The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ National Coastal Mapping Program provides high-resolution elevation and imagery data along U.S. shorelines on a 5 to 7 year update schedule. The program uses the Compact Hydrographic Airborne Rapid Total Survey (CHARTS) system, which integrates topographic and bathymetric lidar sensors, a digital camera, and a hyperspectral scanner on a single remote sensing platform for use in coastal mapping and charting activities. One derived data set from CHARTS is bottom reflectance, which is generated from individual bathymetric waveforms that are rasterized and formed into a mosaic.
The Corps’ Orthomosaics and Bathymetry and Topography data are also available in Digital Coast.
For information about additional CHARTS products, visit the Corps’ Joint Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise website.
Data Specifications
- Area of Coverage: Varies
- Date(s) Available: Range from 2004 to present
- Format: GeoTIFF
- Resolution: Generally four-to-five-meter resolution
- Accuracy: The accuracy is within five percent of the true reflectance. The horizontal accuracy is better than +/- 0.75m. The vertical accuracy is better than +/- 0.20m.
Details
- Bottom reflectance can be useful in coastal mapping for sediment management, nautical charting, and seafloor habitat studies
- Data can be selected by a user-defined area of interest
- Data are available in multiple projections and datums, and the following output formats:
- GeoTIFF
- JPEG
- ERDAS Imagine
Notes and Limitations: These images depict the existing conditions of the beach and nearshore areas at the time of the survey and are only accurate for that time
Support
Joint Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise Publications
Provide information on data and collection methods