Coastal Topographic Mapping Data Now on the Web
LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is a technology that, when combined with the Global Positioning System (GPS), can be used to map coastal topography faster and more thoroughly than traditional surveying methods. Much of the nation's coast has been mapped using this technology, and these data sets can now be obtained from the Internet.
The NOAA Coastal Services Center developed the LIDAR Data Retrieval Tool (LDART) to make the topographic data Web-accessible. With this new tool anyone with a Web browser can create a digital beach elevation data set that is readily importable into a geographic information system (GIS). Users can customize their data set with options to set file format, datum, and projection.
The LIDAR project is a joint effort of the Center, NASA, and the U.S. Geological Survey.
To download digital elevations, visit http://www.csc.noaa.gov/ldart. To learn more about the topographic LIDAR projects at the Center, visit http://www.csc.noaa.gov/lidar.
New Remote Sensing Manager Named
Steve Raber is the new leader of the NOAA Coastal Services Center's Coastal Remote Sensing program. Raber was most recently a program manager in the remote sensing and geographic information system department of Logicon in Denver, Colorado. To learn more about the Center's remote sensing programs, see http://www.csc.noaa.gov/text/center.html.
Coastal Management Fellows Chosen
Six new fellows soon will begin working with coastal resource management programs in various parts of the country. The state programs have ambitious projects for the fellows that address significant management issues. The following is a list of the states hosting a year-2000 fellow and a short project summary:
- California - wetland inventory and information system
- Florida - human use concerns in coastal ecosystems
- Maryland - a regional shoreline erosion control plan
- Massachusetts - the environmental impacts of personal watercraft
- New York - data management program for coastal hazard resource information
- Oregon - littoral cell management plans
These fellows join the four fellows in the 1999 class. Selection of state projects and fellows for next year will begin in the fall of 2000.
The Coastal Management Fellowship program helps train the coastal resource managers of tomorrow while helping the coastal programs of today. The fellows and their host programs stay together for two years. To learn more about the fellowship program, see http://www.csc.noaa.gov/cms/fellows.html.
