Development of the Maryland Shoreline Inventory Methods and Guidelines for Charles County

Abstract

The Center for Coastal Resources Management (CCRM) at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) has generated Shoreline Situation Reports (SSRs) for coastal localities in the state of Maryland. This effort compliments a parallel effort in Virginia by the same group. SSRs were developed by VIMS in the 1970s for Virginia and have been the foundation for shoreline management planning in Tidewater Virginia ever since. CCRM has developed new protocols for collecting, disseminating, and reporting data relevant to shoreline management issues using state of the art mapping and remote sensing techniques. New SSRs are being generated on a county by county basis for Maryland and Virginia. This series is published entirely in digital format. The data inventory developed for the Shoreline Situation Report is based on a three-tiered shoreline assessment approach. In most cases this assessment characterizes conditions that can be observed from a small boat navigating along the shoreline. Hand-held GPS units are used to log features observed. The three-tiered shoreline assessment approach divides the shorezone into three regions: 1) the immediate riparian zone, evaluated for land use; 2) the bank, evaluated for height, stability, cover and natural protection; and 3) the shoreline, describing the presence of shoreline structures for shore protection and recreational access. Three GIS coverages are developed from GPS datasets collected in the field. The kent_lubc coverage are features related to land use in the riparian zone, and conditions at the bank. This is an arc coverage. The kent_sstruc coverage includes information pertaining to structures for shoreline defense. This is an arc coverage. Finally, kent_astruc identifies structures that are typically built for access and recreational activities at the shore. This is a point coverage. The coverages use a shoreline basemap generated in-house from digital ortho quarter quadrangles (DOQQs) using photo-interpretation techniques. The shoreline is re-coded to reflect features and attributes observed in the field. The metadata file accompanies the coverages and defines attribute accuracy, data development, and any use restrictions that pertain to data