This quarterly publication supplies up-to-date information on tools and services 

developed for the nation’s state and local coastal programs by the NOAA Coastal 

Services Center. For more information, please contact Kitty.Fahey@noaa.gov.

New Products and Services

“Saving Our Coast” site. A new Web site hosted by New Orleans TV station 

Fox 8 provides environmental information aimed at helping the region repair 

and restore coastal wetlands and barrier islands. Many NOAA products and 

services are featured on the site, which is located at http://wvue.iewatershed.com.

The Center partnered with StormCenter Communications Inc. in this effort. 

For more information, contact Donna.McCaskill@noaa.gov. 

Boundary-making handbook. Marine Managed Areas: Best Practices for Boundary 

Making provides a useful “best practices” guide for writing boundary descriptions 

within a geographic information system framework. The handbook was 

developed by federal and state boundary experts under the auspices of the Federal 

Geographic Data Committee’s Marine Boundary Working Group. Numerous 

NOAA offices contributed to this effort. To download a PDF of the handbook, 

visit www.csc.noaa.gov/products/mb_handbook/. To receive a hard copy of the 

publication, contact Meredith.Westington@noaa.gov or Cindy.Fowler@noaa.gov.

Visualizing dock growth using the Web. This Web site allows users to explore 

the potential visual impacts of different proposed regulations for small docks 

and piers in specific locations. The site also allows for analysis of historical 

trends. Aerial photography and computer-generated 3-D visualizations and 

animations are among the tools used to illustrate these impacts. This Web site 

will be available in the near future at www.csc.noaa.gov/dock_growth/.

Fall 2006

NOAA/CSC/20605 - PUB

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Products and Services Bulletin

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Coastal Services Center


Visualization software guide. Managers who wish to use visualization as a 

tool but lack the resources or expertise now have an alternative. The Center 

has created a guide for an easy-to-use software program that is available free 

of charge. A PowerPoint demonstration and a collection of additional coastal 

objects that can be used with the software are included on the Web page at 

www.csc.noaa.gov/visualizations/.

HURREVAC quick reference guide. The Center, in coordination with the 

Federal Emergency Management Agency, has published HURREVAC: A Quick 

Reference Guide, a companion publication to the HURREVAC software tool used 

by emergency managers for hurricane evacuation planning. Visit www.nhc.noaa.

gov/HAW2/english/downloads.shtml to download the reference guide. For more 

information, or to obtain a hard copy of the guide, contact Jodie.Towers@noaa.gov.

Conservation data documentation training. This is a new, hands-on course 

designed to give geographic information system (GIS) users information and 

tools for documenting data, with emphasis placed on ArcGIS as a metadata 

authoring tool. At the conclusion of the course, participants will be given a 

template that can be used for other data documentation projects. For more 

information, contact Steve.Walker@noaa.gov.

Verification statements for in-situ chlorophyll fluorometers. The Alliance 

for Coastal Technologies (ACT), a Coastal Observation Technology System 

partner supported by the Center, evaluated eight different types of in-situ 

fluorometers designed for measuring chlorophyll. ACT tested nine different 

field sites or conditions, including tropical coral reef, high turbidity estuary, 

ocean (open), and freshwater lake environments. Instrument performance 

verification helps identify effective existing technologies and makes promising 

new technologies available. For more information, contact Jeff.Payne@noaa.gov.

Bringing ocean information providers together. The Community Information 

Repository (http://ocean.us/cir/) is an information resource designed to help 

regional ocean observing systems find and share best practices in data transport 

and discovery. This portal is a joint effort between the Center and Ocean.US. 

For more information, contact Daniel.Martin@noaa.gov. 

Needs assessment completed for northern California coast. Conservation 

organizations in northern California, in an effort to increase efficiency and 

effectiveness, completed an assessment focused on current conditions and 

future goals. The Center was a primary funding source and one of the main 

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partners in this effort. The second step will likely be the formation of a coalition 

to determine how the various organizations might work together to reach 

common goals. To view the needs assessment on the Web, visit www.nrsrcaa.org/

linkinglandsea/index.htm. Please contact Rebecca.Smyth@noaa.gov to receive a 

hard copy of the assessment. 

Restoration input approach in Olympia, Washington. The Center worked 

with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to collect public input 

on the economic implications of restoring the Deschutes Estuary in Olympia, 

Washington. The series of focus groups and public meetings will play a key 

role in assessing net economic benefits of restoring the estuary. For more 

information, contact Zac.Hart@noaa.gov.

Updated Products and Services

East coast topographic, bathymetric data. Combined 2005/2006 topography 

and bathymetry light detection and ranging (lidar) data are now available 

for download from the Center’s Web site. The data, collected by the U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers, cover approximately 500 meters inland and up to 

1,000 meters seaward of coastal New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, 

Virginia, and South Carolina. In the coming weeks, the Center will be adding 

lidar data collected in coastal North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. The Center 

distributes topographic and bathymetric lidar data, collected by the Center and 

its partners, from its data download page at www.csc.noaa.gov/ldart/. For more 

information, contact Kirk.Waters@noaa.gov. 

Place-based training for Pacific Island region. The Pacific Services Center 

has developed an advanced, four-day training course on geographic information 

system analysis that helps coastal zone managers and emergency managers apply 

“real-world” scenarios to Pacific Island environments. Trainings are taking place 

in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern 

Mariana Islands. For more information, contact Darcee.Killpack@noaa.gov.

Updated dock and pier management report. The Center has released a report 

titled, “Residential Docks and Piers: Inventory of Laws, Regulations, and Policies 

for the New England Region.” A similar report for the Southeast was published by 

the Center in 2003. The publication compares state tactics for managing residential 

docks and piers in easy-to-use tables. For a copy of the report, visit www.csc.noaa.gov/

products/New_England_Dock_Pier_Inventory.pdf or contact Zac.Hart@noaa.gov.

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Future Products and Initiatives

Making social science tools available. The Center is leading an effort to make 

social science tools more available to coastal resource managers. A Web portal, 

HumanDimensions.gov, will feature information supplied by numerous federal 

agencies. For more information, contact Tom.Fish@noaa.gov.

Survey guide for natural resource managers. Social science tools, such as 

surveys, can help identify the relationship between the community and natural 

resources. To strengthen awareness and understanding of survey types and 

techniques, the Center has published a guide that will soon be available on the 

Human Dimensions Web page at www.csc.noaa.gov/cms/human_dimensions/. 

For more information, contact Chris.Ellis@noaa.gov. 

Center participates in Weather Channel show. Center staff members 

were interviewed for an upcoming Weather Channel show, It Could Happen 

Tomorrow, located on the Web at www.whatifweather.com. This segment will 

focus on the predicted effects of a category five storm hitting Savannah, Georgia. 

Center staff members will also provide high-resolution storm surge maps and 

fly-through animations. The show will air in January 2007. For additional 

information, contact Doug.Marcy@noaa.gov. 

Legislative atlas. The Center is developing a Web-based mapping and search 

tool to provide coastal resource managers with easy access to legislative data 

and information. The tool will include geographic representations of key state 

and federal legislation, as well as jurisdictional boundaries of state and federal 

management agencies. The mapping and search features will also help managers 

visualize and analyze the nation’s regulatory framework regionally. For more 

information, contact Hamilton.Smillie@noaa.gov.

Benthic mapping project for Texas coast. The Center is working with 

the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas A&M University 

Center for Coastal Studies to support the statewide seagrass monitoring 

program. Existing digital camera imagery, originally collected for the National 

Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP), is being used to create benthic habitat 

maps. The seagrass monitoring program in Texas will use these benthic maps to 

help locate, monitor, and protect seagrass beds. For more information, contact 

Bill.Stevenson@noaa.gov.

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Comprehensive hurricane preparedness study.The Center is working with

Georgia’s Chatham County Emergency Management Agency to remap storm 

surge zones using lidar-derived elevation data, and data from the Sea, Lake, and 

Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) storm surge model. In addition, 

the Center is creating data that will help officials visualize shallow coastal flood 

watches and warnings issued by the local weather forecast office. These data are 

presented via an Internet mapping tool that allows officials to add other hazard 

planning data, such as infrastructure, critical facilities, and vulnerable populations. 

For more information, contact William.Brooks@noaa.gov.

Center News

Coastal resilience grants program underway. Through a grant program, the 

Center will work with various organizations to create a regional framework for 

a community resilience index. The index will increase the capacity of coastal 

communities to survive, mitigate, and recover from natural and other hazards. 

The Center is one of three NOAA offices participating in this effort. An 

additional grant component is the proposed creation of a Climate and Weather 

Impacts on Society and the Environment (CWISE) cooperative agreement to 

address physical, social, and economic impacts of sea level variability and change. 

The grant recipients will be selected soon. For more information, contact 

Margaret.Davidson@noaa.gov.

NOAA publications receive high marks. A market research and communications 

firm, StrategyOne, just completed an external evaluation of the primary publications 

of the NOAA Coastal Services Center. Both the Coastal Services magazine and the 

Coastal Connections newsletter received exceptionally high marks. Readers completed 

written and oral surveys, which indicated that the two publications are widely read 

and a trusted source of information about coastal resource management issues 

and tools. To get on the mailing list for these publications or receive a copy of the 

evaluation, contact Donna.McCaskill@noaa.gov.

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Training Schedule

Training for your organization can take place at the Center in Charleston, 

South Carolina, or can be brought to your facility.* For more information, 

visit www.csc.noaa.gov/training/.

Conservation Data Documentation Training

• September 28 Augusta, Maine

Project Design and Evaluation

• October 24–26 Ulster, New York

• December 12–14 Punta Gorda, Florida

GIS Analysis for Coastal Management

• October 24–27 NOAA Pacific Services Center 

Honolulu, Hawaii

Public Issues and Conflict Management

• October 30–31 Duluth, Minnesota

Coastal Community Planning and Development Pilot Training 

• November 7–8 Moss Point, Mississippi

Introduction to ArcGIS 

• December 4–5 NOAA Coastal Services Center 

Charleston, South Carolina

Coastal Applications of ArcGIS

• December 6–8 NOAA Coastal Services Center

Charleston, South Carolina

* Trainings are generally arranged through local coastal management hosts.