King and Queen County Shoreline Situation Report

The data inventory developed for the Shoreline Situation Reports are based on a three-tiered shoreline assessment approach. This assessment characterizes conditions in the shorezone observed from a small boat moving along the shoreline. Handheld GPS units record data observations in the field. The three tiered shoreline assessment approach divides the shorezone into three regions: the immediate riparian zone, evaluated for land use the bank, evaluated for height, stability, cover and natural protection the shoreline, describing the presence of shoreline structures for shore protection and recreational purposes. Three GIS coverages are generated from the collection technique. They can be downloaded at this site. The GIS coverages use a digitized 1:24,000 scale USGS high water line (HWL) shoreline as the baseline coverage. However, if the position of the digitized HWL differs greatly from the observed shoreline on a 1994 color infra-red digital ortho quarter quadrangle (DOQQ), the shoreline position is corrected to align more closely with the land-water interface observed in the DOQQ. Using ArcInfo, the base shoreline is re-coded with the attributes defined in each coverage. The KQ_lubc coverage are features related to the land use in the riparian zone, and conditions at the bank. The KQ_sstru coverage includes information pertaining to structures for shoreline defense. Finally, KQ_astru identifies structures which are typically built for access and recreational activities at the shore. A metadata file is provided to describe each coverage