Decades in the making, online maps offer unique tool for citizens, coastal managers
The Chesapeake Bay shoreline—rife with inlets, necks, and tributaries both large and small—stretches 11,885 miles, longer than the entire west coast of the U.S.
Researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science have just finished the latest iteration of a suite of online maps that can display the condition of the Bay shoreline along its entire length—every beach, breakwater, boathouse, boat ramp, bulkhead, dock, jetty, living shoreline, marina, mud flat, oyster reef, tidal marsh, and tree-lined bank. If that weren’t enough, users of these interactive tools can also view each aquaculture site, conservation easement, oyster lease, and underwater grass bed, as well as a model-based recommendation for maximizing shoreline health at any location.
Read more at Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Photo: Desktop Mapping - Sharon Killeen of CCRM maps Virginia's Chesapeake Bay shoreline using a heads-up digitizing technique atop a high-resolution aerial image. CREDITS: CCRM / VIMS