. The metadata is also included.
Use WinZip or pkUnzip
1
https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2012/1183/data/Boston/Boston_baseline.zip
Data may be downloaded via the World Wide Web (WWW).
None
This zip file contains data available in Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri) polyline shapefile format. The user must have ArcGIS or ArcView 3.0 or greater software to read and process the data file. In lieu of ArcView or ArcGIS, the user may utilize another GIS application package capable of importing the data. A free data viewer, ArcExplorer, capable of displaying the data is available from Esri at www.esri.com.
20211116
Theresa L. Smith
U.S. Geological Survey
Contractor
mailing address
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole
MA
02543-1598
USA
508-548-8700
508-457-2310
whsc_data_contact@usgs.gov
The metadata contact email address is a generic address in the event the metadata contact is no longer with the USGS or the email is otherwise invalid.
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata
FGDC-STD-001-1998
local time