Coastal wetlands

Metadata also available as

Frequently-anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title: Coastal wetlands
Abstract:
This dataset distinguishes coastal wetlands from inland wetlands while retaining the attributes from the original National Wetlands Invertory (NWI) data.
Supplemental_Information:
This data is derived from the National Wetlands Inventory available online at: www.nwi.fws.gov, and data developed at the Pacific Institute.
  1. How should this data set be cited?

    Heberger, Matthew, and Herrera, Pablo, 2009, Coastal wetlands: The Impacts of Sea-Level Rise on the California Coast, Pacific Institute, Oakland CA.

    Online Links:

    This is part of the following larger work.

    Heberger, Matthew, Cooley, Heather, Gleick, Peter, and Herrera, Pablo, 2009, The Impacts of Sea-Level Rise on the California Coast: Pacific Institute, Oakland CA.

    Online Links:

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -124.512693
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -116.682696
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 42.068478
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 32.500404

  3. What does it look like?

  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?

    Calendar_Date: variable
    Currentness_Reference: Variable depending on wetland assessment date by USFWS

  5. What is the general form of this data set?

    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data

  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?

    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?

      This is a Vector data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):

      • G-polygon (12260)

    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?

      The map projection used is Albers Conical Equal Area.

      Projection parameters:
      Standard_Parallel: 34.000000
      Standard_Parallel: 40.500000
      Longitude_of_Central_Meridian: -120.000000
      Latitude_of_Projection_Origin: 0.000000
      False_Easting: 0.000000
      False_Northing: -4000000.000000

      Planar coordinates are encoded using coordinate pair
      Abscissae (x-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 0.000000
      Ordinates (y-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 0.000000
      Planar coordinates are specified in meters

      The horizontal datum used is North American Datum of 1983.
      The ellipsoid used is Geodetic Reference System 80.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.000000.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257222.

      Vertical_Coordinate_System_Definition:
      Altitude_System_Definition:
      Altitude_Datum_Name: North American Vertical Datum of 1988
      Altitude_Distance_Units: meters
      Altitude_Encoding_Method: Attribute values

  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

    Coastal_wetlands

    FID
    Internal feature number. (Source: ESRI)

    Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.

    SHAPE_AREA
    Area of feature in internal units squared. (Source: ESRI)

    Positive real numbers that are automatically generated.

    OBJECTID

    Shape_Leng

    ATTRIBUTE

    Shape_Area
    Area of feature in internal units squared. (Source: ESRI)

    Positive real numbers that are automatically generated.

    Shape
    Feature geometry. (Source: ESRI)

    Coordinates defining the features.

    WETLAND_TY
    Wetland type as defined by the NWI

    SHAPE_LENG

    NAME

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)

  2. Who also contributed to the data set?

    U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wetlands Inventory.

  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?

    Pacific Institute
    c/o Matthew Heberger
    Research Associate/GIS Manager
    654 13th Street
    Oakland, CA 94612
    USA

    (510) 251-1600 (voice)
    (510) 251-2203 (FAX)
    mheberger@pacinst.org

    Hours_of_Service: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Why was the data set created?

To determine the current spatial extent of coastal wetlands along the California coast and in the San Francisco Bay.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?

    (source 1 of 1)
    U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wetlands Inventory.

    Online Links:

    • www.nwi.fws.gov

    Type_of_Source_Media: ESRI shapefile

  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?

    Date: 1901 (process 1 of 2)
    All polygons within a buffer of 100 feet of the estimated mean higher high water line were selected using the select by location function.

    (process 2 of 2)
    UPDATE April 28, 2009. The dataset was manually edited to remove wetland features that should not be classified as "coastal wetlands". These included several "lakes" off the coast of Southern California. These polygons were included in the original National Wetlands Inventory Dataset, and appear to be areas with kelp forests. Also, many riverine segments (mostly in Humboldt, Mendocino, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo counties) were removed or truncated, as they often extended up to several hundred feet in elevation inland, and obviously do not qualify as coastal wetlands. We also removed lakes above an elevation of 100 feet south of Pismo in San Luis Obispo County, and gravel pits in the Santa Clara River valley in Ventura County.

  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?

    ,.

    This is part of the following larger work.

    ,.

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

  1. How well have the observations been checked?

    See U.S. FWS National Wetlands Inventory for attribute accuracy assessment. www.nwi.fws.gov

  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?

    See U.S. FWS National Wetlands Inventory for attribute accuracy assessment. www.nwi.fws.gov

  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?

  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?

    Data set has been visually inspected.

  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?

    The dataset is topologically correct.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?

Access_Constraints:
None. Data are freely downloadable and available for use in GIS and mapping subject the use constraints below.
Use_Constraints:
The data are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please reference the Pacific Institute as the originator of the dataset in any future products or research derived from these data. This information is being made available for informational purposes only. Users of this information agree by their use to hold blameless the State of California, and its respective officers, employees, agents, contractors, and subcontractors for any liability associated with its use in any form. This work shall not be used to assess actual coastal hazards, insurance requirements, or property values and specifically shall not be used in lieu of Flood Insurance Studies and Flood Insurance Rate Maps issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)

    Pacific Institute
    c/o Matthew Heberger
    Research Associate/GIS Manager
    654 13th Street,
    Preservation Park
    Oakland, CA 94612
    USA

    (510) 251-1600 (voice)
    (510) 251-2203 (FAX)
    mheberger@pacinst.org

    Hours_of_Service: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?

    Downloadable Data

  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

    The data are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please reference the Pacific Institute as the originator of the dataset in any future products or research derived from these data.
    This information is being made available for informational purposes only. Users of this information agree by their use to hold blameless the State of California, and its respective officers, employees, agents, contractors, and subcontractors for any liability associated with its use in any form. This work shall not be used to assess actual coastal hazards, insurance requirements, or property values and specifically shall not be used in lieu of Flood Insurance Studies and Flood Insurance Rate Maps issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

  4. How can I download or order the data?

  5. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?

    These data are available in Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) shapefile format. The user must have ArcGIS or ArcView 3.0 or greater software to read and process the data file. In lieu of ArcView or ArcGIS, the user may utilize another GIS application package capable of importing the data. A free data viewer, ArcExplorer, capable of displaying the data is available from ESRI at www.esri.com.

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 28-Apr-2009
Metadata author:
Pacific Institute
c/o Matthew Heberger
Research Associate/GIS Manager
654 13th Street,
Preservation Park
Oakland, CA 94612
USA

(510) 251-1600 (voice)
(510) 251-2203 (FAX)
mheberger@pacinst.org

Hours_of_Service: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Metadata standard:
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
Metadata extensions used:

Generated by mp version 2.9.6 on Tue Apr 28 11:36:54 2009