Why Digital Coast Matters to Coastal Counties
Overview
More than just data, Digital Coast provides tools, training and examples of how counties can bolster resiliency through data and information resources.
Coastal counties make up only 17 percent of the U.S. land area, but provide 58 percent of our nation’s GDP. Coastal increases in population, extreme weather events, sea level rise and other changes underscore the importance of smart decision-making to promote economic, social and natural resilience in coastal areas.
Digital Coast, based at www.csc.noaa.gov/digitalcoast, strives to be the primary data and information resource for anyone working to preserve our coastal communities and natural resources. It is an effective resource enabling county and local stakeholders to promote resilience, build knowledge and capacity, facilitate decision-making, conduct public outreach and education and achieve local natural resource management goals.
A number of products within Digital Coast have county-specific information to make it easier to find local data. The Stories from the Field section provides examples of how coastal managers apply geospatial information to various management issues. Coastal County Snapshots and the Land Cover Atlas are available through the Tools section, providing county-level information and reports. The Data Access Viewer allows users to see what data are available for any given area of interest, and users can now search geographically within the Data Registry.
Activities
NACo partners with several organizations to support and refine Digital Coast resources based on user input. NACo and the Digital Coast partners regularly host webinars, workshops and other training events to introduce counties to Digital Coast tools. Contact us for information about upcoming events and further resources.
The Digital Coast partners, working in concert with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coastal Services Center, are: American Planning Association, Association of State Floodplain Managers, Coastal States Organization, National Association of Counties, National Estuarine Research Reserve Association, National States Geographic Information Council, The Nature Conservancy and the Urban Land Institute.
Digital Coast in Action
The interactive sea level rise viewer has a slider bar which allows the user to model inundation impacts in one-foot increments from zero to six feet. It is one of many Digital Coast tools that can be used for teaching and planning purposes. Pictured here is a sample view of Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding Impacts Viewer at use in Calhoun County, Texas.
Click the link below to view the full Digital Coast infosheet:
