DISCLAIMER

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coastal Services Center staff obtained the majority of the data contained on this CD-ROM from a variety of local, state, and federal sources. Center staff converted these spatial data into a common data format and geographic referencing system for use in this project. Because the Center was not the originator of many of these databases, we are unable to guarantee the accuracy of their geographic features or attributes. Please see the metadata records for each database for complete information on the source, limitations, and proper use.

INTRODUCTION

This section lists all of the Geographic information system (GIS) databases available on the CD-ROM and contains Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)-compliant metadata.

All spatial data on this CD-ROM for New Hanover County is georeferenced to the North Carolina State Plane projection, with mapping units in feet. The geodetic reference is the North American Datum 1983 (NAD83), which is based on the GRS1980 spheroid. 

All vector-based GIS files are stored on this CD-ROM in Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI®) shapefile format. Each shapefile has five files associated with it: filename.dbf, filename.sbn, filename.sbx, filename.shp, and filename.shx. Each of the files is necessary for the shapefile to operate correctly. If you wish to copy a shapefile from the CD-ROM to another location, please be sure to copy all its associated files into the same directory. The data is also available in Arc/Info export format (.e00) and Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) by contacting the Coastal Services Center at clearinghouse@csc.noaa.gov. 

Metadata, or data about data, is information that describes the content, quality, condition, and other characteristics of data. Each data set on this CD-ROM has an FGDC-compliant metadata record. The metadata records are stored in two formats: HyperText Markup Language (HTML) (filename.htm), and ASCII text (metadata.met). The HTML metadata records are stored in the data/metadata directory, while the ASCII text files are located in the data directory. The HTML metadata records are accessible by following the links in the Data Dictionary section of this CD-ROM.