Shoreline Change Maps for Tidewater Maryland (PDF format)

These maps are available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. Unlike raster images, they can be resized without distortion.  The maps were created in ArcGIS 8.3 and consist of polyline segments and polygons.  The dates of these shorelines range from the mid 1800's to the 1990's.

A complete metadata file accompanies each file.  You may also download the complete metadata in a zipped filed here. The metadata describe map projections, attributes, compilation procedures and all other critical parameters necessary to the proper use of the data. 

To download or view maps, click on the desired map name in the tables below. Files sizes range from 4 megabytes to 46 megabytes and may require long download times.  If you have problems viewing the PDF file in your web browser, save the PDF file to your hard drive and view it directly in Acrobat. 

Also available for download are the following GIS data sets:

• High-Resolution Shoreline Map Data for Tidewater Maryland
• Shoreline Change Map Data for Tidewater Maryland

      For the coastal regions of Maryland, the Maryland Geological Survey (MGS) has periodically compiled maps depicting shoreline position at several points in time. The most recent compilation -- the first electronic one -- involved (1) digitizing historical (1841-1977) shoreline maps, all derived directly or indirectly from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration coastal survey maps (topographic or T-sheets), and (2) interpreting recent (1988-1995) shorelines from digital orthophotography. MGS is using the shorelines to update a series of Shoreline Changes maps and to determine coastal land loss, by watershed and by county, during the last half of the 20th century.

     This data set contains past shorelines, dating from 1841 to 1995, for 125 7.5-minute quadrangles covering the coastal regions of Maryland (see below). Originally in MicroImage's TNTmips .rvc format, the shoreline vectors have been converted to Arc/Info "Export" (.e00) format. They are registered to the Maryland State Plane Coordinate System (North American Datum of 83, meters).

Spatial Reference Information:

• Map Projection Name: Lambert Conformal Conic
• Grid Coordinate System Name: State Plane Coordinate System 1983
• SPCS Zone Identifier: 1900 (Maryland)
• Planar Distance Units: meters
• Horizontal Datum Name: North American Datum of 1983
• Ellipsoid Name: Geodetic Reference System 80
• Semi-major Axis: 6,378,137 meters
• Denominator of Flattening Ratio: 298.257
• Depth Datum Name: The aerial photography from which the DOQQs were developed was not tide-coordinated.  Therefore, shorelines in this data set does not represent a consistent vertical datum.

Shoreline Attributes:

• beach
• vegetated
• structure
• water’s edge

     All four categories are linear features, except “beach,” which, if sufficiently wide, can be both linear and polygonal.  Shorelines were merged into 7.5-minute quadrangles, provided that the aerial photography on which the DOQQs were based was flown in the same year.