APA Digital Coast Needs Assessment Survey

Needs: Tools

The total data are summarized below. Click on a region for specific regional data:

• Atlantic Northeast
• Mid-Atlantic
• Atlantic Southeast
• Gulf of Mexico
• Caribbean Sea
• Great Lakes
• West Coast
• Arctic
• Pacific Islands

TABLE 5a.

a. Not Applicable

b. Responses to Question #15 (What other coastal decision support tools (including models) would improve your planning practice/analysis/research?) are provided at the end of this page.

Table 5a lists 36 tools for which respondents were asked to rate their importance for planning practice, analysis, and research. The six tools (two tied for #5) with the highest percentage of very high or high importance ratings from respondents are:

• Impervious Surface Analysis Tool¹ (69%);
• Coastal County Snapshots² (62%);
• Hazards U.S. Multi-Hazard (HAZUS-MH) ³ (55%);
• Non-Point Source Pollution and Erosion Comparison Tool ⁴ (55% each);
• CanVis Visual Simulation ⁵ (54%); and
• Landscape Fragmentation Tools ⁶ (54% each).

The six tools (two tied for #5) with the highest percentage of low or very low importance ratings from respondents are:

• Electronic Navigational Chart Handler ⁷ (41%);
• Practitioner's Toolkit for Marine Conservation Agreements ⁸ (39%);
• Nautical Chart Viewer ⁹ (38%);
• Multi-Purpose Marine Cadastre ¹⁰ (35%);
• Benthic Terrain Modeler ¹¹ (34%); and
• MarineMap ¹² (34% each).

The six tools (two tied for #5) with the highest percentage of respondents rating the tool as "Not Applicable" are:

• Historical Hurricane Tracks IMS (30%) (Historical Hurricane Tracks IMS enables viewers to find tropical cyclone data in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific basins);
• Nautical Chart Viewer (30% each);
• Electronic Navigational Chart Handler (29%);
• Benthic Terrain Modeler (28%);
• Multi-Purpose Marine Cadastre (27%); and
• Practitioner's Toolkit for Marine Conservation Agreements (27%).

What Planners Need: Tools Top Five Ranked by % of Respondents Citing High or Very High Importance

1. Impervious Surface Analysis Tool (69%)
2. Coastal County Snapshots (62%)
3. Hazards U.S. Multi-Hazard (HAZUS-MH) (55%)
4. Nonpoint-Source Pollution & Erosion Comparison Tool (55%)
5. Landscape Fragmentation Tool (54%)       

What other coastal decision support tools (including models) would improve your planning practice/analysis/research? (Question #15 — 67 free responses)

• TOOLS
• migratory bird habitat evaluation tsunami hazard escape route planning
• Indigenous council circles, where it takes as long as it takes to reach a decision, and people are given the time and space to speak as long as they must in order to reach a decision. Talking sticks are a good tool for this model.
• water quality model keyed to TMDL nutrient and sediment limits.
• Lidar data resolution is important. Ground-based Lidar data?
• 1. Something that links soils to earthquakes so that liquifaction areas can be identified. 2. Something that shows how California's implementation of NPDES (hyrdomodification requirements) has caused a shortage of fine sands from the mountains reaching the beaches (causing the need for beach replacement projects).
• Updated air photos
• transportation models
• litorial drift model sediment transport model current model for Puget Sound nutrient & temperature mixing model for PS acidification model for PS marine habitat projection model for protection
• Information about pollution sources and coastal industries
• littoral drift along marine shorelines
• Aquifer and water recharge data/analysis
• Coastal erosion and siltation trends and rates as regards harbors and channels.
• storm surge models evacuation planning tools
• Regular bathymetric and benthic data in the Puget Sound (annual data sets would be EXCELLENT).
• time-model projection maps of sea level rise by very small increments.
• Habitat migration form sea level rise model.
• locates specific marine uses such as docks, houseboats, types of fishing, recreation areas, etc. along coastline up to and beyound high tide
• capital risk assessment of consequences of coastal roadway and/or bridge failures
• Coast bluff erosion calculators- estimate current rate of erosion and project future rates.
• Agricultural economic sustainability models (e.g. critical mass of ag land needed to support local ag industry). Model to divide TMDL pollution load reduction responsibility among land/facility owners/managers. Model to measure and predict the impact of precipitation event patterns on coastal habitats (e.g. submerged aquatic grasses).
• Two-foot or better contours. (Existing USGS contours in this area do not meet current specifications for the 10-foot contours shown.
• NOT APPLICABLE (4)
• NOT SURE/DO NOT KNOW (6)
• NONE/INCLUDED ABOVE (20)
• NON-TOPICAL COMMENTARY
• All systems listed vary in priority depending university researcher and which project. They all appear to have high priority depending on the user. Answers are based only on current projects within our program.
• Not everyone in California smells the salt air or practices on the coast.
• Many of the above sound potentially useful for our work in land use planning, but we would need training to be able to use them.
• The county I work for is 120 miles west of the Chesapeake Bay and 600 feet above sea level, so we have no direct interest in coastal issues.
• This is a good sales pitch...set them up with all of the above. Talk to Bill Ingersoll and the WC GIS lab.
• All these would improve our analysis if we had the time and staff to use them as well as the political will to consider them in long range planning. It is important to note that staff's desire for tools is likely different than elected officials who may not understand the data and how it can be used in long range planning.
• Work with data not software applications.
• In preparing community plans, I may do some fresh research, but mostly depend on the engineering and environmental reports and data of professionals in those fields.
• * "not applicable" answers above indicate I didn't understand what the tool does.
• From the DoD perspective, it is important for the local jurisdictions to understand the military mission within our coastal areas.
• I filled these out based on what I "think" might be important, but I don't use ANY of these tools in my practice so don't feel qualified to say.
• While the Digital Coast provides all of these tools, I work in coastal management using GIS and I have not been exposed to all of the useful tools. We need more training opportunities on the state or regional level. If the state can't generate the analysis and use these tools, then these tools become obsolete unless the analysis is done on the federal level.
• Comment: just because something is "not applicable" to my practice doesn't mean I don't think it's important.
• SURVEY CRITIQUE
• this survey is too long.

Endnotes

1. Historical Hurricane Tracks IMS enables viewers to find tropical cyclone data in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific basins.

2. The Impervious Surface Analysis Tool calculates the percentage of impervious surfaces for a selected geographic area.

3. Coastal County Snapshots provide local officials with a quick look at a county's demographics, infrastructure, and environment within the flood zone.

Hazards U.S. Multi-Hazard (HAZUS-MH) analyzes risks and potential losses from floods, hurricane winds, and earthquakes.

4. The Nonpoint-Source Pollution and Erosion Comparison Tool examines land cover to measure runoff, nonpoint source pollution, and erosion.

5. The CanVis Visual Simulation Tool enables users to add objects to images in order to visualize impacts of the future.

6. The Landscape Fragmentation Tool maps the type of fragmentation present in a specified land cover feature and produces a data set containing results.

7. The Electronic Navigational Chart Handler provides the ability to simplify the use of electronic navigational charts.

8. The Practitioner's Toolkit for Marine Conservation Agreements offers guidance on how to develop and implement a marine conservation agreement project.

9. The Nautical Chart Viewer permits viewers to bring BSB-formatted nautical chart information into a GIS.

10. The Multi-Purpose Marine Cadastre supplies baseline information needed for marine spatial planning efforts.

11. The Benthic Terrain Modeler derives benthic terrain classifications from input bathymetry.

12. MarineMap assists in the design of marine protected areas.