Shapefile for 492 Coastal Zone Management Program (CZMP) counties and county equivalents, 2009, extracted from the U.S. Census Bureau's MAF/TIGER database of U.S. counties and cross-referenced to a list of CZMP counties published by the NOAA/NOS Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM). Data extent to the nearest quarter degree is 141.00 E to 64.50 W longitude and 14.75 S to 71.50 N latitude.
TL2009 in this document refers to metadata content inherited from the original U.S. Census Bureau (2009) TIGER/Line shapefile.
TL2009: The TIGER/Line Shapefiles are an extract of selected geographic and cartographic information from the Census MAF/TIGER database. The Census MAF/TIGER database represents a seamless national file with no overlaps or gaps between parts. However, each TIGER/Line Shapefile is designed to stand alone as an independent dataset or the shapefiles can be combined to cover the whole nation.
These polygons are provided as criteria for selecting georeferenced data from other databases. The precision of geographic searches in any system that employs these polygons will depend on the nature of the search algorithm.
This information is not intended for navigational purposes.
These data are intended for science researchers, students, policymakers, and the general public. The data can be used with geographic information systems (GIS) software to display geologic and oceanographic information.
TL2009: In order for others to use the information in the Census MAF/TIGER database in a geographic information system (GIS) or for other geographic applications, the Census Bureau releases to the public extracts of the database in the form of TIGER/Line Shapefiles.
The U.S. Census Bureau publishes density, land-use, and socio-economic information at various geographic scales (national, state, territory). Information on coastal zone counties is increasingly important as human growth, development, and reliance increases on coastal resources. The Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) provides important information on the preservation, protection, and management of the nation's coastal resources (<
http://coastalmanagement.noaa.gov/czm/czm_act.html>). Implemented through the NOAA/NOS Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM), the Coastal Zone Management Program (CZMP) includes "those counties that are wholly or partially within the boundaries of a state's approved coastal management program" (<
http://coastalmanagement.noaa.gov/success/media/contextualindicatormanual.pdf>).
The attributes for the USGS product are adapted from the attributes for the Census Bureau product.
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Spatial Extents for Marine Gazetteers project.
Project leaders:
Frances L. Lightsom, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program (CMGP), Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center (flightsom@usgs.gov)
Alan O. Allwardt, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program (CMGP), Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center (aallwardt@usgs.gov)
Project background:
Gazetteers of terrestrial and marine regions, including the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), GEOnet Names Server (GNS), GEBCO Gazetteer of Undersea Feature Names, and VLIZ Marine Gazetteer (VLIMAR), generally provide single-point locations or rectangular bounding boxes for named features, because the primary function of these gazetteers is to standardize geographic name usage. Many geospatial information services, however, would be improved if the authoritative place names from these gazetteers were associated with polygons representing the actual spatial extents of the features in question.
The USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program (CMGP) has created and compiled shapefiles to facilitate the retrieval of georeferenced information resources related to named oceans and seas, undersea features, coastal features and waterways, and relevant administrative areas including the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and Coastal Zone Management Program (CZMP) counties. Geospatial information systems with the capability for searching user-defined, polygonal geographic areas will be able to utilize these shapefiles or secondary products derived from them, such as well-known text (WKT) representations of the individual polygons within the shapefiles.
CMGP and its collaborators would benefit from improvements in the gazetteers for these existing and planned geospatial information services:
1. The CMGP Knowledge Management Project provides online geospatial search services for research data and scientific information (for example, CMG InfoBank and CMGDS). These geospatial search services currently employ simple map interfaces and/or gazetteers with rectangular bounding boxes for spatial extents.
2. The internal USGS Geospatial Management Information System (GMIS) has a gazetteer with polygons for locating field studies on land, but it offers little aid for offshore searches, where many CMGP investigations are conducted.
3. Information services for two interagency initiatives, marine planning (<
http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/oceans/cmsp>) and the Ocean and Coastal Mapping (OCM) Inventory (<
http://iocm.noaa.gov/iwg/>), are under development and could incorporate spatially enhanced coastal and marine gazetteers.
In this context, the primary purpose of including spatial extents for the place names in a gazetteer is to assist information retrieval, rather than to establish precise boundaries.
Planned project products, compiled for incorporation into gazetteers:
1. Major ocean and sea boundaries (as defined by IHO and VLIMAR), incorporated into USGS gazetteers.
2. Defined spatial extents for high-priority undersea features, incorporated into the GEBCO Gazetteer (in collaboration with Lisa A. Taylor and John C. Cartwright, NOAA/NGDC/MGGD).
3. Spatial extents of named high-priority U.S. coastal features and waterways, incorporated into an authoritative gazetteer.
4. Spatial extents of relevant U.S. administrative areas, including the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), National Marine Sanctuaries, and Coastal Zone Management Program (CZMP) counties.
Project results:
The project will improve communication about coastal and marine activities, and enhance usability and interoperability of geospatial data services. The project will lay a foundation for future improvements by demonstrating formats and systems that can be used for incorporating additional spatial extents into marine gazetteers.
Project outcome:
People will be more successful in using familiar place names when they are looking for USGS projects and information, and other Federally funded geospatial information, about coastal and offshore features.
Project objective:
To generate a set of databases, in a standard format, that use polygons to define the spatial extents of named oceans and seas, undersea features, coastal features and waterways, and relevant administrative areas.
Glossary of terms, acronyms, and abbreviations:
ACUF - U.S. BGN Advisory Committee on Undersea Features
<http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/acuf.html>
BGN - U.S. Board on Geographic Names
<http://geonames.usgs.gov/>
BODC - British Oceanographic Data Centre
<http://www.bodc.ac.uk/>
CMG InfoBank - USGS CMGP field activity and data catalog
<http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/infobank/>
CMGDS - USGS Coastal and Marine Geoscience Data System
<http://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/>
CMGP - USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program
<http://marine.usgs.gov/>
GAZ - gazetteer
GEBCO - General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans
<http://www.gebco.net/>
GMIS - USGS Geospatial Management Information System (USGS Intranet)
GNIS - Geographic Names Information System
<http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/>
GNS - GEOnet Names Server
<http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/>
IHO - International Hydrographic Organization
<http://www.iho.int/>
Linestring - (aka polyline) an open graphic element composed of straight-line segments connected at the vertices.
MAF/TIGER - Master Address File/Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (U.S. Census Bureau database)
NGA - National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
<http://www.nga.mil/>
NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
<http://www.noaa.gov/>
NOAA/NGDC - NOAA National Geophysical Data Center
<http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/ngdc.html>
NOAA/NGDC/MGGD - NOAA/NGDC Marine Geology and Geophysics Division
<http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mggd.html>
NOAA/NOS - NOAA National Ocean Service
<http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/>
NOAA/NOS/OCRM - NOAA/NOS Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management
<http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/programs/ocrm/>
Polygon - a closed graphic element composed of straight-line segments connected at the vertices.
OCM Inventory - Ocean and Coastal Mapping Inventory (of the Interagency Working Group on Ocean and Coastal Mapping)
<http://iocm.noaa.gov/iwg/>
SCUFN - GEBCO Sub-Committee on Undersea Feature Names
<http://www.gebco.net/data_and_products/undersea_feature_names/>
Shapefile - geospatial vector data format that describes geometries as points, linestrings, and polygons (see above). A single shapefile may contain multiple features of the same geometry (several individual polygons, for instance).
UF - undersea feature
USGS - U.S. Geological Survey
<http://www.usgs.gov/>
VLIMAR - VLIZ Marine Gazetteer (now incorporated into Marine Regions website)
<http://www.marineregions.org/>
VLIZ - Flanders Marine Institute
<http://www.vliz.be/en/intro>
WKT - well-known text, a markup language for vector geometry objects
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well-known_text>
