Author(s):
Alan O. Allwardt - United States Geological Survey
Frances Lightsom* - United States Geological Survey
M. Dennis Krohn - United States Geological Survey
Abstract:
As a government agency, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has the responsibility for providing scientific information to the nation. This is a challenging task because of the wide range of needs: citizens, students, and educators wish to learn about the earth; scientists and engineers require fully documented scientific data, interpretations, and publications; and resource managers, town planners, and engaged citizens need reliable facts and trends for science-based decision making. Although map servers are a common solution for presenting georeferenced information, additional information services are required to serve such a diverse national audience. The new USGS Coastal Change Hazards web portal (http://marine.usgs.gov/kb/views/cch/) provides six tools to meet this challenge: 1) a digital library providing access to online scientific reports, maps, databases, and educational materials from the USGS and other institutions; 2) a data catalog for USGS field activities in the coastal zone; 3) map servers presenting published USGS data sets for shoreline change and coastal vulnerability; 4) a section of background science information for non-specialists; 5) news about current USGS coastal research; and 6) a bibliography of relevant publications by USGS authors and collaborators. Future growth of the portal will incorporate a remote sensing geodatabase called XSTORMS, with coastal oblique aerial photographs and videos documenting storm impacts over the past decade. In presenting this poster, we hope to stimulate discussion about effective and elegant means to present geographic and geologic information on the World Wide Web.
