DownloadZone – Reports, Protocols, and GIS Data

Protocols

ShoreZone is a standardized coastal habitat mapping system that follows a certain set of procedures–or protocols–for obtaining, analyzing, and distributing coastal habitat information. 

Across the geographies where ShoreZone has been completed the overall methodology of collecting low-tide imagery and completing the shoreline classification with descriptive biophysical attributes housed in a spatial database follows the same standard protocols. This consistency is at the heart of the ShoreZone program and enables spatial data queries over large geographic regions.

These protocol manuals provide users with insight into the classification rules and assumptions so that they can apply the data to a variety of resource management issues appropriately.

Reports by Region

Summary reports and flight logs are typically produced by the ShoreZone program at the request of funding partners, and some areas of Alaska do not have this documentation. Other regions–particularly large regions–have multiple reports and logs because surveys were done over several seasons.

Summary reports provide coastal habitat information for a given area and are an excellent resource for quantified classifications (e.g. what percent of the shoreline in the survey area was a wide sand beach; how many km of eelgrass were mapped).

A flight log is a record of the aerial survey and includes the date, time, location, tidal height, weather, tape number, and photo IDs. This can be helpful for knowing when an area was mapped or imaged and tracking down where a ShoreZone image was taken based on the filename (e.g. ci09_hm_05490.jpg).