APPENDIX H
A NATIONAL COASTAL ZONE (SHORELINE) DATA BASE
A national shoreline data base should contain the most up-to-date and detailed data on shoreline, bathymetry, surficial bottom sediment, and special area delineations that are available anywhere in the nation. Development of a "National Shoreline Data Program" should adhere to the following principles:
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The data to be included should be restricted to only the key types of data elements that appear on existing charts or are in the existing data base. Other types of coastal data such as land-use, coastal wetlands, and site-specific data on sensitive habitats should not be considered. The national shoreline data base should serve a base map function with respect to these types of data. Nationwide efforts in development of data bases for other types of coastal data are monumental efforts in and of themselves and are already being pursued by federal, state, and local agencies.
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The program should concentrate primarily on developing and providing derived digital data products. Although "raw" data should always be accessible (i.e., to the small number of researchers who require them), the emphasis of the effort must be on derived digital products. Derived products include, for example, verified shoreline at different scales, isopleths of bathymetry based on the best "verified" data available. New paper chart products should not be considered except as necessary derivatives of the digital data base.
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The program should provide the most up-to-date and detailed data that are available for any coastal area of the nation, regardless of the source, provided that the data have passed "national" verification standards and been certified as "official." To provide does not mean only to make accessible, but rather to actively market and distribute specific digital products.
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The most important element of the program should be establishment of an active partnership of data transfer and acquisition of data that have already been collected by others. This will require a significant change in how resources are allocated and priorities established. This element of the program may require a training program for state and local partners and centralized support of a technical assistance function.
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Nationwide data collection efforts (i.e., the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA] operations), should be targeted to specific areas of national concern and primarily at scales necessary to support the existing chart product needs, but at a significantly reduced repeat cycle nationwide. Data collection should not take place in areas
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where state and local agencies, or others, have collected adequate amounts of data that can be verified and incorporated in the national data base.
The attached figure (Figure H-1) illustrates the major elements of a National Shoreline Data Base Program. Further consideration of this concept will require more detailed planning and assessment to determine the scale and scope of the changes that are required and how they may best be implemented.